More than half a million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has been displaced in the past four months as a result of the flare-up in the east of the central African country, the UN humanitarian agency reported.
Up to 502,000 people have been rendered homeless in the conflicts between the end of August and Dec. 5, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report released here on Wednesday.
Hostilities resumed on Aug. 28 between the government forces FARDC and the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) led by renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda in the eastern province of North Kivu.
The CNDP took arms again after signing a peace deal with the FARDC in January, accusing the government of failing to protect ethnic Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu rebels who crossed into DR Congo after the 1994 genocide.
A total of 252, 823 were displaced in North Kivu, including 112, 719 in Rutshuru, 60,347 in Masisi, 54,740 in Lubero and 24,017 in Nyiragongo, north of the provincial capital Goma, the OCHA reported. The agency also said 30,000 of the displaced moved to neighboring Uganda.
In the northeastern province of Orientale, more than 130,000 people have been displaced, including 83,088 in Dungu. In the restive district of Ituri, the conflicts between the FARDC and a newly formed Popular Front for the Justice of Congo have displaced 715 people in Mambasa and 129,527 in Irumu, the OCHA said.
OCHA official Nestor Yombo Djema said two air corridors have been established at Bunia, capital of Ituri, and Kampala, capital of Uganda, to ensure security of the displaced.