MADRID Jan. 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has confirmed that more than 100,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in the territory of Masisi, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, due to fighting between the Army and the militias of the March 23 Movement (M23).
This new wave of displacement adds to an already complex humanitarian crisis: more than 2.8 million people are currently displaced in North Kivu, more than a third of the province’s population. Women and children are the first victims of these clashes.
In his press release, the deputy humanitarian head of the UN mission in the country, Bruno Lemarquis, “strongly” condemned the violence perpetrated against civilians and humanitarian actors.
“I reiterate that under no circumstances should civilians, humanitarian workers or critical civilian infrastructure that provide essential services to civilians be attacked. All parties to the conflict must respect international humanitarian law and human rights,” he requested.
The M23 is a rebel group composed mainly of Congolese Tutsis that operates mainly in the province of North Kivu. After a conflict between 2012 and 2013, a peace agreement was signed, although the group launched a new offensive at the end of 2022.
The situation has caused a diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda over their support for the group, raising fears of a large-scale conflict. Kigali, for its part, accuses Kinshasa of repressing Congolese Tutsis with the support of groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded and composed mainly of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
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