UN evaluates aid needs in DRC
2007-09-04 15:08
Kinshasa - A top United Nations official has arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo to evaluate humanitarian needs, with more than a million people displaced in the war-torn nation, says the UN.
John Holmes, under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, would meet with DRC President Joseph Kabila and other authorities to discuss the protection of civilians, sexual violence and aid to those displaced, said a UN statement.
He arrived on Monday evening. He would also meet with other UN officials in the country, as well as fundraising and non-governmental organisations during the five-day stay.
Most of those displaced were in eastern DRC, including 640 000 in the Nord-Kivu province and 266 000 in Sud-Kivu. At least 152 000 had been displaced in the Ituri district.
13 000 cases of sexual violence recorded
Armed groups, including Rwandan Hutu rebels, operated in those areas, and violence had choked off the delivery of aid to those in need in certain zones.
Desperate villagers were at the mercy of regular troops, renegade soldiers as well as warlords active in eastern DRC, who used for forced labour. UN regional reports this year included accounts of gang rape of women and children by soldiers, including the DRC army.
According to the UN statement, various armed groups formed in the 1990s had engaged in sexual violence, including rape and forced prostitution. It said that many of those responsible for such acts had gone unpunished.
In 2006, more than 13 000 cases of sexual violence were recorded, and more than 5 000 cases had been reported since the beginning of the year in Sud-Kivu alone, the UN said.
The DRC was the centre of a brutal five-year war from 1998. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and, at its height, the conflict in the former Zaire drew in seven foreign armies.
It was Holmes's first visit to the DRC since being nominated to his post in January.