DRC

As the humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo grows, with thousands of people fleeing new fighting in the past 48 hours, Oxfam is stepping up the supply of life-saving aid to more than 80,000 people in and around Goma.

More than 760,000 people have been displaced in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since the beginning of 2012, in the Kivu provinces alone.

Sally Chin of Oxfam said:

Last week, Malian singer and guitarist Afel Bocoum was joined in Mali by British musician Damon Albarn for a unique music project aimed at drawing international attention to the growing humanitarian crisis in Mali and to the regional food crisis in West and Central Africa.

Renewed military action against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) risks triggering further devastation for local people in DR of Congo, Central African Republic, and South Sudan unless more is done to protect civilians and prevent retaliations by one of Africa’s most brutal rebel groups.

Oistein Thorsen, humanitarian campaigner at Oxfam International said:

The widely lauded bipartisan May 2010 law that made way for President Obama’s recent decision to send troops to fight the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) must be fully enacted to include the promised full range of non-military strategies to demobilize the LRA, protect civilians and develop the region.

Kinshasa One Two an album by DRC Music will be released digitally by Warp Records on 3rd October 2011 with a CD/vinyl release to follow on 7th November, to benefit Oxfam.

In a new protection survey undertaken by Oxfam in areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the majority of people said they feel less safe in 2011 than they did last year.

Each year Oxfam undertakes a far-reaching survey of unheard, conflict-affected people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.