New crisis looms in DRC

2005-02-15 14:50

Kinshasa - A new humanitarian crisis is brewing in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 56 000 people have fled armed groups out for lucrative mineral resources who are murdering, raping and burning crops, a United Naitons observer in the region said.

The observer, posted in the town of Bunia, said that at least 52 people had been killed in recent violence in the Ituri region, close to the border with Uganda. Around a thousand had been injured by machete blows, he added.

Thousands of people had fled their homes in the region of Djugu, to the north of Bunia.

Armed groups in the region were aiming "to create a climate of fear in order to keep their grip on the mineral wealth of Ituri, but also to get their hands on customs duties levied on the Ugandan border," the observer said.

"The militia groups have no hesitation in using inter-ethnic tension to inflame the region, whereas in fact they clearly serve gangster-style interests which have no connection with the conflicts between Hemas and Lendus," he said, referring to two of the local ethnic groups.

Modibo Traore, who heads a UN relief operation in Bunia, said that emergency UN aid had so far prevented a humanitarian crisis. But the activities of the armed groups made it difficult to guarantee supplies to all the refugees. - AFP

- SAPA