MASSIVE DISPLACEMENT IN EASTERN Democratic Republic of Congo

 

NEW YORK, 19 December (OCHA) -- Fighting between armed groups and attacks against civilians have caused tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes in the territory of Lubero, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, over the past few days.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in that area reports that the populations of entire villages -- tens of thousands of people -- have fled their homes near Kanyabayonga in North Kivu province, which is adjacent to Rwanda.  Helicopter reconnaissance flights confirmed that several villages along the road from Kanyabayonga to Lubero are 80 per cent empty today.  This new displacement is in addition to the 30,000 people who fled their homes in Kanyabayonga earlier this week.

“People have had no choice but to run.  Unless the violence stops immediately, this massive displacement will have disastrous consequences for civilians.  It is too dangerous to deliver aid to them at this point”, said Mr. Jan Egeland, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator.

A joint mission between OCHA, the non-governmental organization Agro Action Allemand and the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), managed to access the area north of Kanyabayonga, finding towns and villages empty.  Few displaced people were seen on the main road.  Witnesses report that the population has taken to the forest, fearing attacks in the area.

Humanitarian organizations had been forced to withdraw from the area earlier in the week due to the deteriorating security situation.  The civilian population is fleeing not only direct military action, but also constant harassment from armed groups.  “Witnesses report that troops arrived in the area with little or no logistical support and are now taxing the population for food and other goods”, said Mr. Egeland.

The inhabitants of Kanyabayonga fled their homes last week when it became clear that their town was to become the front line in fighting between government troops and mutinous elements of the Democratic Republic army’s 8th Military Region.  The populations of several other nearby towns and villages fled over the next few days.  Further, tens of thousands who had fled fighting earlier in the year were forced to flee the places in which they had sought refuge.

“The longer people are displaced, the greater their needs will become.  People have fled with no more than they could carry”, said Mr Egeland.

According to the International Rescue Committee, a non-governmental organization, the number of people displaced by the last six years of conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is now estimated at 3 million -- 2.5 million in the east alone.  The International Rescue Committee estimates that 3.8 million people have died as a direct or indirect result of the conflict over the last six years.

For further information, please call: Brian Grogan in New York, tel.:  201 315 1827; or Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva, tel.: 41 22 917 2653, mobile:  41(0) 79 473 4570.

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