French charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) announced on Monday that it would stop its humanitarian aid operations in two villages in the north eastern Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo due to an increase in violent attacks, two of which recently targeted its workers.
"Lack of security and impunity have forced MSF to close down humanitarian efforts in the villages of Nizi and Bambu," the organisation told a press conference on Monday.
"This decision comes in the ongoing absence of security guarantees on behalf of the various groups fighting in the region".
The two villages are currently under the Congelese army's control, however, attacks on military installations and vehicles occur regularly.
"The risks are too great for MSF (the French acronym of the charity) to return to these zones with any confidence...our mission is to save lives, but not by sacrificing our own," Olivier Maizoué, head of MSF programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On the 28 October, armed men shot at an MSF vehicle on its way to Bambu to help the local people. Two of the five people travelling were injured in the attack.
MSF called on armed groups to respect the international law protecting humanitarian aid workers. It also asked the government to carry out an investigation into the attack but this request has not been responded to so far.
Children to suffer
"Unfortunately we do not know who is behind the attacks against MSF, Maizoué said, adding that the charity would continue to bring medical assistance to other areas in the Ituri province such as Drodro and Angumu.
In June, 12 people were killed when the Boga general hospital, where MSF works, was attacked and pillaged.
"We are profoundly upset by the climate of impunity that reigns today in this part of the DRC," Jérôme Alin, another MSF director told AFP.
An estimated 122 armed groups of varying sizes operate in mineral-rich eastern DRC, many of which are a legacy of regional wars in the 1990s. The army has conducted operations in the area but has not been able to put a stop to the massacres of civilians.
The first victims from the shutting down of operations will be children, and internally displaced people who had access to free medical care in this region.
In pedatrics, MSF coordinator in DRC Alexandra Giudiceandrea recorded up to 7,000 children treated by the charity per month.
As a sign of solidarity with their colleagues in the north-east, all MSF workers will stop work for the day of 23 March, except for medical emergencies.
(with wires)
