Refugees are still being abducted by armed groups for forced labour in the Northern Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a UN report released on Thursday. "Men often spend the day away from refugee camps out of fear of being abducted, but most abductions occur during the night," quotes the report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In the beginning of this year, several refugee camps were raided. Armed attackers looted aid from an NGO in the village of Masisi early January. A week later another attack on a camp, also in Masisi, left three people dead. And later that same month Hutu FDLR militias attacked civilians in the village of Isuka and abducted seven people, who have yet to be released, to transport looted goods. At least another 9 incidents occurred in the region early this year, according to OCHA.

The government has started an inquiry into these attacks and police forces are now hired to prevent further ones, Marie-Claire Bangwene, a Masisi official told humanitarian news agency IRIN. However, she added that the often unpaid FARDC forces that are hired to protect the camps, lack the motivation to respond.

For the last ten years Hutu FDLR militia's and Congolese Government troops are responsible for the ongoing conflict in the Eastern region of DRC. Last year, the fighting worsened, reported a spokesperson of OCHA.

Currently at least 1.3 million people live in refugee camps in the Eastern part of Congo. In 2009 more than one million people had to flee their villages and more than 8000 women were raped. The Rutshuru territory, which counts about 129,000 refugees, is among the most affected.

source: IRIN/DPA