GENEVA / ANGOLA DRC RETURNS
30-Oct-2018
00:02:02
Tens of thousands of children who have been returned from Angola to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) need help urgently, UN Children’s Fund UNICEF said on Tuesday. UNTV CH
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STORY: GENEVA / ANGOLA DRC RETURNS
TRT: 2:02
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 30 OCTOBER 2018 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
TRT: 2:02
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 30 OCTOBER 2018 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Exterior shot, Palais des Nations.
2. Wide shot, podium, journalists
3. Med shot, journalists.
4. Close up, journalist
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“UNICEF estimates that among the returnees more than 80,000 - eight zero – 80,000 are children, and these children are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.”
7. Med shot, journalists.
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“Most of these children came from Angola, they, many of them were part of the mining business and they don’t speak French, they speak a little Lingala, they speak Portuguese and it’s, obviously, even more difficult for them to go to school, I mean, it’s currently impossible for children just to integrate the schools in Kasai due to this additional language barrier.”
9. Close up, journalists.
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“Many children say they have to leave Angola with their, with some of their goods but very quickly and some of them are shocked.”
11. Close up, hands typing.
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“In Kamako, in the province of Kasai, we have listed 162 non-accompanied children, children who are alone. That’s only in Kamako, and there are many other places.”
13. Med shot, journalists.
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“There was a very, very serious crisis of malnutrition in Kasai and these children are coming in a very bad situation - very bad condition - from Angola; some of them are suffering from hypoglycaemia and there might be an increase of malnutrition, acute malnutrition, which makes a child more vulnerable to all kinds of disease.”
15. Close up, laptop screen, hands typing.
16. Med shot, podium, speakers.
17. Close up, journalists.
18. Close up, journalists
2. Wide shot, podium, journalists
3. Med shot, journalists.
4. Close up, journalist
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“UNICEF estimates that among the returnees more than 80,000 - eight zero – 80,000 are children, and these children are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.”
7. Med shot, journalists.
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“Most of these children came from Angola, they, many of them were part of the mining business and they don’t speak French, they speak a little Lingala, they speak Portuguese and it’s, obviously, even more difficult for them to go to school, I mean, it’s currently impossible for children just to integrate the schools in Kasai due to this additional language barrier.”
9. Close up, journalists.
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“Many children say they have to leave Angola with their, with some of their goods but very quickly and some of them are shocked.”
11. Close up, hands typing.
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“In Kamako, in the province of Kasai, we have listed 162 non-accompanied children, children who are alone. That’s only in Kamako, and there are many other places.”
13. Med shot, journalists.
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF:
“There was a very, very serious crisis of malnutrition in Kasai and these children are coming in a very bad situation - very bad condition - from Angola; some of them are suffering from hypoglycaemia and there might be an increase of malnutrition, acute malnutrition, which makes a child more vulnerable to all kinds of disease.”
15. Close up, laptop screen, hands typing.
16. Med shot, podium, speakers.
17. Close up, journalists.
18. Close up, journalists
STORYLINE
Tens of thousands of children who have been returned from Angola to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) need help urgently, UN Children’s Fund UNICEF said on Tuesday.
The warning concerns at least 80,000 youngsters who are part of a more than 300,000-strong wave of people who have mostly arrived in DRC’s troubled Kasais region since the start of the month.
“UNICEF estimates that among the returnees more than 80,000 - eight zero – 80,000 are children, and these children are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance,” spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told journalists in Geneva.
Some youngsters described having to leave Angola in a rush, after official efforts to reform the country’s diamond mining industry, which reportedly also involved ethnic violence and the destruction of DRC migrant workers’ homes.
“Many children say they have to leave Angola with their, with some of their goods but very quickly and some of them are shocked,” Boulierac said.
In addition to suffering from hunger and bad weather, those expelled from Angola have also faced extorsion at checkpoints along the country’s border with DRC, UNICEF said in a statement.
The influx of so many people to the Kasais is particularly concerning because the once relatively peaceful region was gripped by deadly conflict between local and government forces in 2016 and 2017 that destroyed vital public services.
“There was a very, very serious crisis of malnutrition in Kasai and these children are coming in a very bad situation - very bad condition - from Angola,” Boulierac said, before adding that dangerously low levels of blood sugar - hypoglycaemia – had been diagnosed in some youngsters. “Some of them are suffering from hypoglycaemia and there might be an increase of malnutrition, acute malnutrition, which makes a child more vulnerable to all kinds of disease.”
