SRINAGAR, India & KINSHASA, DRC, Jul 29 2025 (IPS)* —The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stands on the precipice of a profound environmental and social crisis, as the government prepares to auction 55 new oil blocks that cover more than half the country’s landmass.
Activists march in the street of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo to demand climate justice and an end to oil exploration in the Virunga National Park. Credit: MNKF Creatives
Touted as a pathway to economic growth, the move has triggered fierce backlash from scientists, civil society groups, Indigenous leaders, and international conservationists, who warn that the proposed fossil fuel expansion threatens some of the most ecologically and culturally significant landscapes on Earth.
Aid cuts and humanitarian deadlock are fuelling a full-blown public health disaster.
In Sake and Minova, 500 people are sharing a single water tap.
Francoise lost six children in the conflict in DRC. She has been displaced to a camp in Bunia with her five remaining children after their village was attacked. Photo: John Wessels/Oxfam
Six months since the renewed war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a full-blown public health emergency is accelerating, Oxfam warned on 24 July 2025
Since January, more than 35,000 suspected cholera cases and at least 852 related deaths have been reported – an average of more than four deaths every day and a 62 percent increase compared to 2024.
(UN News)* — Some 80,000 children are estimated to be at high risk of cholera in West and Central Africa as the rainy season begins across the region, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday [].
“The heavy rains, widespread flooding and the high level of displacement are all fuelling the risk of cholera transmission and putting the lives of children at risk,” saidUNICEF regional director for West and Central Africa Gilles Fagninou.
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with bacteria. The disease can be treated with oral rehydration solution and antibiotics but can be fatal within hours if untreated.
(UN News)* —People in Haiti have expressed “despair” following the “abrupt suspension” of a wide range of humanitarian services, according to the UN aid coordinationoffice, OCHA, in the Caribbean country.
The cancellation of most US funding in January means many services to the most vulnerable people have been cut or put on hold.
Multiple political, security and socioeconomic crises have led to 5.7 million people suffering from a lack of food and have forced 1.3 million people to flee their homes.
With a dramatic reduction in funding, Haiti faces a crucial “turning point”.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 