The United Nations is rushing food to thousands of displaced Congolese in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where tribal clashes have driven 130,000 people from their homes.
"Because of ongoing clashes in the area where these people live, it has been difficult to get food assistance to those who need it most," UN World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Abdou Dieng said, noting that the food distributions would be widened if security conditions improved.
Convoys carrying 50 metric tons of food escorted by peacekeepers from the UN mission in DRC (MONUC) left Gemena in Equateur Province yesterday for the two distribution sites in Bozene and Boyazala, where more than 6,000 displaced people will receive month-long rations of maize, beans, vegetable oil and salt, to be distributed by AVEP, a Congolese non-governmental organization (NGO).
According to the Congolese Government, 270 people were killed when inter-ethnic clashes between the Enyele and Munzaya tribes first erupted in a dispute over access to fishing ponds in the Dongo area in November. More than 130,000 people have been displaced since then, over 84,000 of them fleeing across the Oubangui river into the neighbouring Republic of Congo where they started receiving WFP food aid at the end of November.
Within DRC, the UN has estimated that some 40,000 people have been displaced internally, but the figure might now be higher.
The town of Dongo is reported to be deserted while some localities like Bozene have started to see some returns, but a large number of people are still sleeping in the forest for fear of new violence. Harvest activities have been affected.
MONUC peacekeepers and the national army and police have been carrying out joint patrols to reassure people in Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur, that they are safe, and the mission's military presence in the area has been growing, with 700 troops situated in South Ubangui district and more expected to arrive in the coming days.
Overall MONUC fields some 20,000 uniformed personnel in the huge country, with the vast majority in the war-torn east. Since its inception 10 years ago, the mission has seen a return to relative stability in much of the country after years of civil war, culminating in the first democratic elections in more than 40 years,
But fierce fighting has persisted in the east, particularly in North and South Kivu, where Hutu militants blamed for the Rwandan genocide of 1994 have fled, compounding hostilities in a region already beset by ethnic tensions.
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I don't understand how come you guys you are duped ,by the government of Kinshasa telling you lies ,there is no ethnic fighting ,there is a fight between the government force which all soldiers are from the rwandese tutsis army, because from these days, all aboriginal congolese soldiers are deserting and are joining the Patriotes et Resistants Congolais,those PRC are fighting to liberate the country under the rwandese occupation as everybody and everyone knows it's not a secret for anybody ,so Kanambe Hypolite is now from frying pan into the fire , he and his father Kagame they don't know what to do ,batallion and batallion are perishing all the time when they are sent to battlefield,so please stop lying or If you didn't know now what is going on in Equator province , the Kongolese stood up to take over their country from all kind of foreigners startinf by kanambe hyppo alias joska , enough is enough ,Kongolese can continue tobe under new colonialisme of rwandese and the western countries who are supporting all those criminals.This is the last time Kongo to be undersiege of crimnals and the international mafia. You have to know that Kimbangu defeated belgians with his short soldiers and today's fighting Kimbangu is there with his fifth colonne of Wind which is fighting and the ennemies can see who they are fighting with,so all foreigners who are fighting along side of the occupation ,monuc,belgiansand his brothers from rwandese army should know that PRC are fighting for their country ,for the integrity of the Kongo-Kinshasa,so what about you why are you fighting Kongo is not your country ,is not your nation,is not the land of your ancestors, you want to exploit this forest of Equator ,because the latino don't want you anymore in their countries(Venezuela,perou and so and so) know west want to put their face into Africa which is very vulnerable and corrupted continent ,this time they know who is Kongolese and what kongolese is cooking. So don't be duped by those opportunists.