UN FOOD AGENCY ANXIOUS OVER POSSIBLE VIOLENT REPRISALS IN SOUTHERN SUDANn

The United Nations World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/news">WFP) today expressed fears of a wave of deadly retaliatory attacks on the heels of the massacre of more than 100 people in southern Sudan earlier over the weekend.

"WFP and its partners have called on the Government to put an end to inter-tribal fighting, which is endangering the delivery of humanitarian aid," UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters.

Yesterday, the Security Council condemned the "grave attacks" in Akobo in Jonglei state that killed at least 185 people, including over 100 women and children. At least 60 people from the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) were also reported dead as a result of the attacks, which took place on Sunday.

Ambassador John Sawers of the United Kingdom, which holds the rotating Council presidency this month, said the attacks were especially concerning given that they seemed to target women and children and involved the use of sophisticated weaponry.

In a <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=4006">statement issued earlier this week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his concern at the latest "heinous" surge in violence in southern Sudan, the scene of one of Africa's longest and bloodiest civil wars.

At least 2 million people were killed, 4 million others uprooted and 600,000 more fled across the borders until a peace agreement in 2005 ended the 20 years of fighting between southern separatists and the national Government in the north.

A referendum on independence for the south is expected to be held in 2011, following national elections next year.

More recently, violence has flared periodically from various quarters, with some 700 people have been killed since March in the region while another 19,000 have been uprooted, Ms. Okabe said today.

The Secretary-General warned last month that escalating inter-tribal fighting was jeopardizing the stability of the entire country and putting at risk key milestones in implementing the 2005 pact, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Attacks by the notorious Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), have also wrought havoc in border regions in the south.

THOUSANDS OF CONGOLESE DISPLACED IN LATEST ATTACKS BY UGANDAN REBEL GROUP – UN

Some 12,500 people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been uprooted from their homes in the past month by attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

"The humanitarian situation in this remote part of the DRC remains dramatic," Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva.

He said that last month the LRA launched an "unprecedented" 55 attacks against civilians in the Faradje area in north-eastern Orientale province. Villages in the Dungu district of Haut-Uele province were also targeted.

According to the agency, 1,273 people have been killed by the LRA since September 2007 and 655 children and 1,427 adults have been abducted.

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) tell UNHCR that many women have been raped by the rebels and their households looted and torched. More than 226,000 people have been displaced in Haut-Uele alone and another 42,000 in Bas-Uele, according to UN estimates.

"Most of the IDPs are unable to return home because of the ongoing assaults," said Mr. Mahecic. "They sleep in public buildings such as schools and churches. Some have been able to find shelter with friends, relatives or host families willing to share their meagre food stocks.

"According to our local partners, regular medical supplies are low, hospitals lack basic equipment and drinking water is in chronically short supply," he added.

While UNHCR and other aid agencies have been able to reach some 45 per cent of the displaced and provide basic assistance such as food, blankets, sleeping mats and cooking sets, the agency said that insecurity is preventing larger scale deliveries of humanitarian assistance.

"Ongoing insecurity and poor, impassable roads remain the main obstacles to our work. Some of the areas where the IDPs have gathered are accessible only by air," Mr. Mahecic noted.

UNHCR also reported that the recent displacement is spilling over into neighbouring Sudan. Out of 21,000 refugees in South Sudan, 16,500 arrived since last November from Orientale province, most of them fleeing LRA attacks in Faradje.
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MILITARY CHIEFS OF UN PEACEKEEPING FORCES IN AFRICA CALL FOR MORE TROOPS, EQUIPMENT

The military chiefs of the United Nations' largest and most complex peacekeeping operations urged Member States today to provide the troops and equipment necessary to carry out their missions in the war-ravaged regions of Darfur in western Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"We have had a challenging time to meet all our mandated tasks because of the issue of deployment and lack of capabilities," General Martin Luther Agwai, Force Commander of the joint African Union-UN mission in Darfur (UNAMID), told reporters in New York.

The Security Council authorized the deployment of UNAMID to quell fighting and protect civilians in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and some 2.7 million others forced from their homes since fighting erupted in 2003, pitting Government forces and allied Janjaweed militiamen against rebel groups.

UNAMID has stabilized the situation in Darfur, despite having less than 70 per cent of the authorized number of troops under the 2007 Security Council resolution setting up the force, said Gen. Agwai.

In addition, "we have been able to be one of the best sources of authenticated information of what is happening in Darfur," he said. "We have come a long way, but there are still a lot of challenges, no doubt about it."

At current strength UNAMID is unable to provide full-time security to all of the makeshift camps sheltering the millions of people who have fled the violence engulfing the region over the years.

"We have not been able to have a 24/7 protection coverage in most of the IDP [internally displaced persons] camps," said Gen. Agwai. "We have prioritized the most vulnerable and volatile camps."

He noted that some of the IDP camps have 90,000 to 100,000 people taking refuge in tents and makeshift shelters.

"The bigger the camps the more volatile and problematic they are and those are the ones with a 24/7 UNAMID presence," he said, including patrols that protect women when out collecting firewood.

With full deployment the mission would be more mobile and have a further reach, "instead of [looking like] very small ink spots on blotting paper. [We currently have] 32 spots, but we're beginning to expand and spread."

Gen. Agwai expected 92 per cent deployment by the end of the year, but stressed that there is little "point having boots without capabilities. Ethiopia has now pledged five [attack] helicopters to the mission … [but] to the best of my knowledge nobody has pledged one utility helicopter to the mission."

As a sign of UNAMID contributing to an increasing sense of security in the region, Gen. Agwai said that the incidence of rapes and assaults has been cut. "The number of people dying because of the crisis is down. The figure is now ranging from about 120 to 150 deaths in a month and not hundreds or thousands in a month as in the past."

The UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, known as MONUC, is effectively engaged in three separate military operations, said the operations Force Commander, Lieutenant-General Babacar Gaye.

MONUC is supporting the Congolese army (FARDC) in an offensive against the notorious Ugandan rebel militia, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on one front; a group of remnant armed groups in Ituri province in northeastern DRC; and a Rwandan rebel force, known as the FDLR, in North and South Kivu.

"Our mission is so far the largest peacekeeping mission deployed around the world and we are facing all the challenges that peacekeeping have to face today," Lt.-Gen. Gaye told the press briefing. "This means the use of force, the protection of civilians and so on and so forth."

The latest bout of fighting between DRC troops and the rebel FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) and their local allies uprooted a further 35,000 people in South Kivu last month, bringing the total displaced there since January to 536,000, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). More than 1.8 million people are now internally displaced in the DRC's east.

Lt.-Gen. Gaye stressed the drastic need for extra troops on the ground to implement MONUC's protection mandate. "Everything is on track but unfortunately the first boots are still expected."

He said that MONUC is slated to soon receive a Bangladeshi battalion, an Egyptian battalion, a Jordanian special force company, an Egyptian special force company and a Bangladeshi engineer company.

"Unfortunately, we are yet to have the 18 helicopters that have been authorized by the [Security] Council," he added.
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UN EXTENDS AID TO VICTIMS OF DEADLY NEW VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today ordered United Nations officials to extend all possible assistance to the victims of the latest "heinous" surge of violence in southern Sudan, where 161 people, including 100 women and children, were reported to have been killed yesterday.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban voiced his "extreme concern" at the killing in Akobo in Jonglei state, where 50 men and 11 soldiers from the regional Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) were also killed.

Southern Sudan was the scene of one of Africa's longest and bloodiest civil wars, in which at least 2 million people were killed, 4 million others uprooted and 600,000 more fled across the borders, until a peace agreement in 2005 ended the 20 years of fighting between southern separatists and the national Government in the north. A referendum on independence for the south is expected to be held in 2011, following national elections next year.

More recently, violence has flared periodically from various quarters, with Mr. Ban warning last month that escalating inter-tribal fighting was jeopardizing the stability of the entire country and putting at risk key milestones in implementing the 2005 pact, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Attacks by the notorious Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), have also wrought havoc in border regions in the south.

In his statement today condemning the latest violence, Mr. Ban directed the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) "to extend all possible assistance to those affected by this heinous act and work with local authorities to restore calm."

He called on the regional Government of Southern Sudan "to bring to justice those responsible for these events and take the necessary measures to protect civilians across Southern Sudan."
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GREATER EFFORTS NEEDED TO END DISPLACEMENT IN NORTHERN UGANDA, SAYS UN EXPERT

Stepped up efforts are needed to ensure that the last of the people uprooted by the long-running conflict between the Government and a notorious group in northern Uganda are able to return to their homes, a United Nations independent expert said today.

Wrapping up a week-long visit to the Great Lakes nation, Walter Kaelin, the Secretary-General's Representative on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs), said that he is "impressed" by progress made in tackling the displacement situation in the country's north, where nearly 80 per cent of the uprooted have returned to their villages.

