United Nations Radio

The UN and its humanitarian agencies are extremely concerned about the fate of people in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Up to a quarter million of them have been displaced by fighting between government and rebel forces since August. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is on a tour of Asia, said in New Delhi last night that because of active fighting around the DRC provincial capital Goma in the past few days, the UN was limited in the assistance it could provide to the displaced Congolese. But on Wednesday rebel leader Laurent Nkunda declared a ceasefire and Secretary-General Ban called on African leaders in the region to help uphold it.

SG: Now, with this ceasefire in place, we have already mobilized all necessary humanitarian agencies to provide assistance. Now, there should be a political process going on. As I have been doing with key world leaders to keep this ceasefire as well as disengagement in place, at the same time we are mobilizing all necessary assistance.

PRES: UNICEF spokesman in Goma, Jaya Murthy says the new wave of movement is only the latest in a series of forced displacements for many people.

Murthy:Many people that have fled have fled for the second, third and even fourth time. So this isn't the first time that people are fleeing. For example in one village there was a spontaneous, makeshift displaced persons camp that had about 17,000 people in it and they all fled towards Goma, so these are people that have been living in these sites for around a year, and now they've fled again. They had settled there and now they had to flee again. So the situation for all of these people is particularly worrying.

PRES:UNICEF is especially worried about women and children due to the history of rapes and recruitment of child soldiers that have accompanied the conflict in the DRC.

Murthy:Children and women are even more vulnerable on the road or in areas that are not their homes, so they're even more vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, violence, children's recruitment by armed groups and whatnot, so the situation is extremely concerning.

PRES:The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navenathem Pillay also warned today that previous outbreaks of fighting in the eastern DRC have led to horrendous human rights abuses including arbitrary executions, rapes and torture. According to Spokesman Rupert Colville UN human rights staff in the region have recorded a number of fresh violations in Goma, mostly by looting government soldiers. He said Ms. Pillay is urging the government to protect civilians and to end the impunity for such atrocities.

Colville:Thousands of vicious killers and rapists have escaped punishment over the years in this part of DRC, and this clearly feeds into the cycle of violence and lawlessness that will only end when those responsible are brought to justice.

PRES:UNHCR says that since the ceasefire, about 45,000 people who fled from displaced persons camps near Goma have started to return. Another 2,500 have crossed over into Uganda and 1,200 into Rwanda. In total there are about a million displaced people throughout DRC's North Kivu province.

Producer: Bissera Kostova

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