At the close of an international conference in Paris on the Great Lakes region, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that €1.5 billion has been pledged in aid. Meanwhile the airport in Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will reopen to humanitarian flights.
Millions of people are facing hunger in the DRC, which has been hit hard by a sharp drop in foreign aid, the United Nations warned on Thursday, as the United States and other wealthy nations dramatically scale back international assistance.
The conference in Paris, co-hosted by France and Togo, and where around 60 countries and organisations were represented, mobilised more than €1.5 billion in international aid for the region, Macron announced on Thursday.
“We cannot remain silent spectators of the tragedy unfolding in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said.
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The United Nations‘ appeal for around $2.5 billion in humanitarian assistance for DRC had so far only been 16 percent funded.
However, part of the total pledged in Paris includes previously announced funds.
The aid also includes medicines, food and funds for development and peace-building initiatives.
While some humanitarian groups regretted the absence of a timetable for funding to be released, they welcomed the announcement.
“The Paris Conference sent an important signal – at the level of rhetoric and pledges, international solidarity with the people of the DRC remains alive,” said Luc Lamprière, Director of the Forum of International NGOs in the DRC.
“The financial announcements – even if some simply recycle old commitments – and the diplomatic declarations are welcome. However, they will only have meaning if they translate into concrete action on the ground, starting with the immediate removal of the administrative and logistical barriers that are suffocating the humanitarian response.”
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Partial reopening of Goma airport
The DRC is rich in natural resources, especially lucrative minerals. But three decades of conflict in the country’s northeast, as different factions fight over the resources, have claimed millions of lives and left the region ravaged.
Violence has intensified since 2021 with the resurgence of the anti-government M23, which the UN says is supported by neighbouring Rwanda and its army – charges denied by Rwanda.
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, attending the conference, announced an emergency plan for the reconstruction of North and South Kivu, valued at $5 billion, to be mobilised by 2026 “once the conflict has ended”.
He did not specify how the plan would be financed, stating merely that a law would define how the funds are to be managed.
The M23 seized the major cities of Goma (North Kivu) in January and Bukavu (South Kivu) in February, closing off access to Goma’s airport.
Macron announced that the key airport would open “in the coming weeks” for humanitarian flights, along with secure corridors for aid delivery.
“This access is essential and will be carried out respecting Congolese sovereignty so that the first humanitarian flights can resume without delay,” he added.
Obstacles to aid
Corneille Nangaa, coordinator of the AFC/M23 movement – which was not invited to the conference – described the decision as “ill-timed, disconnected from the realities on the ground and taken without prior consultation”.
Rwanda‘s Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, expressed similar doubts. “Paris cannot reopen an airport, as the primary stakeholders are absent,” he told reporters, referring to the M23 group.
He said the issue should be discussed within the framework of negotiations in Qatar between DRC authorities and the anti-government group.
Meanwhile humanitarian organisations welcomed the potential reopening, but remained cautious.
“We would be very happy to use Goma airport, but it’s not the only obstacle preventing aid from arriving,” said Kevin Goldberg, director of aid group Solidarites International, noting that ground transportation is crucial.
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DRC and Rwanda hold fresh talks in Washington to revive fragile peace deal
Humanitarian crisis
NGOs have been calling for secure humanitarian corridors to be reopened to affected areas of the vast central African country.
More than 21 million people need humanitarian aid in the DRC – nearly one-fifth of the population, according to Oxfam France.
More than 1.6 million people have had to flee their homes since the beginning of the year, bringing the total number of internally displaced people to 5.2 million.
President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo, the African Union’s mediator for the Great Lakes region, called for transparency regarding humanitarian aid.
“Aid must alleviate suffering without fostering dependency, stabilise without freezing power dynamics. That is why, to protect the benefits of aid and those who deliver it, stronger African oversight is needed,” he said.
(with newswires)