WUNRN
Internal Displacement Monitoring
Centre:
23 April 2009
Democratic
Republic of the Congo: Over 100,000 Displaced in North Kivu in Two Months
.....Following
her visit to DRC, the UN Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict noted that
since January 2009, about 1,200 children had been released as part of the
accelerated integration of the National Congress for the Defence of the People
(CNDP) and other armed groups into the national army in North Kivu.
However,
she voiced deep concern over the plight of children in DRC, and particularly of
girls, many of whom are suffering from sexual violence.
____________________________________________________________
Special
Representative of the Secretary-General
for
Children and Armed Conflict
Full
Article - http://www.un.org/children/conflict/pr/2009-04-21211.html
Excerpts:
New
York, Kinshasa, 21 April 2009- "Recent developments have opened new opportunities for
the release of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo," noted
Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for
Children and Armed Conflict during a press conference concluding her visit to
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)......
"Sexual
violence remains one of the most critical concerns in the DRC, devastating the
lives of thousands of girls," said Ms. Coomaraswamy. At a children's
transit center in Masisi, she met with girls formerly associated with Mai Mai
militias, who told her horrific stories of grave violations, including rape.
The Special Representative welcomed the national comprehensive strategy to
combat sexual violence developed under the coordination of the UN. She stressed
the importance of national ownership of this initiative and has called on
President Kabila to appoint a Special Envoy on sexual violence in the
Presidency.
Impunity for grave violations against children continues to undermine the possibility of durable peace in the DRC. "Although the Government has taken some positive steps both in the military and civilian sectors to investigate and prosecute violators, such efforts need to be more systematic and include high profile perpetrators," stated Ms. Coomaraswamy. Representatives of civil society and of the Children's Parliament stressed the need to combat impunity as their central message for the Special Representative to convey to national authorities. "Children expressed a deep sense of hopelessness for the future when perpetrators escape accountability for their crimes," she added.
_____________________________________________________________________
Continuing Displacement in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the number of civilians uprooted in continuing raids by the so-called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the Lubero area of North Kivu over the last seven weeks has risen to over 100,000. A series of concerted attacks carried out by the rebel group against civilians in the villages of Luofu, Kirumba, Kanyabonga and Kayna near Lubero, 170 kms north of Goma, have left a trail of death and destruction and caused recurrent displacement.
According to the local authorities, the FDLR raided the village of Luofu near Lubero on Friday, killing seven people, including five children, and burning 255 homesteads. The panic-stricken residents spent the night in the bush while some fled to the nearby town of Kirumba. However, the FDLR has reportedly encircled the town of Kirumba since Sunday, threatening to overrun it.
Many of the displaced who are hiding in the forest are without assistance. At the same time, humanitarian agencies are unable to distribute essential aid because of the unpredictable nature of the attacks and the displacement. Another factor that adds to the prevailing insecurity is the FDLR tactic to attack commercial vehicles on the main road linking Lubero to Goma in the south, to Beni in the north, and to the Ugandan border to the east.
The FDLR stepped its reprisal attacks against civilians in North Kivu after the DRC and Rwanda concluded their joint military offensive against the rebel group on 20 January.
With the latest upsurge in violence, we estimate there are now more than 1.4 million displaced across the eastern DRC. Out of this total, almost a million have been driven from their homes in troubled North Kivu province alone by relentless fighting, general lawlessness, looting, destruction of homes and camps, killings and rapes. Many of these people have been displaced more than once and families are often separated. This general lawlessness and insecurity continue to hamper aid operations, along with the sheer size and scope of the displacement crisis in the eastern DRC.
Since the worsening of the situation in North Kivu in mid-2007, we have sent several emergency teams and initiated a camp coordination and management structure in displacement sites set up and run by UNHCR. Presently, we are running 11 such sites for internally displaced people in eastern DRC. Our assistance efforts have included building new camp sites, registration of displaced populations, distribution of aid items such as blankets, plastic sheets, jerry cans, soap, firewood and other items. Our teams also continue to carry out monitoring of the human rights situation of the displaced population at risk in eastern DRC.
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