LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With an Ebola epidemic raging and millions caught in a forgotten “catastrophe” of conflict and hunger, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was the most neglected crisis of 2018, according to an annual Thomson Reuters Foundation poll of aid agencies.

This year’s survey was unusual for the high number of “most forgotten crises”, with experts also listing the Central African Republic, Lake Chad Basin, Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burundi, Nigeria and, for the first time, Venezuela.

But Congo’s “mega-crisis” barely made headlines, they said, even as the country gears up for landmark elections on Sunday which some fear could stoke further unrest.

“The brutality of the conflict is shocking, the national and international neglect outrageous,” said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“I visited Congo this year and have seldom witnessed such a gap between needs and assistance.”

Congo, where 13 million people in a population of 82 million need help, also topped the annual Thomson Reuters Foundation poll in 2017, but agencies said the situation had deteriorated.

Six of 21 agencies polled named Congo as the most neglected crisis, including WFP, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, ActionAid, International Rescue Committee, and Christian Aid.

ActionAid’s humanitarian advisor Rachid Boumnijel urged the international community to redouble efforts to end years of conflict characterized by sexual brutality.

“It’s been a catastrophe for the country, and for women and girls particularly,” Boumnijel said.

Christian Aid’s head of humanitarian programs Maurice Onyango said the violence had caused “large-scale trauma”, with children witnessing parents and siblings being murdered.

An upsurge of fighting in the east of the mineral-rich country has also exacerbated the spread of the world’s second largest Ebola outbreak, agencies said.

The Central African Republic, where armed groups control much of the country and 60 percent of the population needs assistance, came a close second in the poll.

Listed as the most neglected by OCHA, UNICEF, MercyCorps, Plan International, and Caritas, the country has been racked by violence since mainly Muslim rebels ousted the president in 2013, provoking a backlash from Christian militias.

Armed groups are increasingly targeting schools, hospitals, mosques and churches, while attacks on aid workers have impacted a “chronically underfunded” humanitarian response, they said.

U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said thousands of children had been trapped in armed groups or subjected to sexual violence.

“The crisis is growing increasingly desperate and resources are at breaking point,” added UNICEF emergencies director Manuel Fontaine.

U.N. appeals for both DRC and CAR are less than 50 percent funded.

“Central African Republic is in a death spiral,” said Caritas Secretary General Michel Roy. “While governments and the world’s media have turned their backs, we must not. It’s the only hope CAR has left.”

Plan International said the media neglected complex crises like CAR and DRC because they lacked the shock factor of a sudden disaster like Indonesia’s huge earthquake in September.

Yemen, at risk of the world’s worst famine in 100 years, was highlighted by Muslim Hands and World Vision.

“With three quarters of the population needing assistance, I can’t see how Yemen isn’t at the top of everyone’s list,” said World Vision emergencies chief Mark Smith.

International Medical Corps warned the disaster in Lake Chad basin, where climate change and a prolonged insurgency by Boko Haram and Islamic State have left 11 million needing help, was also set to worsen next year.

Action Against Hunger said millions caught up in the “almost invisible” crisis - affecting Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon - faced poverty, hunger, sexual violence and child kidnapping.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s biggest relief network, said hunger and disease following major flooding across Nigeria threatened to create a second protracted crisis in the country.

“I’m shocked by how little attention (this) has received. The figures are staggering,” said IFRC Secretary General Elhadj As Sy, adding that nearly 2 million people were impacted, more than 200,000 uprooted and swathes of cropland destroyed.

“This massive disaster has gone largely unnoticed by many donors and journalists,” he added.

This year was the first time Venezuela featured in the poll.

About 3.3 million people have fled political turmoil and economic meltdown in the Latin American country - many driven by hunger or violence - and another 2 million could follow next year, according to U.N. estimates.

The United Nations has launched a $738 million appeal to help nearby countries cope with what one U.N. official called a “humanitarian earthquake”.

CARE said evidence on the ground suggested the real number fleeing was far higher than the U.N. figure.

“Given its scale, it’s incredible how neglected the situation in Venezuela is,” said CARE humanitarian expert Tom Newby. “The world needs to wake up to this crisis.”

