More than 100,000 have fled DR Congo violence
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The violence in eastern DR Congo has forced more than 100,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries in just months, the United Nations said on Friday.
“In less than three months, the number of Congolese fleeing to neighbouring countries has surged to over 100,000,” a spokeswoman for the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR said.
Violence has roiled the mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for months as the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has waged a lightning push over the last few months.
Their advance has driven the Congolese army out of much of North and South Kivu provinces and has raised fears of a wider regional war.
The UN agency said on Friday that many of those displaced by the violence were doing so again in a region scarred by decades of conflict and violence.
“In and around the city of Goma in North Kivu, sites that were previously home to 400,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have all been destroyed, leaving families stranded without shelter or protection,” it said.
“Due to funding cuts, humanitarian partners are struggling to rebuild shelters, leaving displaced people with few options for survival,” it said.
