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 10 November 2009
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Over 20,000 refugees from DR Congo are now in neighbouring Congo

10/11/2009

More than 20,000 people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mainly ethnic Muyanzas have fled to neighbouring Congo, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

village bordering two Congos

village bordering two Congos

The agency says the refugees are in villages scattered along a 160 kilometre stretch of the Oubangi River that forms the border between the two Congos.

UNHCR says 60 people were killed and forty others injured in the fighting which started in the village of Dondo at the beginning of the month and spread to surrounding villages.

UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic says the new refugees began fleeing into the country last Wednesday.

"Now sheltering in villages between the districts of Betou and Impfondo in the northern Republic of Congo, they told our staff they were fleeing Enyele tribesmen who, they said, had gone from house to house, pillaging, raping and killing mostly Munzaya civilians in Dongo and surrounding villages, which are now virtually empty. The root of the violence, they said, was a dispute over farming and fishing rights. Seventy percent of the refugees are women and children."

The United Nations refugee agency began giving the refugees blankets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, kitchen sets and jerry cans over the weekend.

Jocelyne Sambira, United Nations
(duration: 1'21")

Sound bites

Andrej Mahecic, UNHCR Spokesman

"Now sheltering in villages between the districts of Betou and Impfondo in the northern Republic of Congo, they told our staff they were fleeing Enyele tribesmen who, they said, had gone from house to house, pillaging, raping and killing mostly Munzaya civilians in Dongo and surrounding villages, which are now virtually empty. The root of the violence, they said, was a dispute over farming and fishing rights. Seventy percent of the refugees are women and children."
Duration: 25 secs

Andrej Mahecic, UNHCR Spokesman

"The New details of the ethnic bloodshed in the Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at the beginning of this month are emerging as UNHCR and Republic of Congo (ROC) authorities visit refugees scattered in villages along a 160-km stretch of the Oubangi River that forms the border between the DRC and the Republic of Congo. Our staff in ROC, working with government officials, now put the number of new refugees at 21,800, mainly ethnic Munzayas, who began fleeing into the country last Wednesday."
Duration: 33 secs

Andrej Mahecic, UNHCR Spokesman

"Over the weekend, UNHCR began giving them blankets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, kitchen sets and jerry cans. More than 20 of the refugees arrived in ROC with gunshot wounds. UNHCR transferred nine of the severely injured to Impfondo hospital, including an 11- year-old girl who had her right leg amputated. A UNHCR-funded mobile clinic is continuing to go from village to village to provide basic healthcare to refugees who are far from the Betou and Impfondo district health centres. The governments of the two Congos have also provided medicine to the health centres."
Duration: 32 secs

Andrej Mahecic, UNHCR Spokesman

"Refugees have mostly stopped crossing the border amid reports that the DRC military forcefully intervened in Dongo to stop attacks by armed Enyele, who appeared to have organized into a militia. In spite of this government action, on Monday our colleagues in the Republic of Congo could still see smoke from burning houses across the river."
Duration: 18 secs

Andrej Mahecic, UNHCR Spokesman

"While some of the new arrivals told us they would like to go back to their villages once the Enyele militia is crushed, others felt too traumatized and told UNHCR that they were not ready to go back. The first clashes between these two tribes took place March 2009, when more than 200 houses were burned in the village of Munzaya and more than 1,200 residents fled to safety of the Republic of the Congo."
Duration: 22 secs