Aid on hold in Democratic Republic of Congo

Aid agencies have put their work on hold in north-western Democratic Republic of Congo where raging ethnic violence has now driven 115,000 people from their homes. The fighting erupted between two tribes, Enyele and Munzaya, in the village of Dongo in Equateur province at the end of October and has since killed more than 100 people. It has affected 55 villages in five territories, leading to 70,000 people uprooted from their homes, but staying in the country and another 77,000 people have sought refuge in neighbouring Congo Republic, the United Nations said yesterday. And the most vulnerable people now have reduced access to humanitarian aid, the United Nations pointed out.Enyele tribesmen had gone from house to house, pillaging, raping and killing mostly Munzaya people in Dongo and  surrounding villages, where hardly any people are left. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it had put its plan to deliver food to people in Equateur on hold because of security. "WFP asks all actors in the area to facilitate humanitarian deliveries to help those in need," a WFP spokeswoman said.

Aid workers are also struggling to reach those in Equateur. "The security situation in Equateur is still volatile and it has been difficult to intervene so far," s a UN spokesperson told Reuters news agency Government troops sent to the province have failed to put a stop to the fighting, caused by a feud over fishing rights, and Congolese authorities say they are planning to send in extra forces. Gunmen involved in the clashes fired on a UN at the end of November helicopter, injuring five people on board. The  helicopter was ferrying supplies to peacekeepers working in Dongo. Democratic Republic of Congo's five-year war officially ended in 2003, but the country is still regularly listed as the site of one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Congo should be rich from its gold, diamonds and minerals, yet millions of its people suffer from a lethal combination of disease and hunger caused by ongoing conflict and displacement. Since 1998, 5.4 million have died from war-related violence, hunger and tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped.The country formerly known as Zaire has a democratic government led by President Joseph Kabila, a former guerrilla  but insecurity continues in the remote, resource-rich provinces near the eastern border. The world's largest  peacekeeping mission a UN force of 17,000 soldiers and police struggles to prevent violence and protect the population of almost 60 million.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children