"After fighting of an intensity not seen in the region for decades, and which has taken a heavy human toll, Goma is facing a humanitarian emergency (...). Goma airport is a lifeline," Lemarquis said in a statement. your social network X account.
"I urge all parties to assume their responsibilities and do everything possible to ensure the urgent reopening of the airport. Every hour lost puts more lives at risk," he added.
Lemarquis warned that a large number of wounded needed urgent attention, but said the medical infrastructure remained overwhelmed and that "thousands of civilians are still deprived of life-saving assistance."
Without Goma airport operating, he said, "the evacuation of seriously injured people, the delivery of medical supplies and the reception of humanitarian reinforcements are at a standstill."
"This is an absolute emergency situation. All parties involved must act without delay to allow the resumption of humanitarian aid flights and ensure access to relief supplies. The survival of thousands of people depends on it," he concluded.
The ceasefire declared on Monday by the rebel group Movimento 23 de Março (M23), for humanitarian reasons, in the east of the DR Congo, a nation neighboring Angola, comes into effect this Tuesday, after the group took Goma on 27. January, following days of intense fighting with the Democratic Congolese army and its allies.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has put the death toll in Goma and its surrounding areas at 900 following fighting that took place last week, although the Congolese government said on Monday that 2,000 had already been buried. bodies in the area.
OCHA also warned in its latest report that "many corpses still litter the city streets" and detailed that 2,880 injured people were admitted to medical centers between January 26 and 30, although the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated the number in 2958.
Monday marked a week since the M23 - a group made up mostly of Tutsis victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide - occupied Goma, in an offensive that has increased tension with neighboring Rwanda, as the Congolese government accuses Kigali of supporting the M23, an allegation confirmed by the UN.
In turn, Rwanda and M23 accuse the Democratic-Congolese army of cooperating with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a group founded in 2000 by genocide leaders and other exiled Rwandans to regain political power in their country, a collaboration that was also corroborated by the UN.
M23's armed activity resumed in November 2021 with lightning attacks in North Kivu and has since advanced on several fronts to reach Goma, the capital with around two million inhabitants.
Since 1998, the east of the DR Congo, a neighboring country of Angola, has been plunged into a conflict fueled by rebel militias and the army, despite the presence of the UN peacekeeping mission (Monusco).
