Displaced converge on Shabunda

Humanitarian sources have again stressed the desperate situation in Shabunda, eastern DRC, describing the town as an “islet” controlled by the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and surrounded by forces opposed to the RCD. A recent UN mission found that some 34,000 displaced people have converged on the town itself, dislodged from their homes by fighting between the RCD and opposing forces such as the Mayi-Mayi and Interahamwe militia. A further 10,000 “refugees and Interahamwe” are also in the area. There are reports that the RCD is trying to repulse the Mayi-Mayi from the immediate surroundings of Shabunda to ensure the town’s security. Furthermore, women who go to the forests to find food rarely return after being abducted by Mayi-Mayi militiamen hiding out among the trees. Sources told IRIN earlier this week that 128 displaced people had emerged from the forests in an “animal-like state” - naked, unable to speak, covered in gaping wounds and “traumatised beyond belief”. During the national vaccination days in Shabunda only 58 percent of children were reached, partly due to fighting in July, partly due to inaccessiblity. [See IRIN update no.989 of 15 August for more details on Shabunda].