Aid group: Eastern DRCongo "climate of fear"

Jul 10, 2009, 15:12 GMT

Geneva - Warning of a deteriorating humanitarian and security situation in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an aid group said Friday residents there live in a 'permanent climate of fear.'

In addition to the tens of thousands uprooted from their homes, 1,173 people have been killed and 1673 abducted between December 2008 and May 2009 in the Haut and Bas Uele regions, according to the United Nations.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said the inhabitants 'live in constant fear and face a critical humanitarian situation.'

'There is an average of one attack per day,' Christophe Fournier, a senior official with MSF, told journalists in Geneva

Because of the raging insecurity, in part due to raids by rebel groups and their fights with the national army, the aid group said it had to limit its medical activities and was unable to reach many people seeking shelter in the bush with limited supplies of food and medicines.

The situation has soured since the radical Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan movement, spread into DRCongo. Armies of DRCongo, Sudan and Uganda have been chasing the group.

The 'viscous circle of violence' was having a devastating impact on the population, and MSF warned it could spread instability to the neighboring countries.

In the North and South Kivu regions, near the country's eastern borders with Rwanda and Uganda, a second conflict persists. Extreme acts, including murders, systematic destruction of homes and sexual violence, are being perpetrated on a regular basis against civilians, human rights and humanitarian group have reported.

Fournier said his group was asking for better respect from the armed groups for the humanitarian activities aid organizations were trying to conduct in the area and for better protection for the civilian population.

Recent reports from the UN and Human Rights Watch said Congolese soldiers were involved in rapes.

'Rape is definitely a weapon being used against the civilian population,' said Fournier, noting that his group was trying to help victims, but was in no position to stop the occurrence.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has estimated 400,000 people are displaced in eastern Congo.