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Relief Workers Evacuated, Programs Suspended as Fighting Nears Beni
Relief agencies working in the Beni region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) evacuated foreign workers June 24 as fighting between rebel militias and Congolese government forces nears the area. During an emergency meeting between the agencies and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, staff members agreed that the recent rebel occupation of the town of Lubero created a clear danger to the lives of staff in Beni, some 60 miles away.
This region already has seen bloodshed as the Lendu and Hema ethnic groups resumed fighting shortly after the Ugandan army withdrew May 8. About 500 civilians have died in Bunia alone in the past two months. Some 80,000 people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the fighting.
“As of two weeks ago, the U.N. had found more than 300 bodies in Bunia,” said Philip Mahar, a World Vision communications officer who just returned from the area. “The situation there is completely out of control, and it’s the innocent civilians who are suffering and dying by the thousands.”
Before the evacuation, World Vision was working with other agencies to construct sanitation facilities in camps for the displaced. In addition, trucks with plastic sheeting, water containers, water tanks and sanitation materials wait at the border between Uganda and DRC until the situation improves. An estimated 4 million people have been killed during the five-year war in the Congo.
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