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United Nations
UN food agency extends relief efforts in DR Congo amid spreading violence
3 December 2008 - The United Nations food agency is ramping up its
humanitarian operations in the east of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) in response to deadly fighting between Government forces
and armed rebel groups that has forced hundreds of thousands of people
to flee their homes.
The escalating conflict between Government forces (FARDC) and a rebel
militia known as the Congress in Defence of the People (CNDP) has
uprooted an estimated 250,000 people in the past few months, mainly in
North Kivu province, which borders Rwanda.
As part of its response the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is extending
its humanitarian relief efforts to Orientale province, where civilians
have been caught up in a separate conflict involving the Lords
Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel militia that has waged war against
Ugandan Government forces since the mid-1980s and is accused of
recruiting children to serve as soldiers or sexual slaves.
WFP has increased its delivery of food assistance to reach some
564,000 people across eastern DRC, where around 383,000 were displaced
in North Kivu alone and 70,000 more remain inaccessible due to poor
roads and insecurity in the region.
The agency is also concerned about a humanitarian crisis unfolding
around Dungu, in far north-eastern Orientale province, where LRA
forces have been attacking civilians, according to a WFP press release
issued yesterday.
The WFP added that its efforts to assist the estimated 70,000 people
displaced by the LRA have been hampered by the worsening security
situation and the areas impenetrable roads.
To reach those affected by the conflict, WFP is opening a strategic
air bridge from Entebbe, in Uganda, to Dungu, which will be made
available to other humanitarian agencies.
Yesterday, WFP airlifted two trucks using a giant helicopter into
Dungu, where they will be used to transport food to distribution
sites.
In North Kivu, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a
WFP partner, has delivered food to nearly 45,000 internally displaced
persons (IDPs) living along the Sake-Sasha axis, where CNDP rebels are
reported to be advancing.
The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, and the UN
Office for Project Services (UNOPS) have undertaken to improve a
particularly poor stretch of road between Sake and Masisi.
Further to the north, around Nyanzale, a non-governmental organization
(NGO) partner of WFP has distributed food from the UN agency to more
than 56,000 people, many of whom also received non-food items, such as
jerry cans, cooking pots and sleeping mats.
News Tracker: past stories on this issue
Dialogue between warring parties crucial to peace in DR Congo, says UN
envoy
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