UN refugee agency "greatly alarmed" over mass displacement in Congo conflict

The UN Refugee Agency said on Friday it was "greatly alarmed" by clashes between government forces and armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that had caused hundreds of thousands to flee.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said the violence had prompted nearly 300,000 people to flee across Rutshuru and Masisi territories of DRC's North Kivu Province in February.

"Civilians continue to pay the heavy and bloody price of conflict, including women and children who barely escaped the violence and are now sleeping out in the open air in spontaneous or organized sites, exhausted and traumatized," he said.

Saltmarsh said the UNHCR and its partners were stepping up humanitarian assistance, but that difficulties remain in accessing displaced people in some parts of North Kivu because of the violence.

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