Democratic Republic of the Congo: 35,000 people uprooted by fresh fighting
264 views · Published 24 July 2009 · 1:13 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: United Nations · 2009 · News & Politics
United Nations, New York, 24 July 2009 - Noon briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. The latest outbreak of fighting in the troubled South Kivu province in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), pitting Government forces against Rwandan rebels, has forced 35,000 people from their homes, the United Nations refugee agency reported today. The displaced are sheltering in the Ruzizi River plain, near the DRCs borders with Rwanda and Burundi, after fleeing the latest military campaign, called Kimia II, which started on 12 July and seeks to disarm the notorious ethnic Hutu militia known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and their local allies. This latest uprooting brings the total number of civilians displaced in South Kivu since the start of the year to some 536,000 people, according to Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). DRC: Thousands of Congolese flee the new fighting in South Kivu, UNHCR Briefing notes: http://www.unhcr.org/4a698bf89.html
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