GENEVA — At least 125,000 people have fled their homes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over the past three weeks amid "large scale destruction" by Ugandan rebels, the UN refugee agency said Friday.
"The Ugandan rebel group, the so-called Lord's Resistance Army, continues to cause large scale destruction and displacement in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo," said Andrej Mahecic, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
"At least 125,000 people are known to have been driven out of their villages in Haut Uele district of Orientale province by the LRA in the last three weeks alone," he added.
Some 1,270 people have been killed and over half a million people uprooted from the province by the violence since September 2008.
"The rebel group is accused of widespread killings, kidnappings of civilians and raping of women," said Mahecic.
The UNHCR also lamented that the insecurity and impassable roads were hampering relief agencies' ability to access the needy.
The DR Congo, Ugandan and South Sudanese armies had launched a major joint military operation against the LRA from the end of 2008 to March 2009, but failed to quell the rebel force, which has long battled in north Uganda and retreated across the DRC border.
Copyright © 2009 AFP.
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