Congolese soldiers threaten stability

The presence of an estimated 5,600 DRC soldiers in the Mobaye area of the Central African Republic is a source of increasing concern inside the country, humanitarian sources told IRIN on Monday. "There is reason to worry, from both a security and humanitarian standpoint", one source said. The soldiers, along with some 4,000 civilians, fled into the area last month when Congolese rebels made advances in Equateur province. Local authorities have reported that the soldiers, many still armed, were raping local women, looting property and devastating crops. The population influx was having a negative impact on health and sanitation conditions for the area's 5,000 local residents, and food was also becoming a problem, the sources said. Most of another group of DRC soldiers, an estimated 1,700 in number, who fled into other areas of the country, including the port of Bangui, last month have since been flown back to Kinshasa. There have been no repatriation moves for those soldiers remaining in Mobaye, however, and the situation would leave "serious scars" on the Mobaye area, even after the departure of the soldiers and their families, IRIN sources reported. Meanwhile, some 13,000 civilians who fled from the Democratic Republic of Congo last month remained in CAR as of 18 August, a UNHCR report said. The agency said that, in addition to those in Mobaye, about 1,500 civilians remained at Bangui port and 4,300 or so were staying with friends or relatives within the city. Some 2,600 civilians were in Mongoumba, where hundreds were sheltering in schools and other public buildings designated as voting centres for the upcoming presidential elections. About 360 recent arrivals were in UNHCR supported camps at Boubou, 300 km north of Bangui, to which the government would like all the Congolese refugees to be transferred, UNHCR added.