Afghanistan was ranked the most neglected crisis by Islamic Relief Worldwide, and South Sudan by Save the Children. The UNHCR named Burundi while mixed migration was highlighted by the Danish Refugee Council. </s> With an Ebola epidemic raging and millions caught in a forgotten "catastrophe" of conflict and hunger, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was the most neglected crisis of 2018, according to an annual Thomson Reuters Foundation poll of aid agencies.

This year's survey was unusual for the high number of "most forgotten crises", with experts also listing the Central African Republic, Lake Chad Basin, Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burundi, Nigeria and, for the first time, Venezuela.

But Congo's "mega-crisis" barely made headlines, they said, even as the country gears up for landmark elections on Sunday which some fear could stoke further unrest.

"The brutality of the conflict is shocking, the national and international neglect outrageous," said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

"I visited Congo this year and have seldom witnessed such a gap between needs and assistance."

Congo, where 13 million people in a population of 82 million need help, also topped the annual Thomson Reuters Foundation poll in 2017, but agencies said the situation had deteriorated.

Six of 21 agencies polled named Congo as the most neglected crisis, including WFP, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, ActionAid, International Rescue Committee, and Christian Aid.

ActionAid's humanitarian advisor Rachid Boumnijel urged the international community to redouble efforts to end years of conflict characterised by sexual brutality.

"It's been a catastrophe for the country, and for women and girls particularly," Boumnijel said.

Christian Aid's head of humanitarian programmes Maurice Onyango said the violence had caused "large-scale trauma", with children witnessing parents and siblings being murdered.

An upsurge of fighting in the east of the mineral-rich country has also exacerbated the spread of the world's second largest Ebola outbreak, agencies said.

The Central African Republic, where armed groups control much of the country and 60 per cent of the population needs assistance, came a close second in the poll.

Listed as the most neglected by OCHA, UNICEF, MercyCorps, Plan International, and Caritas, the country has been racked by violence since mainly Muslim rebels ousted the president in 2013, provoking a backlash from Christian militias.

Armed groups are increasingly targeting schools, hospitals, mosques and churches, while attacks on aid workers have impacted a "chronically underfunded" humanitarian response, they said.

UN children's agency UNICEF said thousands of children had been trapped in armed groups or subjected to sexual violence.

"The crisis is growing increasingly desperate and resources are at breaking point," added UNICEF emergencies director Manuel Fontaine.

UN appeals for both DRC and CAR are less than 50 per cent funded.

"Central African Republic is in a death spiral," said Caritas Secretary General Michel Roy. "While governments and the world's media have turned their backs, we must not. It's the only hope CAR has left." </s> With an Ebola epidemic raging and millions caught in a forgotten "catastrophe" of conflict and hunger, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was the most neglected crisis of 2018, according to an annual Thomson Reuters Foundation poll of aid agencies.

This year's survey was unusual for the high number of "most forgotten crises," with experts also listing the Central African Republic, Lake Chad Basin, Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burundi, Nigeria and, for the first time, Venezuela.

"The brutality of the conflict is shocking, the national and international neglect outrageous," said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council. "I visited Congo this year and have seldom witnessed such a gap between needs and assistance."

Congo, where 13 million people in a population of 82 million need help, also topped the annual Thomson Reuters Foundation poll in 2017, but agencies said the situation had deteriorated. Six of 21 agencies polled named Congo as the most neglected crisis, including WFP, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, ActionAid, International Rescue Committee, and Christian Aid.

ActionAid's humanitarian advisor Rachid Boumnijel urged the international community to redouble efforts to end years of conflict characterized by sexual brutality. "It's been a catastrophe for the country, and for women and girls particularly," Boumnijel said. </s> The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a public health emergency of international concern, the World Health Organization has declared, calling for more funds and support to close it down.

The second biggest Ebola outbreak ever, after the 2014-16 epidemic in west Africa, has reached a critical point with the diagnosis of a case in Goma, a city of 2 million people, which is a transport hub on the border with Rwanda. That follows the case last week of a women who crossed into Uganda to buy fish – and the arrival of a family harbouring the virus, three of whom died, in Uganda last month.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, appealed on Wednesday for the international community to help with funds. WHO is working on a new plan to control the epidemic, he said, which would cost “hundred of millions” of dollars.

