Democratic Republic of Congo: armed men attacked a hospital and killed patients, Ituri is almost completely isolated due to fighting

ROMA – The intensity of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo is growing. In the province of Ituri, a group of armed men, on the night between 6 and 7 March, attacked and ransacked the hospital in the city of Drodro, stole medical equipment and killed a patient who was in bed, reports Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “What happened in Drodro is terrifying,” comments Stéphanie Giandonato, MSF program manager for the DRC. “All parties to the conflict should respect and protect patients, medical personnel, health facilities, civilians and humanitarian workers.”

The facts. The wave of violence has triggered a mass exodus from the area, with thousands of people seeking protection and safe havens in the displaced persons camp set up in Rho, which is located about 10km north-east of Drodro. The site, originally designed to accommodate a maximum of 30,000 people, now hosts more than double that number. The hospital that was attacked last week can no longer function, so thousands more people in Drodro have been left without treatment and without the possibility of medical assistance. The whole area is isolated – underlines the organization – for the refugees in the Rho camp it is difficult to even find water and food.

The evacuation. After the hospital attack, MSF temporarily evacuated staff from the city, although its teams continue to provide primary healthcare, critical care stabilization care, sexual and reproductive counseling, mental health support and water services and sanitation for people taking refuge in the Rho camp. The problem is that as the violence worsens, the area becomes less and less safe and more and more isolated and the risk is that supplies will run out.

The context. At the end of 2023, the Democratic Republic of Congo had around 7 million internally displaced people, many of whom lived in the eastern provinces, victims of fighting between the DRC Armed Forces and the March 23 Movement (M23). The use of heavy artillery and mortars in densely populated areas such as the outskirts of the city of Goma caused enormous damage. Civilian infrastructures such as hospitals, schools and camps for displaced people are now routinely targeted, worsening the death toll and refugees. To escape the violence, almost 215 thousand people have abandoned their homes and villages since the beginning of this year, joining the 500 thousand displaced people already living in the areas around Goma.

Threats from armed groups to humanitarian workers. In North Kivu there are 2.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Some roads are regularly blocked by clashes between armed groups, meaning aid workers are unable to work. Hundreds of civilians need water, food and medicines, but it is increasingly difficult to reach them, explains the French organization Hiwhich works in the DRC but which, like other NGOs, is evacuating staff from the most dangerous areas to concentrate operations around Goma, where the flow of arriving refugees is constantly increasing.