By AFP
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled
inter-ethnic violence in northeastern areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo
in the past two weeks, local authorities and the United Nations said Tuesday.
The UN
refugee agency voiced deep concern over a flare-up in violence in DRC's
volatile Ituri Province, which it said had seen "multiple attacks"
involving the Hema and Lendu groups since early June.
Agency
spokesman Babar Baloch told journalists in Geneva the violence had forced more
than 300,000 to flee their homes, voicing fears "this escalation could
engulf large parts of the province".
Ituri
governor Jean Bamanisa Saidi said the number of displaced could be as high as
400,000.
"We
are overwhelmed with this surge in displacement," Saidi told AFP,
stressing the urgent need to ensure the safety of the displaced and "stop
the violence".
Local
officials last week said at least 50 people had been killed in a matter of days
in Ituri, while other sources put the death toll from the inter-ethnic violence
at over 70.
The cause
of the latest flare-up was not immediately clear, but it occurred in a region
where tens of thousands died in clashes between the Hema and Lendu ethnic
groups between 1999 and 2003.
Baloch
pointed out that attacks between the two communities had also displaced some
350,000 in late 2017 and early 2018, "but the situation had calmed".
He said
that "large-scale displacement" had been reported in three of Ituri's
five administrative territories, with people fleeing unrest in Djugu territory
especially.
Baloch
cited reports that both communities were "forming self-defence groups and
being involved in revenge killings.
"UNHCR
fears this escalation could engulf large parts of the province," he added.
"We
are gravely concerned for the safety of civilians after receiving reports of
killings, kidnappings, maiming and sexual violence being unleashed against
people."
The UN
displacement estimate was based on reports from local sources in 125 locations,
since humanitarian groups do not currently have access to most of the
violence-hit areas.
According
to the UN, most of those displaced had sought shelter within host communities,
but some 30,000 had arrived at existing displacement sites, "where
conditions were already dire".
The UNHCR
and its partners are working with the authorities to better understand needs on
the ground, said Baloch. But it was clear many of the displaced urgently
required shelter, basic household items and food.
"People
are now sleeping in the open or in public buildings," he said. Around
10,000 people were camped out in or near the church in Drodro in Djugu territory,
without any assistance, he added.
Another
20,000 people had reached Ituri's provincial capital Bunia, and efforts were
underway to find suitable sites to host them around the city, he added.
"Many
more people are trying to get to the relative safety of sites near Bunia but
are reportedly blocked by armed youth from both ethnic groups," he said,
adding that others were trying to cross Lake Albert over to Uganda. Bunia is
the main city in Ituri.
Ituri is
not the only part of DRC wracked by unrest.
The
country counts an estimated 4.5 million internally displaced people.
Ituri and
North Kivu province, just to the south, are also trying to roll back a major
epidemic of Ebola that has claimed more than 1,400 lives since last August.
Both provinces sit on DR Congo's eastern border with Uganda.
No comments:
Post a Comment