Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa/Rome (Agenzia Fides) – For several months now, rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have been carrying out violent attacks on civilians in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and on an increasingly more frequent basis. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have fled.
According to the United Nations and various humanitarian aid organizations, over 500 people have been killed and another 400 children kidnapped during the recent attacks on the city of Dungu, in northeastern DRC. In October 2008, DWB began working in Dungu and there are now 5 international aid workers and 12 Congolese workers assisting the people suffering from the violence.
The DWB team support the local healthcare facilities in Limay, Ngilima, Bangadi, Faradje, and Doruma and offer assistance to the refugees with a mobile clinic in three towns south of Dungu. DWB supports the hospitals in Dungu, Faradje, and Doruma. In the most dangerous areas, not accessible by land, the DWB airlift the patients in the worst conditions. There are still many attacks taking place in Bangadi, Doruma, and Faradje. They are very violent, with very few survivors. The attacks have led to the flight of thousands of people into South Sudan.
The DWB team has been supporting the clinics in Sature and Gangura and have even established mobile clinics along the border with the DRC, in order to treat more people. In January, nearly 2,000 refugees entered the city of Ezo. A DWB team made a rapid evaluation and distributed food to the children under five years of age who showed signs of malnutrition. DWB will also distribute blankets and mosquito nets, and will continue to oversee the situation, intervening if need be. (Agenzia Fides, 06/02/2009)
