MaximsNewsNetwork: D.R. CONGO - UN's JOHN HOLMES TRIP (MONUC)

MaximsNewsNetwork: 04 May 2010 - UN MONUC: D.R. Congo - The top United Nations (UN) humanitarian official, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs for Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, wrapped up his five-day trip to areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that have witnessed some of the worst atrocities against civilians. He arrived in Mwenga in the southern Kivu Province of the country on Friday (30 April).

At a school in Mwenga, he helped launch a new feeding programme of the World Food Programme (WFP).
North and South Kivu provinces have been ravaged by armed conflict mainly pitting DRC's national army against insurgents of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

Local armed militias and bandits also contribute to insecurity in the two Kivu provinces, where an estimated 1.4 million people are internally displaced, more than 70 per cent of whom live with host families, increasing the burden on a population with already-scarce resources.
At the end of his visit to the Mwenga, Holmes commented on the situation in the area.

SOUNDBITE (French) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
I think the situation is not very encouraging. There have been some progress on safety and military matters in the battle against the FDLR for instance but for the moment the situation remains really tense.

On Saturday (1 May), he visited Niangara, an area in Orientale Province near the DRC's border with Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR).
It was the scene of one of the worst recent massacres carried out by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which terrorized northern Uganda for two decades before spilling over into neighbouring countries and has been accused of committing atrocities including mutilations and the recruitment of child soldiers. He was greeted by local officials as well as people who have been displaced by the war in the area.

SOUNDBITE (French) Marcine Leontine, Internally Displaced Person:
I came from Masika in 2008. I fled from the LRA war. We encounter hunger. We dont have any homes. There are so many children with Kwashiorkor disease. We are not well and we are malnourished.

Holmes heard first-hand accounts from survivors, including one woman whose lips and ear had been torn off two days ago in a typically barbaric and inexplicable attack.

SOUNDBITE (French) John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General, Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
Firstly I would like to talk about my visit to Niangara. I have to say that it was both shocking and moving. What can we say, for instance, to a woman whose lips and ear have been cut by the LRA for no reason.
Before the press conference, Holmes also visited a hospital run by the Médecins Sans Frontières in Niangara.

.......... ( UNITED NATIONS MONUC ) ......
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