Rape, pillage continue to plague southern Lubero, North Kivu Province

Rape and abduction of women and girls, and pillage of crops by armed groups continue to plague the southern Lubero region, North Kivu Province of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a joint UN-NGO humanitarian assessment mission reported on Thursday. More specifically, the mission visited several towns and villages in the Kayna health zone, where widespread displacement of thousands of people, and inaccessibility to thousands more, has outstripped humanitarian organizations' abilities to meet the health, nutritional and educational needs of vulnerable populations. Many armed groups continue to be active across the region, including the forces of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K/ML), RCD-Goma and Mayi-Mayi militias, all of which are now part of the Congo's unified national government and military. Also present are elements of the Interahamwe, Rwandan Hutu militias that fled their country after playing a major role in the 1994 genocide of some 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus. Malaria, malnutrition and water-borne diseases - due largely to a lack of provision of clean drinking water - were also reported to be widespread in the region. The mission also expressed concern about the impact of displaced populations on fragile ecosystems, such as Virunga National Park, where many displaced have moved in search of cultivable land and firewood, as well as bushmeat to compensate for protein-deficient diets. NGOs that participated in the mission included World Vision, Merlin, Oxfam-UK, CEPAC-PMU and Samaritan's Purse. The UN was represented by the humanitarian affairs branch of MONUC, the World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.