More people in northeastern DR of Congo displaced from homes, UN says

More than 70,000 people have recently lost their homes in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), swelling the ranks of the 33,000 who were previously forced from their residences, the United Nations said today.

An assessment mission by UN agencies and non-governmental organizations recently toured the province of North Kivu, though not all population centres could be accessed because of lack of security, the UN said. Many of the displaced are heading for Beni and the southern parts of North Kivu. The results of an assessment mission to those locales are expected soon.

As of mid-2002, a total of 2.27 million persons in the DRC have been displaced, while there were 346,000 refugees from Angola, Sudan, Rwanda, Central African Republic, Burundi, Republic of Congo and other places, according to UN sources.

The total general population affected by conflict and insecurity in the country was 20 million out of an entire population of 56 million.