He voiced his appreciation for the Government's actions in allowing the IDPs to find durable solutions, welcoming progress made in restoring security and freedom of movement in northern Uganda, which has seen two decades of fighting between the Government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

But Mr. Kaelin noted that "serious challenges remain for those remaining in camps to freely opt for return, local integration or settlement elsewhere as provided for by the Ugandan National IDP Policy and to ensure the sustainability of returns or other durable solutions.

Also impeding sustainable returns are the lack of water, food, health and education services, as well as land and property disputes, in areas of return, he added.

In spite of the Government's efforts, the Representative said that the low impact of recovery and development activities in the north, especially the setting up of basic services in return areas, threatens stability and the durability of peace.

He called on national and local authorities to implement the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan for northern Uganda, calling on the international community to support recovery efforts.

"The implementation of recovery projects and support for solving land conflicts would go a long way in restoring economic, social and cultural rights of those who have been deprived of their human rights for so long," Mr. Kaelin said in a press release issued in the capital, Kampala.

Food insecurity is another cause for concern, especially among elderly people and orphans, he noted, urging authorities and their development partners to increase investment in guaranteeing the right to food.

Earlier this week, the outgoing UN envoy for the conflict in northern Uganda today stressed the need for a two-pronged strategy of pursuing negotiation as well as military action against the LRA.

In his last briefing to the Security Council as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the LRA-affected areas, Joaquim Chissano spoke about the state of the Juba peace agreements – originally signed in Sudan in February 2008 and set to take effect after the signing of a final overall peace accord – involving the LRA and the Ugandan Government.

Countries in the region, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have joined forces with Uganda to militarily root out the LRA, following the failure by the group's leader, Joseph Kony, to sign the final peace pact which would end two decades of fighting.

Those operations, which display a new determination by countries to collectively deal with t

he dangers posed by the LRA, had both uprooted and disrupted the group, Mr. Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, told the 15-member Council in a closed meeting.
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DR CONGO: UN FUND ALLOCATES OVER $12 MILLION TO AID VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE

DR CONGO: UN FUND ALLOCATES OVER $12 MILLION TO AID VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE
New York, May 29 2009 2:00PM
The United Nations humanitarian wing has allocated over $12 million to help nearly 200,000 people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) cope with the lingering consequences of a series of attacks by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

Elizabeth Byrs, spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<"http://ochaonline.un.org/">OCHA), told reporters in Geneva that the majority of the grant from the Central Emergency Response Fund (<"http://ochaonline.un.org/Default.aspx?alias=ochaonline.un.org/cerf">CERF) – over $6 million – will go towards ensuring food security.

The World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/">WFP) will use the funds to provide assistance to stabilize food security among some 160,000 people, particularly children, and pregnant and breastfeeding women, in the remote north-eastern Haut-Uélé and Bas-Uélé regions.

According to the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, known as <"http://monuc.unmissions.org/">MONUC, some 1,100 people have been killed by the LRA between December 2008 and January 2009, while hundreds have been abducted and 200,000 uprooted. Attacks by the group, notorious for abducting children as soldiers and sex slaves, have continued in recent months in parts of the DRC.

CERF was created in 2006 to allow the UN quick access to its accounts, potentially saving thousands of lives facing sudden crises. Administered by OCHA, the Fund has so far disbursed well over $1 billion to emergency programmes in 67 countries.
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TOP UN ENVOY CALLS FOR NATIONAL REFORMS IN DR CONGO

TOP UN ENVOY CALLS FOR NATIONAL REFORMS IN DR CONGO
New York, May 26 2009 4:00PM
The top United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has called for swift implementation of "reforms of the state services" to fight poverty and corruption.

In a keynote address to a major civil society gathering yesterday in the capital, Kinshasa, Alan Doss offered UN support for the reforms, without which, he said, the fight against poverty would be hampered.

Mr. Doss, the Secretary-General's Special Representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC (<"http://monuc.unmissions.org/">MONUC), asked the participants to come up with a workable strategy.

"Your ideas to consolidate peace, to end impunity, ensure the democratic electoral processes, and support reforms in institutions and governance practices will be critical," he said.

In a related development, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters in New York that MONUC peacekeepers had deployed over the weekend to a village near the north-eastern town of Dungu where the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) killed one person, wounded 20 others, and burned some 20 huts.

Last Friday in the Bukavu area, a peacekeeping patrol exchanged fire with a group of Rwandan rebels after the rebels attacked a bus at a roadblock, she said.

