Communiques – en

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the humanitarian impact of the conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been devastating and that those behind recent human rights abuses must be held accountable.

(New York) – With tens of thousands of people at risk from renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Amnesty International USA today called on the Obama administration to step up its influence at the United Nations and directly with the Congolese government to help protect civilians and to supply needed food, water, medicine and shelter.

In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, thousands of people are on the move, balancing their belongings on their heads or on chukudus, the local wooden scooters. They pack the roads of North and South Kivu, fleeing the newest wave of violence spreading across the region. WFP is working around the clock to ensure the most destitute have enough to eat.

President Paul Kagame and President Denis-Sassou-N'guesso on Saturday commended the decisions taken by the heads of state of the just concluded ICGLR summit in Kampala.

The Crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has recently escalated to the point where a major city of an estimated one million inhabitants has been taken by the Rwandan-backed M23 proxy militia. Hundreds of thousands of Congolese in the North Kivu province have been rendered homeless and displaced. OXFAM reports that "Congolese are suffering violent abuse on a massive scale – including rape, kidnap and murder."

Thierry Goffeau is Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Head of Mission in North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. He is currently in Rutshuru, where panic and fear in the wake of an advance by M23 rebels on Goma, the provincial capital, is beginning to subside.

An upsurge of fighting in Eastern Congo has forced thousands of families to flee their homes, leaving them with little access to food. WFP, which was already feeding nearly half a million displaced people in the North Kivu province, has begun responding to the new needs with food distributions in the city of Goma.

DECLARATION OF THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE MEMBER STATES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE GREAT LAKES REGION (ICGLR) ON THE SECURITY SITUATION IN EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)

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