UNICEF’s immediate concerns about a rise in malnutrition levels have been heightened by the rapid increase in food prices. In Kamako, Kasai province, the cost of corn has doubled since the start of the crisis. As the UN agency ramps up its humanitarian aid effort – which includes installing safe drinking water points and emergency shelters in 27 settlement sites - it is also concerned about an as-yet unknown number of particularly vulnerable children travelling alone.
“In Kamako, in the province of Kasai, we have listed 162 non-accompanied children, children who are alone,” Boulierac said. “That’s only in Kamako, and there are many other places.”
Authorities are also wary of a resurgence of epidemics linked to the new arrivals, who are crowded into churches and markets in small border towns, the UNICEF spokesperson said, noting that illnesses including cholera and malaria are already endemic in DRC. In addition to limited access to safe water, food, healthcare and the threat of disease, the youngsters are also being deprived of education, UNICEF warned.
“Most of these children came from Angola, they, many of them were part of the mining business and they don’t speak French, they speak a little Lingala, they speak Portuguese and it’s, obviously, even more difficult for them to go to school,” Mr Boulierac said. “I mean, it’s currently impossible for children just to integrate the schools in Kasai due to this additional language barrier.”
To help the returnee children and their families, UNICEF has appealed for $3 million to fund its immediate response. An additional $6 million will be needed to support the resettlement of returned populations to their home or host areas, the UN agency said in a statement.
The warning concerns at least 80,000 youngsters who are part of a more than 300,000-strong wave of people who have mostly arrived in DRC’s troubled Kasais region since the start of the month.
“UNICEF estimates that among the returnees more than 80,000 - eight zero – 80,000 are children, and these children are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance,” spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told journalists in Geneva.
Some youngsters described having to leave Angola in a rush, after official efforts to reform the country’s diamond mining industry, which reportedly also involved ethnic violence and the destruction of DRC migrant workers’ homes.
“Many children say they have to leave Angola with their, with some of their goods but very quickly and some of them are shocked,” Boulierac said.
In addition to suffering from hunger and bad weather, those expelled from Angola have also faced extorsion at checkpoints along the country’s border with DRC, UNICEF said in a statement.
The influx of so many people to the Kasais is particularly concerning because the once relatively peaceful region was gripped by deadly conflict between local and government forces in 2016 and 2017 that destroyed vital public services.
“There was a very, very serious crisis of malnutrition in Kasai and these children are coming in a very bad situation - very bad condition - from Angola,” Boulierac said, before adding that dangerously low levels of blood sugar - hypoglycaemia – had been diagnosed in some youngsters. “Some of them are suffering from hypoglycaemia and there might be an increase of malnutrition, acute malnutrition, which makes a child more vulnerable to all kinds of disease.”
UNICEF’s immediate concerns about a rise in malnutrition levels have been heightened by the rapid increase in food prices. In Kamako, Kasai province, the cost of corn has doubled since the start of the crisis. As the UN agency ramps up its humanitarian aid effort – which includes installing safe drinking water points and emergency shelters in 27 settlement sites - it is also concerned about an as-yet unknown number of particularly vulnerable children travelling alone.
“In Kamako, in the province of Kasai, we have listed 162 non-accompanied children, children who are alone,” Boulierac said. “That’s only in Kamako, and there are many other places.”
Authorities are also wary of a resurgence of epidemics linked to the new arrivals, who are crowded into churches and markets in small border towns, the UNICEF spokesperson said, noting that illnesses including cholera and malaria are already endemic in DRC. In addition to limited access to safe water, food, healthcare and the threat of disease, the youngsters are also being deprived of education, UNICEF warned.
“Most of these children came from Angola, they, many of them were part of the mining business and they don’t speak French, they speak a little Lingala, they speak Portuguese and it’s, obviously, even more difficult for them to go to school,” Mr Boulierac said. “I mean, it’s currently impossible for children just to integrate the schools in Kasai due to this additional language barrier.”
To help the returnee children and their families, UNICEF has appealed for $3 million to fund its immediate response. An additional $6 million will be needed to support the resettlement of returned populations to their home or host areas, the UN agency said in a statement.
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