Thousands flee LRA attacks on northeastern villages

At least 17,000 civilians have been displaced after attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord Resistance Army (LRA) militia in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and cannot access humanitarian aid, according to a UN official.

"The LRA are ... killing and looting and this caused the displacement of people," Tane Bamba, head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in the province of Orientale, said.

LRA fighters carried out simultaneous attacks on the villages of Kilwa, Duru and Nambia in Dungu territory near Garamba National Park, along the DRC-Sudan border, on 17 September. Two civilians were killed in the attacks.

At least 90 schoolchildren were also abducted from Duru. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) demanded the immediate release of the children on 22 September.

The rebels destroyed homes and looted health centres; they also burnt a village in Kilwa. About 700 people fled into Yei, Southern Sudan, said UNHCR.

In protest, at least 1,000 Dungu residents held a demonstration on 25 September. "They said the LRA are killing and looting, but MONUC [the UN Mission in the DRC] has not yet intervened," Bamba of UNHCR said.

"They attacked MILOBS [MONUC's  observation post], burnt vehicles and vandalised an OCHA office," Jean-Charles Dupin, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the DRC, told IRIN.

MONUC'S mandate restricts the deployment of its forces to the affected areas and is limited to supporting the national army, said Madnodge Mounoubay, spokesman for MONUC.

A joint operation between the DRC, Ugandan and Southern Sudan governments to dislodge LRA elements hiding in Garamba is likely. However, aid agencies worry that the operation "would cause humanitarian problems", according to Bamba.

Abuse accusations

Meanwhile, in North Kivu, eastern DRC, human rights abuses have continued, despite the 23 January ceasefire agreement between the government and several militia groups, according to Amnesty International (AI).

"Thousands of women and girls have been raped, hundreds of children recruited into the armed groups, often through abduction, and scores of civilians unlawfully killed," AI said in a report, North Kivu: No end to the war against women and children.

The agreement was expected to allow the demobilisation of forces and halt violations of international humanitarian law, but it had been broken on hundreds of occasions, the 29 September report noted.

"Government security forces have also unlawfully detained and in some cases tortured and ill-treated captured children, and continue to rape and sexually abuse women and girls."

Photo: Tiggy Ridley/IRIN

Thousands of children are serving with armed groups in the  Democratic Republic of Congo

According to AI, between 3,000 and 6,000 children are estimated to be serving with the armed groups, and in a smaller number of cases, the FARDC (the national army).

The Kivu conflict is attributed to the presence of Congolese and foreign armed groups; tensions between the communities; control over mineral and agricultural wealth, as well as the culture of impunity for human rights abuses, according to AI.

Both the government and rebels denied the claims of child abuse.

"I have come from Goma, in north Kivu, where I have just instituted four military courts to clamp down on soldiers accused of rape ...We need to look at the root cause of this problem instead of putting the government in the same league as bandits and rebels," Chikez Diemu, the Defence Minister, said.

The CNDP also refuted the report. "There are no more child soldiers in our ranks, they were sent to Caritas a year ago ... they [AI] say we have raided the schools, if you check in each school, you'll see that it is false," Bertrand Bisimwa, a CNDP official.

"We have soldiers who know how to do their work, we do not need children," he added. "When you want to accuse the government of something, blame is also put on CNDP."

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