The emergency relief wing of the U.N. voiced deep concern Feb. 5 over the dire humanitarian situation and safety of more than 1 million people forced to flee their homes in eastern Congo (DRC) as a result of violent conflict in the region. A series of armed attacks on makeshift camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), human rights violations and general banditry in the North and South Kivu provinces have seriously disrupted aid operations, reported the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). On Jan. 15 in North Kivu, armed militia stole a truck belonging to a humanitarian organization and then used it for a violent assault on aid workers in the Muhanga IDP camp in a bid to steal their belongings. OCHA said that the mainly Rwandan Hutu rebel group, known as the FDLR, reportedly raided the Nyange camp in North Kivu on Jan. 22, killing three people and injuring several others. (U.N. News Service)
