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UNHCR: 360,000 Displaced in Congo's Ituri Province Struggling to Survive

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The U.N. refugee agency warns more than 360,000 people who
   have fled inter-communal violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of
   Congo's Ituri province over the past two months are living in squalor,
   struggling to survive.

   The violence, which erupted between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups
   over land and other resources in mid-June, is not as acute as it was
   then, but it has not gone away. To complicate matters, other armed
   groups have joined the fighting.

   UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said thousands of people continue to flee,
   though at a lower rate. Agency staff who recently visited the town of
   Djugu found empty villages and burned homes, he told VOA, adding that
   many of the displaced are afraid to return.

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