UN humanitarians said on Friday
they are deeply concerned for more than 500,000 displaced people sheltering
in and around Goma from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
violence.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that
precarious conditions and escalating threats facing the displaced people in
and around Goma raised concerns.
“More than 500,000 people currently live in displacement sites around the
city after fleeing clashes between the Congolese army and armed groups in the
Masisi and Rutshuru territories, in North-Kivu,” OCHA said.
“Since early March, several incidents of shelling and accidental grenade
explosions in and around displacement sites in Goma have killed eight people
and wounded 34.”
The office said it is not entirely the proximity to the frontlines that are
increasingly putting displaced people at risk but also the presence of
weapons within the campsites.
The DRC government requested peacekeepers from the UN mission in the country,
k
nown as MONUSCO, to leave, complaining it was not protecting civilians from
widespread violence in the easternmost provinces from several attacks on
villagers.
The UN Security Council authorized a withdrawal, and the mission is
complying. It already is in the stand-down process.
Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha