Mayhem in Congo - 537 Killed, Over a Hundred Thousand Flee

[Footage of the LRA in Congo from instablogs]

Again, to take a little break from the all Gaza, all the time approach, some fairly depressing news from northeastern Congo.  According to a January 13th press briefing by a spokesman from the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR):

"We are increasingly concerned about the humanitarian situation and continuing attacks by the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), on the civilian population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) Oriental Province.

According to UNHCR's team in the regional centre of Dungu, the death toll in the province bordering Uganda and South Sudan is now estimated at 537 people. Another 408 people have been kidnapped by the LRA since the outbreak of violence in September last year, including victims abducted in attacks over the past four days.

Rough estimates of the number of forcibly displaced in this part of the DRC have now surpassed 104,000. Many of these internally displaced people (IDPs) are still hiding in the bush...More than 10,000 of them are children."

Which is bad enough, except for the fact that other parts of Congo are arguably even worse.  For instance, there was large-scale fighting throughout late 2008 in North Kivu province, where rebels under Laurent Nkunda battled both the Congolese army and UN peacekeepers.  The fighting caused over 250,000 civilians to flee their homes - the lucky ones sought refuge in makeshift camps; the rest wandered, looking for safety.

There are recent reports of renewed fighting in North Kivu province, as well as increasing threats against civilians in displaced person camps.  According to the blog Stop the War in North Kivu:

"In the last two weeks, soldiers [around Kiwanja] have been asking IDPs to pay 2 U$ per day as a 'tax to remain in the IDP camp'. Things are going far beyond. CNDP soldiers are threatening men, women and children to occupy their homes if they do not return home. Some of the houses have been seized, and padlocks have been placed in some visible door entrances to increase pressure.

As readers of this blog know, IDPs remain in the camp of Kiwanja because they fear for their lives."

And, if that wasn't bad enough, Nkunda's rebels are beginning to splinter, with Jean Bosco Ntaganda challenging Nkunda's control.

Nkunda is a vicious bastard, but Ntaganda is little better - according to the excellent Enough Project blog, Ntaganda is already wanted by the International Criminal Court for recruiting child soldiers.  Not to mention that Ntaganda goes by the name "The Terminator".  Touching.