Kisangani death toll upped to 760

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday that at least 760 people were killed last month in fierce fighting between Ugandan and Rwandan forces for control of Kisangani, the third largest city of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A spokesman told IRIN that the ICRC and the local Red Cross in Kisangani had virtually completed the collection and burial of hundreds of decomposing bodies. “The ICRC believes that at least 619 civilians and 141 soldiers died in the week-long fighting. Up to 250 Red Cross volunteers and numerous ICRC staff were involved in removing the remains, which presented a major threat to public health,” the spokesman said. Nearly a month after a truce put an end to the most recent fighting between Ugandan and Rwandan forces in Kisangani, the ICRC was continuing to provide urgently needed assistance for some 1,700 people, mostly civilians, who were wounded in the clashes. It has distributed medicine and food to the 50 hospitals and health centres where these people are being treated with the help of an ICRC surgeon is operating. The ICRC said in a statement it had also been active in protecting civilians, especially children, against the risk posed by the thousands of unexploded shells, grenades and other ordnance littering the city. Local Red Cross teams had located about 2,500 danger sites, which have been secured and notified to the local military forces. The ICRC said it had distributed plastic sheeting, blankets and soap to more than 1,100 families in Kisangani. It had also taken special measures to speed up the exchange of Red Cross messages between the residents of Kisangani and their relatives living in other parts of the country.