GENEVA (AFP) — The Ugandan rebel group Lord's Resistance Army has slaughtered at least 537 people and kidnapped another 408 in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo since September, the UN said Tuesday.
"We are increasingly concerned about the humanitarian situation and continuing attacks by the LRA on the civilian population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Orientale province," said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Killings and kidnappings have been ongoing since violence first broke out in September, with latest attacks on Friday and Sunday at a mining village called Sambia leaving at least seven dead, he added.
Some 104,000 people have also been forced to flee the violence which broke out last September in the region neighbouring South Sudan and Uganda, he said.
"Many of these internally displaced people are still hiding in the bush, particularly in areas around the town of Faradje which was heavily hit during the Christmas period," he said.
An estimated 37,000 people have fled from Faradje, a town which borders Sudan, including over 10,000 children, said the UNHCR.
Troops from DR Congo, Uganda and South Sudan have conducted joint operations against the LRA since December, but the military action has provoked further retaliatory raids by the rebels against the local civilian population.
Redmond said sightings of LRA rebels are "causing panic and new displacement" throughout the region.
The UN agency's staff was also reporting "considerable ongoing population movements in the direction of Faradje and areas south of Dungu," he said.
"We remain extremely concerned about the fate of residents who are now increasingly caught in a conflict zone near the borders of the DRC, the Central African Republic and Sudan," said Redmond.
The LRA last week demanded an end to a joint regional military offensive against its forces and urged UN mediators to organise fresh consultations.
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