New LRA rampage displaces thousands of Congolese
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
A growing number of attacks by the Ugandan rebel group known as the "Lord's Resistance Army" (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has forced some 12,500 Congolese civilians from their homes in the past month. The attacks took place in the Province Orientale in the north eastern part of the sprawling central African country.
In the month of July, the LRA launched an unprecedented 55 attacks against civilians in Faradje area, some 100 km west of the DRC's border with South Sudan and Uganda. It also targeted villages in the Dungu district, Haut-Uele territory. In the same region, there were 23 LRA attacks in May and another 34 in June.
Since September 2007, the LRA has killed 1,273 people and abducted 655 children and 1,427 adults. Internally displaced people (IDPs) also tell UNHCR that many women have been raped by the rebels and their households looted and torched. More than 226,000 people have been displaced in Haut-Uele territory alone and another 42,000 in Bas-Uele, according to UN estimates.
The humanitarian situation in this remote part of the DRC remains dramatic. Most of the IDPs are unable to return home because of the ongoing assaults. They sleep in public buildings such as schools and churches. Some have been able to find shelter with friends, relatives or host families willing to share their meagre food stocks. According to our local partners, regular medical supplies are low, hospitals lack basic equipment and drinking water is in chronically short supply.
So far, UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies have managed to reach some 45 per cent of the displaced and provide basic assistance such as food, blankets, sleeping mats and cooking sets. Insecurity is preventing larger scale deliveries of humanitarian aid. Ongoing insecurity and poor, impassable roads remain the main obstacles to our work. Some of the areas where the IDPs have gathered are accessible only by air.
Although assistance has been trickling through, there is an urgent need to deliver bigger volumes of aid items such as blankets, sleeping mats, jerry-cans, kitchen sets, mosquito nets and plastic sheeting for temporary shelter, In July we distributed, through our partners, aid kits to 1074 families -benefiting some 5,000 people in Duru and Nangwakaza towns near the DRC's border with the Central African Republic. Last weekend, another 800 aid kits were handed to families in Aru territory neighbouring Uganda. We are continuing monitoring missions to accessible areas to evaluate the needs of the IDPs.
Meanwhile, the LRA attacks in the DRC have a spillover effect on the neighbouring countries. Out of 21,000 refugees in South Sudan, 16,500 arrived since last November from the Province Orientale, mostly fleeing LRA attacks in Faradje territory. Some 2,000 new arrivals have been registered in the last three months at the Lasu registration centre. Upon arrival in South Sudan, Congolese refugees are registered by UNHCR and given food and basic aid items such as plastic sheeting for shelter, blankets, jerry cans, kitchen sets and sanitary material for women.
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UNHCR Global Report 2002 - Uganda
1 Jun 2003 ... Working environment The context Attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels on the settlements of Achol-Pii and Maaji (Adjumani district) in July and August 2002 led to the deaths of 57 ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2006 - Uganda
1 Jun 2007 ... Security improved after peace talks between the Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ... the peace talks between the Government and the LRA. Security was a major concern of IDPs wishing to ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2008 - Democratic Republic of the Congo
1 Jun 2009 ... Further north, in 16 UNHCR Global Report 2008 Haut Uele District, the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), began attacking villages in September 2008. The LRA killed and abducted ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2010 - Sudan
20 Jun 2011 ... ... After a relative lull in early 2010, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) resumed attacks in western ... LRA attacks continued to create insecurity and affect the reintegration of returning refugees and ...... -
UNHCR's withdrawal from Kiryandongo: anatomy of a handover, Tania Kaiser
31 Oct 2000 ... ... Here they lived until constant harassment by rebels of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) ... These people have subsequently been subjected to further attacks by the LRA and the West Nile Bank ...... -
UNHCR chief vows to step up repatriation of Sudanese from Uganda
5 Mar 2008 ... of Sudanese refugees forced to flee another camp after it was attacked by fighters of the rebel Lord's Revolutionary Army (LRA). The LRA is now holding peace talks with the Ugandan government. ...... -
Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa, 24 August 2010, Report of the Secretary-General
24 Aug 2010 ... ... Violence between ethnic groups and attacks by the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the ... in the Kenyan capital. 6. Uganda 21. While no LRA attacks took place in northern Uganda during the ...... -
UNHCR Global Appeal 2002 - Uganda
1 Dec 2001 ... ... continues to suffer from frequent rebel attacks by the Lord Resistance Army (LRA). Over past few months the LRA has killed people during attacks on the settlements in Pader, Kyangwali and Adjumani. ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2003 - Uganda
1 Jun 2004 ... ... Constraints The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels continued to operate around settlements near ... The main security concern was LRA activity in northern Uganda, especially in Adjumani district. In ......