KINSHASA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people have been killed and another 30 or more injured, mainly women and children, after three sites for internally displaced persons (IDPs) were bombarded in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) early Friday, the United Nations said.
The attack on the three IDP sites, located in the Lac Vert, Lushagala, and Mugunga neighbourhoods of Goma, capital of the eastern province of North Kivu, also damaged shelters and other humanitarian structures, the UN said in a statement late Friday.
The DRC government blamed the attacks on rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23), who have engaged in fighting with the DRC military and gained control of territories in North Kivu.
"The civilian population of North Kivu province has witnessed the worst humanitarian violations for over two years in this bloody attrition," said Angele Dikongue-Atangana, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) representative to the DRC.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, who was visiting Europe, cut short his trip following the bombing.
"I guarantee we will win this fight whatever it takes," Tshisekedi told Congolese expatriates in Belgium on Friday.
The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUSCO, called on all sides to take appropriate measures to reduce risks to civilians and maintain humanitarian access.
MONUSCO is expected to leave the DRC no later than the end of 2024, by handing over UN bases and equipment to DRC security forces under a three-phase departure plan.
"I reiterate the call of the United Nations secretary-general to all armed groups in eastern DRC to cease all hostilities immediately, to lay down their arms unconditionally, and to join the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Community Rehabilitation and Stabilisation Program," Bintou Keita, the head of MONUSCO, said in a statement released late Friday. ■
