By Press TV reporter
November 8, 2009
Doctors without Borders (MSF) says thousands of Hutu civilians were targeted by the Democratic Republic of Congo's army when they visited sites set up to combat a measles epidemic.
On Friday, Doctors without Borders denounced the attacks in the eastern province of North Kivu as "an abuse of humanitarian action."
"MSF denounces this clearly unacceptable abuse of humanitarian aid for military purposes," a statement by the medical group read.
The medical charity said the attacks happened on October 17 when it was vaccinating thousands of children against measles at seven sites in the rebel-held Masisi district in the region.
The UN mission in Congo (MONUC) has been called into question because of atrocities against civilians blamed on regular troops.
However, in the eastern Congo, the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Hutu extremists of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have also caused untold suffering for thousands of civilians.
The Hutu rebels have been fighting against the local Tutsi population and government troops since 1994. Some of the guerillas even participated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Congo launched an offensive in January against the militias, which have been destabilizing the Great Lakes region for years.
The eastern Congo has experienced interminable cycles of violence since the war began in 1998. The conflict has dragged on for over a decade and left over 5.4 million people dead.
Related Materials:
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The situation of human rights in Rwanda
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