UN force protects DRC refugees attacked by rebels

United Nations peacekeepers are protecting a camp of civilians forced to flee fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after a deadly raid by Rwandan Hutu rebels, a UN spokesperson said on Thursday.

Rebels killed six people and wounded another 20 when they opened fire on Wednesday on the Kinyandoni camp in Rutshuru territory, more than 70km north of the regional capital, Goma, said a spokesperson for Monuc, the UN mission in DRC.

“Peacekeepers are positioned near the camp,” Monuc spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich said Thursday. “The situation is calm this morning.”

The camp’s inhabitants had identified their attackers as members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), said Dominique Bofondo, the Rutshuru regional administrator.

“These rebels have been harassing the population for months now, raping women and pillaging people’s goods in the region,” he said.

The camp at Kinyandon holds more than 5 000 people who have fled the almost-constant fighting in the region over the last few years.

As well as the FDLR, the fighting has also involved the local Mai Mai militia and troops loyal to rebel Tutsi leader Laurent Nkunda, a former government army officer.

The FDLR, which clashed with government forces earlier on Wednesday in the village of Kanyamagana, comprises Rwandan Hutus who fled into DRC following the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis by Hutus in 1994.—Sapa-AFP