“It is time for the world to take notice and redouble our efforts. We need to work together in solidarity with the DRC to end this outbreak and build a better health system,” said Tedros.

Ebola virus reaches Congolese city of Goma Read more

“Extraordinary work has been done for almost a year under the most difficult circumstances. We all owe it to these responders – coming from not just WHO but also government, partners and communities – to shoulder more of the burden.”

He has made previous appeals for donors to provide the money they have promised. So far, only about half the pledges have come in. The WHO was not aware of any donor who has withheld funding because an emergency had not been declared, he said, “but if that was the excuse, it can no longer be used”.

Tedros appealed for countries not to seal their borders or close down travel to the DRC, arguing that it would only harm the attempts to end the epidemic.

One year on from the start of the epidemic in North Kivu, there have been 2,512 cases of the disease and 676 deaths, most of which have been confirmed.

This is the second biggest Ebola outbreak, after the west Africa epidemic, where 28,616 cases of disease and 11,310 deaths were reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016.

The WHO is not only alarmed about the arrival of the virus in Uganda and on the Rwandan border, but also by the flare-up again in Beni. “The geographical expansion is now 500km,” said Prof Robert Steffen, chair of the IHR emergency committee on Ebola in DRC, as he announced their advice to Tedros.

The WHO’s declaration was widely applauded by Ebola experts and the aid organisations struggling with the epidemic on the ground.

“This is perhaps the most complicated epidemic the world has ever had to face, yet still the response in the DRC remains overstretched and underfunded,” said Dr Josie Golding, epidemics lead at Wellcome. “A step-up in the response, led by the DRC and with full international support, is critical if we are to bring the epidemic to an end. This must include enhanced diplomatic, public health, security and logistic efforts as well as releasing much needed financial resources.”

Larry Gostin, the director of the O’Neill Institute in Washington DC and an expert on global health law, said the announcement gave the clearest possible signal that the WHO needs more financial and human resources. “Without a surge response, it will be impossible to bring the DRC Ebola epidemic under control.”

He called for bold action. “Standard strategies like case identification, vaccination and treatment can’t succeed in a complex humanitarian crisis like the situation in the DRC. Responders in the field are facing intense violence along with deep community mistrust. They often can’t get into the hot zone due to escalating violence and they can’t find cases to vaccinate and treat because families are hiding the sick. There has been no clear strategy to break the vicious cycle of disease, violence and distrust.”

The status quo is no longer tenable, Gostin said. “The complacency in the international community, including the United States, is crippling the response.”

The British Red Cross, Mercy Corps and World Vision, all of which are working on the ground, said they hoped the declaration would lead to a significant scale-up in the response. “A huge push and significant funding across the region are now required to contain this outbreak and bring it to an end. Otherwise, there is a real risk we will see a catastrophic spread of this deadly virus,” said Sarah Clayton-Fisher of the British Red Cross.

The possible arrival of the virus in Goma has long been feared by the agencies responding to the outbreak, because of its density and the movement of people through it to Rwanda.

Ebola in the DRC: everything you need to know Read more

“Ring” vaccination of the contacts of those who fall ill and their contacts has not succeeded in limiting the spread of the virus. There is mistrust of the vaccine. Some people falsely believe that the vaccine is what is making people sick, in part because it cannot protect anyone who is already infected when they have the shot. It is also very hard to track and trace the friends and relatives of the sick in areas where violent conflict is taking place.

“If we cannot contain Ebola at the epicentre, we will continue to see cases spread to metropolitan areas and across borders,” said Bob Kitchen, International Rescue Committee’s vice-president for emergencies.

“The inability to build community trust has proven a major barrier to stopping the spread of this disease. Local communities are perplexed and frustrated by continued increase in the number of people dying juxtaposed with a massive influx of international organisations into the region during the past year.”

There have been four declarations of public health emergencies since 2005, when the WHO’s new regulations were introduced: swine flu in 2009, polio in 2014, when there was a resurgence after near-eradication, Ebola in west Africa in 2014 and the Zika virus in Brazil in 2016. </s> GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - United Nations investigators have discovered five probable mass grave sites in eastern Congo’s Ituri province where an outbreak of ethnic violence has killed at least 263 people, a U.N. peacekeeping mission said.