Meanwhile, MONUC also reported that it is providing logistical assistance to Congolese judicial authorities in the trial of Mai Mai militiamen charged with mass rapes and torture.

The trial opened two days ago in a regional court in Province Orientale. The mission says it provided helicopters to help get judicial personnel to the remote area, some 290 miles from the provincial hub of Kisangani. UN human rights experts will also be monitoring the proceedings, MONUC said.

Thirty-four Mai Mai fighters are on trial for a spree of sexual violence, including the alleged rape of more than 135 women and children in July 2007.
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UN-MANDATED GROUP SUGGESTS SCREENING RIGHTS RECORDS OF CONGOLESE SOLDIERS

UN-MANDATED GROUP SUGGESTS SCREENING RIGHTS RECORDS OF CONGOLESE SOLDIERS
New York, May 21 2009 4:00PM
The expert panel monitoring United Nations sanctions imposed on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has underscored the need for a vetting mechanism to screen the human rights records of officers in the national army, as part of overall efforts to reform the security sector.

In its interim report, published today, the Group of Experts on the DRC focuses on the security situation in North Kivu province, where the most serious fighting took place in late 2008, and particularly on the accelerated military integration of non-State armed groups into the national army (FARDC) in early 2009.

They state that information on the continued presence of children in the ranks of the recently integrated brigades, as well as grave human rights abuses committed by former commanders of armed groups currently integrated in the FARDC "make a compelling argument" for the establishment of a vetting mechanism.

The Group considers that such an initiative is "indispensable" for a sustainable integration process, and would strengthen the Government's capacity to effectively extend State authority in the strife-torn eastern part of the vast nation and protect its own nationals.

"In the absence of such a mechanism, command responsibility for human rights abuses of the civilian population will ultimately rest with the supreme military command of FARDC," the report adds.

The Group also highlights a number of other concerns on the issue of military integration, notably the maintenance of parallel command structures operated by former senior officers of rebel National Congress in Defence of the People (CNDP) who have been integrated into the FARDC.

Also, it notes that there are several armed groups in South Kivu which have not yet joined the integration process, including some Mai-Mai militias. The Group is also concerned about ongoing militia activities in the Ituri region, which it continues to monitor closely.

The Group is also continuing to monitor the situation in north-eastern DRC, after it received verified reports of hundreds of civilian casualties and abductions at the hands of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) since December 2008.
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DR CONGO: MORE THAN 30,000 FLEE NEW ATTACKS BY SPLINTERED REBEL FACTIONS

Even as some armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are being contained through peace pacts and military action, new fighting between other militias has driven more than 30,000 people from their homes, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

"The latest flare-up threatens to reverse the considerable progress made in the repatriation and resettlement of thousands of Congolese affected by previous conflicts in the area," William Spindler, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in Geneva.

On 31 March, a group calling itself the Popular Front for Justice in the Congo (FPJC) attacked villages in the Ituri district between 50 and 80 kilometres south-east of Bunia, the administrative capital.

A few days later, on 2 April, the self-styled Revolutionary Front for Peace in the Ituri (FPRI) launched a counter attack in the area, UNHCR said.

According to the agency, in September 2008 FPJC splintered from the FPRI, a notorious group which has refused to participate in the peace process and has been blamed for major human rights violations in Ituri.

Many of the newly displaced include persons who were uprooted in raids mounted by the FRPI in 2006 in Ituri district and who were assisted to return to their homes by UNHCR in late 2006, Mr. Spindler said.

The eastern provinces of DRC have recently witnessed months of fierce fighting involving Government forces (FARDC) and various militia groups, displacing some 250,000 civilians, on top of 800,000 uprooted in earlier violence.

Last month, however, the Government and the National Congress for People's Defence (CNDP), one of the main combatants in the fighting, signed a peace accord.

Meanwhile, DRC and Rwanda launched a joint military operation to root out the mainly Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) from the east. A similar endeavour is under way in Haut Uélé province by Congolese and Ugandan forces to end the threat of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in DRC.

Despite these efforts, in his latest report on the DRC, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls the situation in the east "fluid and volatile," partly because of the multiplicity of armed groups, requiring continued international attention.
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TENS OF THOUSANDS MORE FLEE ARMED GROUPS IN EASTERN DR CONGO, UN SAYS

The United Nations refugee agency voiced serious concern today over the plight of thousands of civilians who have fled their homes to escape daily attacks by the many armed groups operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that civilians in North Kivu province continued to be terrorized by groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which has been the target of recent joint operations conducted by Rwanda and DRC.

