Escalation of fighting in DRC forcing thousands to flee
By Vatican News
Fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has seen new areas taken over by M23 rebels, encircling and taking control of parts of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province, this week.
The Rwanda-backed militias are now clashing with pockets of resistance made up of Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) soldiers and pro-government Wazalendo militiamen.
Four more South African soldiers from the SAMIDRC (Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) have lost their lives in the clashes, following nine deaths in the past two days. The fighting is concentrated in the area around the airport, which is now reportedly under M23 control.
Goma isolated
On January 27 Bishop Willy Ngumbi Ngengele of Goma, reported that among the targets hit by the shelling was the neonatal unit of the Maternal General Charité Hospital, which "caused the death of newborns," as well as the diocesan prosecutor’s office building, which suffered damage to the windows of its newly inaugurated structure.
Feeder routes into the city are now blocked by heavy fighting and looting, leaving people trapped. Others have managed to flee to neighbouring Rwanda.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has expressed concern over the suspension of humanitarian aid distribution in the area, which risks causing a severe food shortage within the next hours.
Hundreds of thousands displaced
According to Bernard Balibuno, the country’s representative for CAFOD, the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, the humanitarian needs in Goma are now vast . “The city has been forced into shutdown by the fighting and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced with many reduced to begging on the streets,” he said.
CAFOD’s concern is for the hundreds of thousands of people in urgent need of help and displaced from their homes – some in recent days, many for much longer, some more than once – as they are forced to repeatedly flee the violence.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff on the ground also reported bombings, shootings, and looting even in the city centre in highly populated areas, causing panic and massive population displacements.
A forgotten crisis
Conflicts between the Congolese government and rebel groups have been going on for the past three decades and there are fears now that violence could escalate into a regional conflict involving Rwanda.
DRC is one of the many forgotten crises around the globe. While the eyes of the West are focused on the Middle East and Ukraine, millions of lives have been lost in the African nation to hunger, disease and violence.
(Source: Cafod and news agencies)
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