In DR Congo’s troubled east, blue helmets escort relief workers

United Nations peacekeepers have provided 21 escorts to humanitarian agencies in the field in North Kivu, the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks, in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In a letter to President Christophe Fournier of Médecins Sans Frontières, Alan Doss, the Secretary-General Special Representative, wrote that this was in response to concerns voiced by relief organizations over the harassment of civilians by armed groups and by the armed forces (FARDC).

Mr. Doss, who also heads the UN mission in the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUC, said that there are some 50,000 armed men – many of whom are either poorly paid or are drawing in no income at all – in both North and South Kivu provinces.

He also said that he has asked the Security Council to temporarily raise troop levels to boost protection for civilians in North Kivu.

Meanwhile, MONUC announced that its peacekeepers have freed 13 children, all under the age of 18, who had been kidnapped and forced to join the rebel National Congress for People’s Defence (CNDP) of renegade General Laurent Nkunda.

Over the weekend, the mission received word that the CNDP was recruiting children in several areas and dispatched troops to investigate.

In Osso, a village in North Kivu, they located a house where children where being held, and were fired upon by members of the CNDP.

In a related development, MONUC and FARDC have partnered to persuade armed groups in the small village of Mpofi to give up their weapons and join the brassage process, by which they would be integrated into the national army.

The area has been associated with several rebel groups and there have been allegations of illegal tax collection, looting and extortion.