In the far north-east area of Haut Uélé of Orientale Province, which borders on Uganda, villagers continue to flee fresh attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the Ugandan rebel group notorious for abducting children as soldiers and sex slaves.

The various rebel attacks in North Kivu have since last year displaced over 250,000 people, while in Orientale region, nearly 190,000 have been displaced in the last six months, and some 16,000 refugees have fled to South Sudan.

In the past several weeks, after their homes were plundered and torched by various armed groups, more than 20,000 people fled into the forest from villages in the Rutshuru district of North Kivu, UNHCR said.

This week, a joint UN assessment team, including UNHCR, has reported that heavily armed FDLR and allied PARECO militia forces seem to be surrounding the North Kivu village of Pinga, causing panic among its 8,500 population, including some 2,000 previously displaced persons.

Meanwhile, in Haut Uélé, a UNHCR convoy with 22 tonnes of much-needed assistance destined for displaced people was forced to turn back following reports of nearby LRA groups, and further LRA attacks were reported in the neighbouring district of Bas Uélé.

During a visit to North Kivu last week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for the DRC, Alan Doss, pledged that the UN peacekeeping mission there – known as MONUC – will reinforce its presence in localities and continue to logistically support the Government army in its operations against the FDLR and other armed groups.
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DR CONGO: UN ENVOY HAILS NEW PACT WITH REBELS IN STRIFE-TORN EAST

The top United Nations envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has hailed an accord signed yesterday between the Government and a rebel group that was a key combatant in fierce fighting, which uprooted hundreds of thousands of people last year, in the country's east.

"The population of the eastern DRC, above all women and children, have been for too long the victims of armed conflict, displacement and sexual violence," Alan Doss, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, said after taking part in the signing ceremony of a political and security agreement between the Government and the National Congress for People's Defence (CNDP).

"If they are respected, these accords could have an extremely positive impact on the life of the people of the two Kivus," added Mr. Doss, who also heads the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUC), referring to the North and South Kivu provinces which were most affected by the fighting that flared up last August.

In its combat with national armed forces, known as the FARDC, that displaced some 250,000 people last year, the mainly Tutsi CNDP, formerly led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, nearly overran the North Kivu capital of Goma, the scene of yesterday's signing ceremony.

MONUC has re-deployed some 90 per cent of its nearly 17,500 peacekeepers to the strife-torn east, where not only the CNDP and the Government army, but also the mainly Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and other rebel groups such as the Mayi Mayi have repeatedly clashed in various permutations and shifting alliances.

Yesterday's accords, reached after months of negotiations, foresee the end of all hostilities, the transformation of armed groups into political parties and the return of refugees and displaced persons, according to a MONUC press release.

The Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Olusegun Obansanjo, and his African Union counterpart, Benjamin Mpaka, co-facilitated the talks and were also present at the signing ceremony.

Conflict in the east continues, however, as a joint offensive by the DRC and Rwanda has not stopped the FDLR's violence and joint operations with Uganda failed to end the threat of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that originated in the latter country.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported today that another 11,000 people have been driven from an area around the village of Banda in north-eastern DRC this month by LRA raids, bringing the total number of people displaced by them 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 some 750 abducted, the vast majority of them children, whom the group is notorious for forcing into combat or utilizing as sex slaves.
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TOP UN ENVOY HAILS JOINT UGANDAN, CONGOLESE OPERATION AGAINST REBELS

TOP UN ENVOY HAILS JOINT UGANDAN, CONGOLESE OPERATION AGAINST REBELS
New York, Mar 16 2009 1:00PM

As Ugandan troops began withdrawing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after a three-month joint operation to flush out a notorious rebel group, the United Nations' top envoy in the country praised the cooperative effort, the world body's mission there said today.

Marking the end of Operation Lightening and Thunder, meant to rout the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Alan Doss, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUC), warned, however, that the group remained a threat.

"Operations in the current phase are finished but there are more bands [of LRA] still here. There is work to be done above all in the matter of the protection of the civilian population," Mr. Doss said at a ceremony yesterday attended by diplomats, ministers and military of the two countries.

Brutal attacks since last September by the LRA, notorious for abducting children as soldiers and sex slaves, have killed some 900 Congolese and displaced another 150,000.

While UN agencies and their partners are working – with the authorities, military forces in the area and MONUC – to expand humanitarian aid and step up efforts to protect the local population, they are facing several constraints, according to the Organization's humanitarian coordinator, John Holmes.

