NAIROBI, Nov 24, 2009 (AFP) - A year since a massive rebel offensive was halted in eastern DR Congo, many thousands of civilians are still victims of atrocities in the restive region, an aid group said Tuesday.
More than half a million people have sought treatment from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors Without Borders) clinics, where thousands have also undergone surgery and more than 5,000 reported being sexually abused.
"What we are seeing in the field, what we are seeing in our clinics and hospitals leads us to believe that the situation for the ordinary people in eastern Congo has not changed compared to last year," said Banu Altunbas, head of the MSF mission in Sud- and Nord-Kivu provinces.
In late October 2008, rebels led by renegade Congolese general Laurent Nkunda launched a wide offensive in the Nord-Kivu region, displacing thousands, and were halted by government troops near the region's capital Goma.
Nkunda was arrested three months later following a joint raid by Rwandan and Congolese forces in the volatile region.
That operation targeted Rwandan Hutu rebels active in the region and some of whose members are suspected of taking part in the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, where about 800,000 people died.
After Kigali's pull-out, the Congolese army was backed by UN peacekeeping force to hunt down the insurgents.
"Even though the situation might have had a different turn, the massive population displacement, the atrocities and the violences against civilians didn't cease," Altunbas told reporters.
Currently there are more than 500,000 displaced in Sud Kivu alone, compared to 130,000 when the hostilities erupted, she said.
Altunbas explained that since the clashes, aid operation has been made difficult because "it's not very clear where the front lines are..."
"It's much more difficult to have that negotiated access for humanitarian assistance," she said. "On top of that, it's also creating much more banditry due to these fuzzy lines."
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Received by NewsEdge Insight: 11/24/2009 08:55:15
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