Ongoing rebel attacks in the easternDRC continue to displace thousands of civilians. The HUTU rebel group the FDLRhas been attacking towns and villages.
It'sbelieved the attacks are in retaliation for a joint Congolese-Rwandan militaryoffensive that was launched against the rebel group in January. Rwandaconsiders the FDLR a threat to its national security, since its members tookpart in the 1994 genocide.
UNHCRspokesman Andrej Mahecic, in Geneva, says, "There are continuing attacks by theHutu rebel group, the FDLR, and it's still causing displacement over a widearea of the North Kivu Province.? We had already reported earlier this monththat basically since the end of the joint military operation the FDLR has beenon a rampage and has?attacked the civilians, attacked the villages?includingkilling, looting, kidnapping and raping of civilians, also ambushing andburning vehicles," he says.
Themost recent attacks have occurred in the Lubero territory, northeast of theprovincial capital of Goma, displacing 30,000 people in the last two weeks.
"Thesenewly displaced families in this area report that the FDLR raids increasedduring the first half of March and there are also numerous reports of humanrights violations," he says.
Anotherrebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has also been attacking towns andvillages in the eastern DRC. Asked whether the FDLR attacks have increasedsince the joint military operation against them, Mahecic says, "We arewitnessing a series of conflicts by the different parties and differentmilitias in the eastern Congo for?more than two years. It has been growing moredifficult by the day, (a) more dramatic situation. We are now basically at thepoint where there are almost a million displaced in the North Kivu Provincealone. In the entire east of the DRC, there are 1.4 million displaced. So, thesituation is not just the result of one particular minor conflict or a minor seriesof conflicts."
TheUNHCR says "it's reinforcing its activities in Masisi and trying to establish apresence" in Lubero," which would allow it to distribute emergency suppliesmore quickly to the displaced.
Mahecicsays, "In the Masisi area, we are running four camps.? These camps arebasically the IDP (internally displaced persons) sites hosting people who hadbeen displaced during earlier conflicts in the North Kivu. However, there isnow more displacement there and also it's extremely difficult, at this point?tomove around this territory because it's so volatile and insecure."
While the UNHCR operates IDP camps,many civilians have found shelter elsewhere, hoping to avoid further attacks.Mahecic says, "Many people are in the bush. Many people are looking for thesafety in the bush, away from their homes and properties."
There are about dozen UNHCR IDP campsin North Kivu sheltering about 111,000 people. "But the overall displacement?isclose to a million people. So, many families are sheltering themselves innumerous makeshift sites across the province. They are also sometimes with hostfamilies, with friends and relatives they have maybe in the area. Over the pastmonths, also, almost 50,000 Congolese have crossed into Uganda and sought shelterthere. So this is all a result of continued fighting in this area for more thantwo past years," he says.