The report from the mission provides the most comprehensive portrait to date of the human cost of months of violence between Lendu pastoralists and Hema herders since December that has caused one of Africa’s most serious refugee crises.

Violence across eastern Congo’s borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi has spiked since President Joseph Kabila refused to step aside at the end of his mandate in 2016, eroding state authority and emboldening armed groups.

The mostly Lendu-led attacks have forced more than 60,000 people to flee across Lake Albert into Uganda, and the U.N. refugee agency expects 200,000 refugees to reach Uganda this year. Tens of thousands of others have fled to other towns inside Congo.

The investigators did not provide details about the suspected mass graves, but said that about 120 towns and villages were pillaged and destroyed between December and mid-March.

According to Hema refugees Reuters interviewed last month in Uganda, Lendu groups typically attack Hema villages shortly after dusk with guns, machetes, axes and bows and arrows. [nL1N1R20YN]

The precise motives for the attacks are difficult to pin down but tensions between the two communities have long been stoked by disagreements over cattle grazing rights, crops, gold mining and political representation.

Open warfare between the two communities from 1999-2007 is estimated to have killed some 50,000 people in one of the bloodiest chapters of a civil war in eastern Congo that left millions dead from conflict, hunger and disease.

Aid agencies say the crisis is a “mega-disaster” and are trying to raise over $2 billion to respond but Congo’s government has accused them of exaggerating the situation and boycotted a recent donor conference. [nL8N1RQ2TH] </s> GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, April 26 (Reuters) - U nited Nations investigators have discovered five probable mass grave sites in eastern Congo's Ituri province where an outbreak of ethnic violence has killed at least 263 people, a U.N. peacekeeping mission said.

The report from the mission provides the most comprehensive portrait to date of the human cost of months of violence between Lendu pastoralists and Hema herders since December that has caused one of Africa's most serious refugee crises.

Violence across eastern Congo's borderlands with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi has spiked since President Joseph Kabila refused to step aside at the end of his mandate in 2016, eroding state authority and emboldening armed groups.

The mostly Lendu-led attacks have forced more than 60,000 people to flee across Lake Albert into Uganda, and the U.N. refugee agency expects 200,000 refugees to reach Uganda this year. Tens of thousands of others have fled to other towns inside Congo.

The investigators did not provide details about the suspected mass graves, but said that about 120 towns and villages were pillaged and destroyed between December and mid-March.

According to Hema refugees Reuters interviewed last month in Uganda, Lendu groups typically attack Hema villages shortly after dusk with guns, machetes, axes and bows and arrows.

The precise motives for the attacks are difficult to pin down but tensions between the two communities have long been stoked by disagreements over cattle grazing rights, crops, gold mining and political representation.

Open warfare between the two communities from 1999-2007 is estimated to have killed some 50,000 people in one of the bloodiest chapters of a civil war in eastern Congo that left millions dead from conflict, hunger and disease.

Aid agencies say the crisis is a "mega-disaster" and are trying to raise over $2 billion to respond but Congo's government has accused them of exaggerating the situation and boycotted a recent donor conference. </s> KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A Congolese civil society group says that 18 people have been killed in attacks by suspected Allied Democratic Forces rebels in the eastern city of Beni, an added threat to the city and region which are battling an Ebola outbreak.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said it and other aid agencies have been forced to temporarily suspend activities in Beni because of Saturday's attack.

"This points to an increasingly worrisome security situation across the country," the group said in a statement Monday. "NRC has also had to interrupt multiple aid activities due to intensifying and more frequent armed clashes in Djugu territory in the northern province of Ituri and Fizi territory of South Kivu over the last two weeks. These suspensions have disrupted aid to thousands of people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection."

Stephen Lamin, area manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said that it was a worst-case scenario. The group is providing food, household items, education and legal counselling in the region.

Congo's health minister, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, said that health staff had to only temporarily suspend field activities that required home visits, but otherwise "that all pillars of the response remain fully operational."

"Despite the unfortunate events of the last few days, the Ministry of Health remains fully committed to your community," he said.

Health centers, including the Beni Ebola Treatment Center, all remained open, among other responses, he said.

"We share your sorrow. Do not let these tragic incidents divide us," he said. "The only way to end the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic remains the mobilization and commitment of the community alongside the health authorities."

