DR Congo: LRA strikes again forcing inhabitants to abandon villages and fields

Source: Missionary International Service News Agency (MISNA) - The LRA has raided and looted in te Dungu territory over the past weekend. In the village of Ngagalanadabio, the militias have stolen rice, animals and clothing taking advantage of the residents who were attending a funeral; in an administrative area in Ngilima, located in Dungu, the LRA stole cattle.

In the previous days, civil society had denounced aggressions of the type seen in Nangume, along the road linking Dungu to Faradje, at the expense of a convoy of traders; the LRA stole flour, bicycles and beverages.

On Sunday June 20, the LRA were trying to steal other goods from locals, killing two people in the process in the village of Gongolo. The traditional leaders of the area of Dungu, a town just a few miles away from the Sudanese border, have asked people not to live in isolated areas and to group together to be stronger and better able to withstand LRA attacks, which have been very frequent in the Eastern Province over the past months, where since the start of 2009 they are said to have killed at least 1500 people.

Moreover, fearing more LRA raids, the inhabitants of the area have abandoned the villages and given up cultivating the fields, worsening their food situation. The LRA has broken up in various splinter groups, which have been raiding in north-eastern Congo, southern Sudan and the southeastern Central African Republic. [AB]