Humanitarian sources say that since April there has been massive displacement in the Beni-Butembo region, due to systematic incursions by “uncontrolled” armed groups. A UN-NGO assessment team to the area quoted local aid workers as saying people were fleeing insecure areas due to a lack of protection. They named the most affected areas as Mutwanga and Buisegha in the north, Kibirizi in the south and Miriko, Ikobo in the west, saying that these villages were now practically empty. Some 76,441 displaced people had descended on Kanyabayonga further south, a small town of only 22,868 people. Nearby Kayna - a town of 29,150 inhabitants - has received 10,110 people mostly from Kibirizi, while over 21,085 people have arrived in Kirumba whose population originally numbered 35,000. The numbers are still rising. Relief workers on the ground have launched an urgent appeal to the international community to intervene against the “encroaching danger” faced by the people in this region.
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