Aid Agencies: 400,000 Children in Congo at Risk of Starvation

Some 400,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk of starving to death due to conflict, displacement and funding shortages. (AFP)
Some 400,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk of starving to death due to conflict, displacement and funding shortages. (AFP)
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Aid Agencies: 400,000 Children in Congo at Risk of Starvation

Some 400,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk of starving to death due to conflict, displacement and funding shortages. (AFP)
Some 400,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk of starving to death due to conflict, displacement and funding shortages. (AFP)

Some 400,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk of starving to death due to conflict, displacement and funding shortages, warned aid agencies.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that militia fighting that broke out in Congo’s central Kasai region last year has led to an eight-fold increase in hunger, leaving 3.2 million people short of food.

More than 3,000 people have been killed and 1.7 million forced to flee their homes in Kasai since the start of the insurrection by the Kamuina Nsapu militia, which wants the withdrawal of military forces from the area.

Fighting has prevented farmers from tilling their land for three consecutive agricultural seasons, Oxfam said.

“Vicious conflict has left millions of people in Kasai severely hungry and the world cannot continue to ignore this scale of human suffering,” Jose Garcia Barahona, the British charity Oxfam’s country director, said in a statement.

“Governments and international donors need to urgently plug the funding gap,” he said, adding that Oxfam and the UN have already halved emergency food rations for thousands of people.

As the security situation has stabilized in parts of the region, some people have begun to return home, the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) said in a statement.

“Families have little to harvest from their own land and nothing to sell at the markets,” it said, adding that conditions are not expected to improve before June.

The UN has appealed for $1.7 billion for Congo in 2018, its third largest appeal after Syria and Yemen, and more than double the amount it requested this year.

Donors have only provided “a fraction” of the sum required, Oxfam said, adding that its project may have to close in March.

More than 200 health centers have been destroyed, looted or damaged, UNICEF said, increasing the risk of diseases like measles spreading.

“Guaranteeing access to basic health and nutrition services to returning populations is essential to help malnourished children survive and thrive,” Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF’s acting representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said.

UNICEF said the children could die next year if not urgently reached with aid.

Oyewale added that the true scale of the problem is becoming clear as security improves in some areas and families return home.

UNICEF says about 220 health centers have been destroyed or damaged and crops have been neglected, with 1.4 million people displaced.



Mexican Authorities to Seal Secret Tunnel on US Border

 A National Guard agent inspects an illegal tunnel bound to El Paso in US, at the Mexico-US border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 18, 2025. (AFP)
A National Guard agent inspects an illegal tunnel bound to El Paso in US, at the Mexico-US border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 18, 2025. (AFP)
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Mexican Authorities to Seal Secret Tunnel on US Border

 A National Guard agent inspects an illegal tunnel bound to El Paso in US, at the Mexico-US border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 18, 2025. (AFP)
A National Guard agent inspects an illegal tunnel bound to El Paso in US, at the Mexico-US border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 18, 2025. (AFP)

A clandestine tunnel discovered on the US-Mexico border allowing entry from Ciudad Juarez into the Texan city of El Paso will be sealed by Mexican authorities, an army official said Saturday, adding that its construction was under investigation.

Discovered on January 10 by US and Mexican security agencies, the tunnel measures approximately 300 meters (1,000 feet) in length on the Mexican side and is equipped with lighting, ventilation and is reinforced to prevent collapses.

Hidden in a storm sewer system operating between both cities, its access is about 1.8 meters high and 1.2 meters wide (6 feet high and 4 feet wide), making for easy passage of people or contraband, said General Jose Lemus, commander of Ciudad Juarez's military garrison, which is guarding the tunnel.

The tunnel's construction "must have taken a long time... it could have been one or two years," Lemus told reporters, declining to give details about how long it had been operating as well as its possible builders and operators.

He said the Mexican Attorney General's Office was responsible for the investigation and would be in charge of determining if there was complicity by the authorities due to the fact that it was built without them noticing.

Lemus also said clues about the tunnel's existence and location were discussed by human traffickers on social media platforms like TikTok.

Ahead of the US presidential inauguration of Donald Trump on Monday, both sides of the US-Mexico border have reinforced security measures, as the returning Republican has vowed a massive deportation of migrants soon after he takes office.

In the state of Chihuahua, which includes Ciudad Juarez, authorities reported a fire in a temporary camp for undocumented migrants, which led to the evacuation of 39 adults and 17 minors, according to the state police.

According to the Mexican newspaper Reforma, the fire was started by some of the migrants who were camping there to resist attempts by immigration authorities to detain them and transfer them to Mexico City for later deportation.

The National Institute of Migration did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.