1 Million Flee Fighting, Massacres in Eastern DR Congo
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As the UN and aid agencies struggle to get assistance to Congolese refugees fleeing the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a new report suggests as many as 1 million people have been displaced and may be malnourished. DR Congo’s multi-factional ethnically rooted civil war, which has changed form and scope continually since 1998, has left at least 5.4 million killed, with an estimated 45,000 dying every month at present.
Rebel forces say they have pulled back from the city of Goma to leave a “humanitarian corridor”, through which aid can reach desperate refugees, many of whom have been cramped in makeshift camps, where their condition has been worsened by overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and competition for what scarce food and water has been available. Some displaced residents had sought to re-enter the city of Goma, with witnesses telling the press that women were giving birth with no medical care and no shelter.
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According to CNN:
Despite a rebel cease-fire declared late Wednesday, security in Congo’s North Kivu province was tenuous, with many aid organizations refusing or reluctant to venture out to help the homeless, authorities said.
About 50 medical personnel from Medecins sans Frontieres can move throughout the area relatively unobstructed and supplies are getting in, said Marie-Noelle Rodrigue, the agency’s local emergency coordinator.
There have been “isolated cases of cholera”, but no mass infection as yet. The displacement of 1 million people, however, may create the ideal breeding conditions for a cholera outbreak, and aid workers will be vigilant to prevent conditions for any epidemic. General Laurent Nkunda, one rebel leader, says his group will maintain its ceasefire to help deliver aid or facilitate the work of aid groups.
The UN High Commission for Refugees says it has reports that refugee camps had been “forcibly emptied, looted and burned”, and would investigate the allegations. There have been allegations of brutal violence against civilians by retreating government forces, including torture, murder and rape. The government accuses rebels of similar atrocities.
As many as 14 neighboring states have been said to have played a role in stoking the factional violence throughout DR Congo’s long civil war. Underlying reasons for the conflict include spillover from the Rwandan genocide, which have inflamed other tribal rivalries, as well as territorial claims and foreign nations’ interests in controlling valuable Congolese natural resources. Some believe DR Congo’s mineral resource base could make it potentially one of the wealthiest nations in Africa, were it to establish a viable long-term government and a prosperous, secure economy.
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