Aid agencies are struggling to get access to hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the recent escalation of conflict in Congo's Democratic Republic (DRC). Many aid workers have had to evacuate with relief operations suspended as fighting between rebels and government forces encroaches on Goma, the provincial capital.
It is believed that over a quarter of a million people have now been displaced - adding to the 850,000 that have been displaced over the last two years, caught up in one of the world's forgotten conflicts.
Tearfund partner agencies able to remain in the area are drawing up plans to reach people caught up in a new outbreak of violence in the volatile east of the country. What is lacking and is urgently needed is a relief corridor to provide secure access for aid to reach the displaced people.
Tearfund works with two partner development agencies in the region. Both have staff currently remaining in Goma scoping a response to urgent needs, however a spokesperson for HEAL Africa said the control of Goma was in limbo with retreating government forces worsening the security situation by going on looting sprees and fueling the public fear in the town.
Rebel forces, known as the National Congress for the Defence of the People, have taken control of several key towns and are closing on the city of Goma, resulting in many thousands of Congolese fleeing their homes. The UN, which has a 17,000-strong peace-keeping force in the region, says the fighting is having a `catastrophic' humanitarian toll on the civilian population. The DRC military operation is unable to bring the conflict to an end.
Tearfund's Disaster Management Director, David Bainbridge, says that the number of people affected by the conflict will grow even larger unless there is a cessation of hostilities.
"The UN peace keeping force needs a strengthened mandate which would allow it to enforce peace rather than just protect themselves," said Bainbridge.
