UN: 500,000 people have fled their homes in eastern DRC

Officials of a humanitarian aid organization of the United Nations have said that they are very concerned that more than 500,000 people have fled their homes in and around Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that the dangerous situation and increased security and health threats facing displaced people in and around Goma have greatly worried the officials of the office.

The OCHA statement said: "More than 500,000 people are currently living in refugee camps around the city after fleeing the fighting between the Congolese army and armed groups in Masisi and Rutshuru, North Kivu."

It added that: "Since early March, several incidents of shelling and explosions in and around displaced persons' areas in Goma have killed eight people and injured 34."

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has asked the peacekeepers of the United Nations team known as MONUSCO to leave the country, complaining that they are not protecting the citizens in the face of the violence that spread in the eastern states of the country.

The United Nations Security Council has approved the withdrawal of MONUSCO troops and the team has said it will obey the order of the union. The team is already in the process of suspending its operations in the DRC.