Some 400,000 displaced in east DR Congo since March: ICRC

Some 400,000 people have fled growing tension and violence in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo since March, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday. In Nord-Kivu province some 300,000 civilians have fled their homes, while in neighbouring Sud-Kivu about 100,000 were displaced because of the threat from combatants accused of rape and looting, said the ICRC's outgoing delegation chief in the country, Max Hadorn.
The agency said in its latest report on the growing plight of civilians in the country that violence was spreading in Sud-Kivu, while "crimes against civilians" including rape, murder, looting and destruction of homes were continuing unabated in areas east and north of the Nord-Kivu capital of Goma.