UNITED NATIONS, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Humanitarians in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are ramping up aid delivery following deadly attacks on civilians in North Kivu, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.
A string of attacks over the past week killed dozens of civilians in North Kivu province and displaced more than 100,000 people, said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"According to information given to us by our humanitarian partners, more than 50,000 people displaced from Rutshuru found safety in Kibirizi, while some 55,000 people from Masisi fled to neighboring villages as well as to Goma and toward Minova in South Kivu," said Dujarric.
The world body and its humanitarian partners provide health support, education, food, water and sanitation, among other much-needed services, to thousands of people in Beni and surrounding areas, he said. "We are also working on scaling up our response."
The latest people chased from their homes by violence brings to more than 800,000 the number of displaced people in North Kivu over the past year, he said. In the whole of the DRC, more than 6 million people are internally displaced.
"Our peacekeeping colleagues in the country report that they sheltered 95 children at their base in Sake, that's including 50 children from an orphanage," he said. Following the weekend clashes between Congolese forces and the M23 armed group, they were transferred to a children's center in Goma.
The spokesman said four civilians were known to have died during the week of clashes, and at least five others were injured. Peacekeepers from the mission, known as MONUSCO, provided medical assistance to the injured at their base and later evacuated them to Goma.
The mission also reported that since early March, the ADF rebel group reportedly killed at least 97 civilians in the Beni region in North Kivu, he said. ■
