MSF stresses urgency of Ituri situation

The NGO, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), has expressed deep concern over the rapidly worsening humanitarian situation in the Ituri district of northeast DRC. In a press release, received by IRIN on Thursday, MSF said that due to growing insecurity it could not reach many of the victims. The area has been wracked by an ethnic conflict between the Hema and Lendu tribes over land rights. MSF said that over the past six months the area had also been ravaged by epidemics such as measles, plague and cholera.

“International attention is fixed on the frontline hostilities between government and rebel troops, but the most serious humanitarian crisis is unfolding behind the frontline in Ituri district where the authorities have been unsuccessful in guaranteeing the safety of the civilian population,” the press release said. MSF added that the handful of aid organisations active in eastern DRC were no longer regarded as neutral by sections of the population. An MSF team was attacked last Friday, 25 km north of Bunia, by over 50 assailants who threw rocks.

The team members managed to escape unhurt. MSF urged next week’s UN debate on the situation in DRC to give the most serious attention to the Ituri problem.