Silver Spring, Maryland--Camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near the town of Goma continue to hold thousands of people fleeing the ongoing violence in war torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Meanwhile, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is responding, distributing emergency supplies and assisting more than 6,000 people who remain displaced from their homes.

This assistance is helping 3,578 families in the affected North Kivu Province. The distribution of non-food items includes 2,800 wool blankets, 850 school kits, and 4,000 multi-purpose fabrics that can be worn by women to protect them from the cold or to carry their babies. The school kits, which include book bags, notebooks, pens and pencils, are being given to elementary and secondary school-age students. The $64,000 project is implemented with funding from ADRA Norway, ADRA Canada, ADRA International, ADRA Sweden, the ADRA Africa Regional office in Kenya, ADRA Australia, ADRA United Kingdom, and ADRA France.

The situation in the region remains tense following weeks of violence. Fighting between the Congolese army and the rebel group National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) surged in late October 2008 forcing more than 250,000 people into makeshift camps. Nearly one million are presently displaced in eastern Congo, or 20 per cent of the population of the entire North Kivu Province, according to the United Nations. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) in DRC has reported that IDPs have become the target of serious human rights violations from all sides of the conflict, including abuses by civilians.

In a separate conflict in DRC's northeastern Oriental Province, the Uganda-based Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group has recently killed some 534 people and kidnapped more than 400 others in ongoing raids, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported. On December 14, Congolese, Ugandan, and Sudanese forces launched a joint military operation to repel the LRA.

"We remain extremely concerned about the fate of residents who are now increasingly caught in a conflict zone near the borders of the DRC, the Central African Republic and Sudan," said UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond in statement issued on January 13.

Since 1996, more than 4 million people are believed to have died in the Congolese conflict, according to UN estimates, mostly due to preventable diseases and starvation.

To assist ADRA's emergency response to the growing humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, contributions can be donated to ADRA's Refugee and Displaced Persons Fund, by phone at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372) or online at www.adra.org.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.

Author: Nadia McGill

Media Contact: John Torres, Senior Public Relations Manager, ADRA International 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Phone: 301.680.6357 E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org