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Scores of DCR refugees die in boat crash: UN

Iran Press TV

Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:19PM GMT

Scores of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have died after a boat taking them back home from neighboring Uganda capsized, the United Nations refugee agency says.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday that the bodies of 98 people, including children, have been recovered and as many as 41 other refugees have been rescued.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres expressed sadness over the incident and expressed readiness to support efforts for recovering the dead and helping the survived ones.

"This tragedy has shocked me profoundly," Guterres said, adding, "My thoughts are with those who have lost dear ones, and the survivors. I am grateful to the Government and other actors who have mounted a rescue-and-recovery operation and are assisting the survivors. I have called on UNHCR's Uganda office to fully support these efforts."

The UNHCR also said that the boat which was carrying the refugees, along with another boat, left Uganda's Hoima district on the eastern side of Lake Albert for DRC on Saturday.

Reports say there are almost 175,500 refugees from DRC in Uganda, including some of the 66,000 who have fled to Bundibugyo last July to escape the violence in the country's east.

The Congolese army is battling the March 23 movement (M23) rebels with the help of the new UN intervention brigade in the east of the country.

The M23 rebels and several other armed groups are active in the eastern Congo and are fighting for control of the country's vast mineral resources, such as gold, the main tin ore cassiterite, and coltan (columbite-tantalite), which is used to make many electronic devices, including cell phones.

Since early May 2012, nearly three million people have fled their homes in the eastern Congo. About 2.5 million have resettled in Congo, but about 500,000 have crossed into neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.

Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades, such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on since 1998 and left over 5.5 million people dead.

IA/AS/MAM