These include the huge 40,000 square kilometre area where the LRA is hiding, their dispersal into several groups, the difficult terrain and isolated location, chronic lack of infrastructure, and the threat still posed by the rebels, including on major roads.

At yesterday's ceremony, authorities of the DRC armed forces (FARDC) asked MONUC to continue its support in further efforts to clear out the pockets of LRA that remained.

"The Governments of the DRC and Uganda have very generously recognized the support of MONUC to the FARDC during this first phase," Mr. Doss responded.

"Now, it's necessary to turn toward the future and the next operations," he said.
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UPSURGE IN ATTACKS AS MILITIA GROUP RETURNS TO NORTH KIVU, UN AGENCY REPORTS

UPSURGE IN ATTACKS AS MILITIA GROUP RETURNS TO NORTH KIVU, UN AGENCY REPORTS
New York, Mar 6 2009 1:00PM

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it is extremely worried about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu, where some 160,000 people have been uprooted from their homes since January and returning militia are attacking local civilians and aid workers.

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) returned to the north and central areas of North Kivu, attacking civilians and targeting humanitarian relief convoys, after a joint military operation by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda aimed at ridding them from area ended in mid-February.

UNHCR credited the FDLR – composed mainly of Hutus who arrived in the DRC in the wake of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda – with at least 17 attacks, including of killing, looting, kidnapping and raping of civilians, and the ambushing and burning of vehicles, since mid-February.

Over the past two weeks, the FDLR has killed 34 people, kidnapped four and injured 22 others, according to a UNHCR team on the ground. In late February, the armed group ambushed several relief convoys belonging to humanitarian agencies that provide assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs).

This new displacement adds to the strain on an already dramatic humanitarian situation in North Kivu, which has a total of some 850,000 IDPs, many of whom have been displaced multiple times.

Attacks by the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), has also intensified in the Orientale province of north-eastern DRC since late February, following a relative lull earlier in the month.

Dispersed elements of the LRA continue to attack the civilian population at random, according to a UNHCR team in Dungu, the regional centre of Haut Uélé, where there are frequent reports of rape and pillaging.

UNHCR estimated that the total number of Congolese civilians displaced by LRA raids in this remote part of the DRC has now surpassed 140,000 and the death toll 900, since people of Orientale province were exposed to the brutal and deadly LRA violence last September.

In addition, some 16,000 Congolese refugees crossed into southern Sudan, fleeing the LRA's rampage and are presently sheltering in the area of Ezo, Yambio and Yei.
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NOTABLE RISE IN VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIANS, AID WORKERS IN DR CONGO, UN REPORTS

NOTABLE RISE IN VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIANS, AID WORKERS IN DR CONGO, UN REPORTS
New York, Feb 27 2009 2:00PM

There has been a notable rise in violations against civilians and attacks on humanitarian workers in North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), leading to new displacement, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today.

Some people fled the fighting, while others moved from villages to the forest and back again, OCHA's Elizabeth Byrs told reporters in Geneva.

In addition, seven security incidents against humanitarian actors had been documented between 14 and 24 February, compared to 15 incidents since the beginning of the year.

The rise in such incidents might lead humanitarian organizations working in the province – which has been the scene of clashes between Government forces and rebels that have uprooted hundreds of thousands of people – to reduce or limit their work, leading to "disastrous" consequences for the population, Ms. Byrs said.

She said that the humanitarian community is appealing to all the parties in the territory to respect and protect the civilian population as well as aid workers and their equipment.

OCHA added that attacks against individuals, as well as entire villages and health centres, by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) are continuing in Haut Uélé province. DRC, Uganda and Southern Sudan have joined forces in an offensive against the group, whose attacks have left hundreds dead and uprooted roughly 150,000 people.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it is preparing an emergency operation targeting those driven from their homes or who lost their crops and possessions as a result of LRA attacks.

Meanwhile, aid agencies say they need military protection and are working to find ways to get to remote populations that can only be accessed by helicopter.

Despite these constraints, OCHA reported that aid is reaching some people. WFP, for example, was able to distribute food to more than 32,000 displaced people last week.

OCHA also noted that work is ongoing to improve the airstrip in the north-eastern city of Doruma to facilitate arrivals of humanitarian air flights.

In a related development, Hilde Johnson, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is currently in eastern DRC, where she called today for the release of all children currently associated with armed groups in the area.
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