Need for continued assistance to Congo stressed

While the situation in the eastern Congolese town of Goma appears calm and relatively stable, the story in the surrounding forests and remote villages is completely different with people literally running for their lives. According to humanitarian workers who recently visited these areas and spoke to local residents, the Rwandan Interahamwe militia is carrying out a “massive campaign of intimidation”. Villagers said they were so afraid that they went to sleep in the forests at night when most of the attacks usually take place.

“The pressure in the villages is so great that people can’t live their lives,” Nigel Marsh of the NGO, World Vision, told IRIN. Villagers, victims of both sides in the DRC conflict, also spoke of reprisal attacks carried out by soldiers of the governing Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma). Marsh underlined the huge number of displaced people in eastern DRC. “A massive amount of work still needs to be done,” he stressed. “The donors should not stop giving to Congo as we have to keep these people alive.” [For full story, see separate IRIN item of 16 November headlined “DRC: People running for their lives in the east”]