Aid distributed to displaced people in DR Congo

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-25-2008 13:56

To the Democratic Republic of Congo now aid has arrived for thousands of people who were forced to flee their homes to escape renewed violence in the eastern part of the country.

People displaced by fighting wait for aid to be distributed at the village of Ntamugenga in eastern Congo, November 24, 2008.REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Recent conflicts between rebels and the government have left nearly a quarter of a million people displaced.

Here in Ntamugenga in the DRC aid is urgently needed.

On Monday, over three-thousand people who had found shelter with host families in the region queued up to receive aid -- their first since fleeing their homes over two months ago.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in the eastern part of the DRC since August. That's when the latest round of fighting between the rebels and the government began.

Michel Mundinga, Local Aid Worker, said, "This is actually from the resumption of conflicts that started at the end of August till now, which has seen so many people displaced - about 250,000 people who have been displaced through this war. And some of the people are in camps; others are living with host families, like where we are now."

But there could be some hope for those suffering from the instability in the country.

UN envoy to the DRC, Olusegun Obasanjo, says rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has expressed his desire to meet with the DRC government to discuss political, economic and security issues.

The former Nigerian president says Nkunda also wants to integrate his forces into the DRC army as part of a peace deal with the government.

Nkunda claims he is protecting DRC's minorities, especially ethnic Tutsis, that he says are being threatened by Hutu militias from Rwanda.

But critics accuse him of exploiting the instability to gain power.

The government has so far refused Nkunda's demand for direct negotiations.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei