UN envoy concerned over deteriorating situation in eastern DR Congo

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-7-17 8:57:12

A UN Coordinator on Tuesday voiced concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the North Kivu area of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where renewed fighting has uprooted tens of thousands of people.

Moustapha Soumare, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the DRC, said that the clashes could lead to disastrous humanitarian consequences and appealed to parties to the conflict to take necessary steps to ensure the protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights law, UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters here.

Fighting has broken out close to the provincial capital of Goma between Congolese Government forces (FARDC) and the armed group known as the M23 movement after a two-month lull, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Separately, over 40,000 people have fled into western Uganda after the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel group, attacked the North Kivu town of Kamango.

The UNCHR, together with its partners, is rushing to help the tens of thousands of people who have fled into western Uganda to escape the new emergency underway in North Kivu. As of Sunday evening, the Uganda Red Cross had manually registered more than 66, 000 refugees, the spokesperson said.

The eastern DRC has witnessed armed clashes since a newly- formed rebel group M23 launched an insurgency in North Kivu in early 2012.



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