Violence displaces 400,000 in Democratic Republic of Congo

The United Nations says fighting between government troops and militia groups has displaced 400,000 people in recent months in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Yvon Edoumou, communications officer for the UN humanitarian agency in Congo, said Monday that the violence had targeted at least 20 villages in the southeastern province of Katanga since October 2013.

Edoumou stated that militia groups, including the Mai Mai, are believed to be responsible for the fighting.

Last week, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Congo, Moustapha Soumare, expressed concerns about the “critical” conditions in the province.

On February 18, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) announced that it would deploy more peacekeeping troops to the African country “to protect Katanga’s population.”

The Mai Mai are indigenous to the region and say that they are Congo’s true patriots.

Since the 1990s, the Mai Mai members have forged and broken alliances with a variety of domestic and foreign government and guerilla groups in a country that has experienced interminable cycles of violence for nearly 15 years. The group is attempting to make the mineral rich Katanga independent.

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 since 1998 and left over 5.5 million people dead.