DRC – 15 April 2016

Fresh fighting drives displacement in eastern DR Congo

Fighting between the Congolese army and rebel forces has forced tens of thousands of people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to move out of four sites for the internally displaced. Between late March and late last week, some 36,000 people left the Mpati, Kivuye, Nyange and Bweru sites – three of them managed by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, through a local partner – in the Masisi district of DRC’s North Kivu province.

“UNHCR is extremely worried about the welfare of these people, who are reported by our partners to be in a desperate situation after becoming displaced again,” said UNHCR Regional Representative Stefano Severe. “We urge the authorities and the rival parties to ensure that the basic human rights of displaced people are respected and that they are found safe alternative shelter,” he added.

UNHCR

US researcher who linked soldiers to massacres expelled from DR Congo

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have expelled a prominent American researcher weeks after he published a report linking soldiers to the massacres of civilians, the government and the researcher’s organisation said on Saturday.

Jason Stearns, the director of the Congo Research Group at New York University, was expelled from the country, to which he makes regular research visits, for making false declarations to immigration services, government spokesman Lambert Mende said.

The Guardian