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UN warns of DR Congo displacement Fears as DR Congo fighting flares
(1 day later)
The UN emergency relief co-ordinator says he fears many more people could be displaced by fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN's emergency relief chief says he fears many more people could be displaced by fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Speaking in the town of Bukavu on a four-day tour of the region, John Holmes described the humanitarian situation as deplorable.Speaking in the town of Bukavu on a four-day tour of the region, John Holmes described the humanitarian situation as deplorable.
Government forces have been fighting rebels led by a former army general. Extra troops are being sent to the region to help the army fight rebels led by a renegade general.
UN officials say more than 200,000 people have fled their homes in the past six months. More than 200,000 people have fled their homes this year, the UN says.
What we really fear is another big wave of displacement John Holmes, UN emergency relief co-ordinator Mr Holmes said fighting was confined to parts of the single province of North Kivu, but warned the crisis might worsen in a large country like DR Congo - the size of western Europe.
Mr Holmes said fighting was confined to the single province of North Kivu, but warned the crisis might worsen in a large country like DR Congo.
"If the fighting gets worse, what we really fear is another big wave of displacement and possibly the kind of atrocities that have gone with that in the past," Mr Holmes added."If the fighting gets worse, what we really fear is another big wave of displacement and possibly the kind of atrocities that have gone with that in the past," Mr Holmes added.
Mr Holmes' arrival comes as insecurity further north escalated sharply in recent days, hampering relief operations, particularly around the town of Masisi, the BBC's Karen Allen reports from DR Congo. Some four million people are believed to have died during DR Congo's five-year conflict, which officially ended in 2002.
It has been the scene of fierce fighting between the army and supporters of renegade general Laurent Nkunda. Helicopter gunship
Mr Nkunda, who belongs to the minority Tutsi community, accuses the authorities of backing Hutu rebels - some of whom have been linked to the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in North Kivu says that fierce fighting is continuing in at least two parts of the province.
Mr Holmes spent the morning in a meeting with DR Congo President Joseph Kabila, before leaving for the east. Government troops are surrounded in Katale, where the latest fighting began last week, our correspondent says.
The army is using an attack helicopter against the rebels - the first time the government has used these in DR Congo, he says.
The rebels are reported to be near Sake, the last town before the North Kivu capital, Goma.
In Sake, some people have attacked vehicles belonging to UN peacekeepers, accusing them of siding with the rebels.
The UN has some 17,000 troops in DR Congo - the largest such force in the world.
But in other areas, men loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda have pulled out of villages near the Rwandan border, to be replaced by ethnic Hutu Rwandan rebels.
Rwandan warning
Ethnic tension following the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda lies at the heart of the fighting.
Profile: Gen Nkunda Gen Nkunda says he is protecting Congolese Tutsis from the forces who carried out the genocide and then crossed the border.
Rwanda has twice invaded DR Congo, saying it wants to stop attacks by Hutu rebels and our correspondent says the news that these militias have moved into villages on its border could antagonise Rwanda.
In the Rwandan capital, Kigali, Foreign Minister Charles Murigande said his government was ready to mediate between the two forces but also issued a warning.
"Rwanda will be extremely concerned if the genocidal militants of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) profit from this unrest to use their military force against our government," he said, according to the AFP news agency.
"We will take whatever measures are necessary to dissuade whoever threatens the integrity of Rwanda."
Elections last year, won by President Joseph Kabila, were supposed to draw a line under years of conflict in DR Congo.