Democratic Republic of the Congo: Another 11,000 people uprooted

Another 11,000 people have been uprooted in the latest Lords Resistance Army (LRA) attack around the village of Banda in north-eastern DRC in mid-March, bringing the total number of people displaced by the militia group's repeated raids in the Haut Uele district of Oriental province to over 188,000 in the last six months.

Since September 2008, over 990 Congolese have been murdered by the LRA and 747 abducted, the vast majority of them children.

The displaced Congolese, whose homesteads were pillaged and burned by the LRA, now live with host families. Many of the internally displaced people (IDP) are scattered in Niangara, Bangadi, Ngilima, Mbengu, Ndedu and Dakwa in Haut-Uele district. An estimated 105,000 are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

Between mid-December and mid -March, UNHCR has provided assistance to more than 15,000 IDPs in Dungu, Doruma, Mangilingili, Nadogoro, Nadamu, Ndedu Moke, Kaka and Ngilima. We have distributed blankets, sleeping mats, cooking utensils, soap and plastic sheeting to the most vulnerable IDPs.

Haut-Uele district is an extremely remote area and many of the displaced can only be reached by air. Insecurity and poor infrastructure have made it increasingly difficult to deliver assistance to large concentrations of IDPs in Doruma, Niangara, Ngilima and Faradje.

UNHCR is also providing protection and assistance to some 16,000 Congolese refugees who have crossed into Southern Sudan to escape the LRA attacks.