The U.N.-backed Radio Okapi reported Sunday that 14 civilians and four soldiers were killed in the attacks Saturday in the Rwenzori community of Beni.

The ADF rebels attacked a military position and the battle caused the deaths. Radio Okapi also reported many market stalls were looted by the suspected Uganda-based rebels.

Though agencies continued the health work to contain Ebola, such attacks hamper those efforts.

This latest outbreak in the country's east has infected at least 118 people, including 69 people who have died, according to Congo's Health Ministry.

Congo's 10th outbreak was declared on Aug. 1. More than 10,000 people have since been vaccinated.

Congo's east is home to many armed groups vying for control of the mineral-rich region.

The ADF rebels have killed more than 1,500 people in the Beni region since October 2014. The rebels formed in the 1990s, eventually relocating from neighboring Uganda to Congo. </s> "There are a few factors that have given us concern that the outbreak has the potential to expand. First, is the involvement of a town, Mbandaka, which is the capital of the Equator province … Secondly, that town is on the Congo River and its tributaries, which ultimately connect this outbreak potentially to Kinshasa and also the surrounding countries such as the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic," Salama said at an information session on the Ebola outbreak of the 71st World Health Assembly.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, stated that the organization's regional office was preparing DR Congo's neighboring countries for the EVD prevention.

"As immediate next steps we will continue the capacity building and training of multidisciplinary teams in each of the countries on managing Ebola, starting with the Congo and the Central African Republic, and are helping them also to start working on their resource mobilization to up their preparedness," Moeti said at the session.

​The WHO in its response to the EVD outbreak is prioritizing nine countries neighboring the DR Congo: Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Zambia.

​According to media reports, citing DR Congo's Ministry of Public Health, the number of people now confirmed to be infected with the Ebola virus in the country has risen to 28, while a total of 51 EVD cases have been reported in the region.

​The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans from animals and is estimated by the WHO to have a 50-percent fatality rate. The DR Congo's latest EVD outbreak was in July-November 2014. This was the country's seventh outbreak. According to the information provided by the WHO, during the 2014 epidemic, a total of 66 EVD cases were registered, and as many as 49 cases resulted in death. </s> File photo taken on October 11, 2016 shows a mother breastfeeding her child suffering from acute malnutrition at the clinic run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Aweil, northern Bahr al-Ghazal, South Sudan. The government declared famine on February 20, 2017 in parts of the country following more than three years of war. AFP PHOTO

South Sudan's government said Monday that more than three years of war have led to famine in parts of the nation, a tragedy aid agencies criticised as "man-made".

Isaiah Chol Aruai, the chairman of South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics, said some parts of the northern Greater Unity region "are classified in famine, or... risk of famine".

A joint press statement from aid agencies said 100,000 people were affected by the famine, which threatened another one million people in the coming months.

"A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger. The situation is the worst hunger catastrophe since fighting erupted more than three years ago," said the statement signed by the World Food Programme (WFP), UN children's agency UNICEF and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, was engulfed by civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him.

An August 2015 peace deal was left in tatters when fighting broke out in Juba in July last year.

Violence — initially between ethnic Dinka supporters of Kiir and ethnic Nuer supporters of Machar — has since spread to other parts of the country, engulfing other ethnic groups and grievances.

The United Nations has warned of potential genocide and ethnic cleansing, and there is no prospect of peace in sight.

Unity State, a traditional Nuer homeland and birthplace of Machar, has been one of the flashpoints in the conflict.

"The convergence of evidence shows that the long term effects of the conflict coupled with high food prices, economic crisis, low agricultural production and depleted livelihood options" have resulted in 4.9 million people going hungry, Aruai said.

The famine classification is according to an internationally recognised sliding scale of hunger in which an extreme lack of food has lead to starvation and death.

"The main tragedy of the report that has been launched today... is that the problem is man-made," said Eugene Owusu, the United Nation's Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan.

"The underlining drivers have been there for some time and we have all known that we have a major food crisis."
The annual Thomson Reuters poll among aid agencies shows that the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with its war, hunger and Ebola outbreak, is perceived as the most neglected crisis of 2018. The Central African Republic, with its civil war, is a close second.