More than 100,000 people have been displaced in the past seven weeks in eastern Congo as civilians suffer attacks from both Rwandan Hutu rebels and Congolese forces, right under the noses of U.N. peacekeepers, aid and rights groups say.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo, MONUC, has for three weeks been conducting joint operations in North Kivu province with Congolese troops against Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel fighters, whom aid workers accuse of raping and killing civilians.
But now rights groups say Congolese troops are themselves launching indiscriminate attacks against civilians, while an overstretched MONUC does little to stop them.
"This (joint) operation is going badly, with the United Nations backing up an abusive army and doing too little to protect the civilian population," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, Human Rights WatchÂ?s senior researcher for Congo.
"Congolese forces are looting, killing and raping under the watch of U.N. forces."
The 17,000-strong MONUC force has requested a temporary increase of 3,000 troops and police to help it deal with renewed fighting in the area.
MONUC and the Congolese army are preparing to expand operations against the FDLR into neighbouring South Kivu, a new front against the rebels that aid agencies fear could worsen a humanitarian disaster in the east where more than a million people have fled fighting since late 2006.
The FDLR rebels, some of who are accused of orchestrating Rwanda's 1994 genocide, are seen as a root cause of 15 years of festering conflict in Congo, where more than 5 million have died since 1998.
Congolese soldiers and troops from neighbouring Rwanda launched a joint operation against the rebels in January. But following a Rwandan pullout a month later, the mainly Hutu rebels have stepped up reprisals against civilians and retaken ground they lost during the offensive.
No one from MONUC was immediately available for comment. But in a statement, the peacekeeping mission said the number of Rwandan rebels laying down their arms has multiplied four-fold on a monthly basis compared with last year. MONUC said rebels were now surrendering at a rate of 146 fighters a month.
The U.N. refugee body, UNHCR, says the number of civilians uprooted in FDLR raids in the Lubero area of North Kivu over past seven weeks has risen to more than 100,000. That is on top of 150,000 already displaced in eastern Congo since January.
"A series of concerted attacks carried out by the rebel group against civilians in the villages of Luofu, Kirumba, Kanyabonga and Kayna near Lubero, some 170 km north of Goma, have left a trail of death and destruction and caused recurrent displacement," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said.
He added that the FLDR had "reportedly encircled the town of Kirumba since Sunday", threatening to overrun it. "It is a very dire situation."
Many of the displaced are hiding in the forest, cut off from humanitarian assistance, Redmond said, adding that aid agencies were unable to distribute essential supplies because of the unpredictable nature of the attacks and the displacement.
Adding to the insecurity is an "FDLR tactic to attack commercial vehicles" on the main road linking Lubero to Goma in the south, to Beni in the north and to the Ugandan border to the east, he said.
"The FLDR stepped up its reprisal attacks against civilians in North Kivu after the DRC and Rwanda concluded their joint military offensive against the rebel group on 20 January," Redmond said.
British charity Oxfam says it is bracing for possible mass displacement in South Kivu with the expected expansion southwards of the joint MONUC-Congolese military offensive against the Hutu rebels.
"We are setting operational bases in the south where people have already started fleeing their homes anticipating fighting between the government forces and the rebels," Alun McDonald, OxfamÂ?s regional spokesman, said.
Banu Altunbas, head of mission for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), warned that an increase in attacks on aid workers could choke operations.
MSF aid workers have been attacked twice in the Masisi area of South Kivu by armed groups, forcing the organisation to suspend its mobile medical operations for four weeks.
"We need guarantees from all actors to be able to access the affected populations," she said by telephone from Goma, the capital of North Kivu. "The risk remains high and we might continue being victims of such attacks if the situation does not change."
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva)
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