Aid Groups Struggle to Reach Victims in Congo Conflict
Aid agencies are struggling to reach the quarter million people displaced by the recent flare up between rebels and government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Many aid workers in the central African nation were forced to evacuate and relief operations suspended as fighting between the parties infringed upon Goma, the provincial capital of the North Kivu region.
The rebel group, known as the National Congress for the Defense of the People, has taken control of several key towns in the eastern DRC and was closing in on Goma until it recently stopped its advance on the city and declared a unilateral ceasefire.
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But the rebels threatened to overthrow the government unless it agrees to direct talks, according to Bloomberg news on Monday.
Rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, justifies the fighting by claiming he is protecting the minority Tutsi population in the east from militias linked to the genocide in neighboring Rwanda in the early 1990s.
However, some see the rebel's motivation as being linked to control of natural resources in the area, including gold and coltan, which is used to make mobile phones.
More than 17,000 U.N. peace keeping troops are stationed in the region, but say the fighting is having a "catastrophic" humanitarian toll on the civilian population, according to U.K.-based Christian charity Tearfund.
"The U.N. peace keeping force needs a strengthened mandate which would allow it to enforce peace rather than just protect themselves," said David Bainbridge, Tearfund's disaster management director.
"Local people have been known to stone U.N. vehicles out of frustration for a lack of intervention to keep any peace," he said.
Although rebels have stopped their advance on Goma, the Tearfund country representative for the DRC says businesses in the city are closed and people are staying home because of the security concerns.
Bainbridge believes that the number of people affected by the conflict will grow even larger unless there is a cessation of hostilities.
"We are working with our partner agencies to help civilians caught up in this but we need the fighting to stop as soon as possible," he said. "Both sides are accused of disregarding the rights and safety of civilians and humanitarian access must be a priority."
Tearfund and its partner agencies that have remained in the area are developing plans to reach the people caught in the recent outbreak of violence. Tearfund has also increased its funding for relief supplies including food aid and medical supplies in the DRC that will be distributed once the security situation improves.
Meanwhile, the international Christian group World Vision is also rushing emergency supplies to DRC, including food, blankets and clean waters.
"Some of the people we spoke with said they were very hungry, had not eaten any food and did not know where they were going," said Michael Arunga, World Vision's emergency communications manager, in a report. "Most said they had lost all their property, leaving it behind when fleeing from the fighting."
It is estimated that more than 250,000 people have been displaced over the two months of fighting. Over the last two years, 850,000 people have been displaced as the result of the conflict regarded as largely forgotten by the world.
