Nairobi – Hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo are still displaced and suffering abuse and hunger as a result of an operation targeting Hutu militia, the British arm of Oxfam said Tuesday.

Rwandan and Congolese troops joined forces in January to target the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) – an armed group created by Hutu militia who took part in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

The subsequent fighting saw around 250,000 displaced in the east of the country – as many as during heavy fighting between government troops and Tutsi rebels late last year.

Oxfam said there had been reports of reprisal attacks on civilians, insecurity and widespread looting.

“Homes and shops are being looted and ransacked, women and girls are being raped, and civilians are being forced to flee, many for the third or fourth time,” Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in DR Congo said.

“The war is far from over for ordinary Congolese,” he added. “These terrible human tragedies are happening in remote areas far away from television cameras, but this does not make the suffering less real for those concerned.”

Oxfam is to step up its emergency response to reach an extra 150,000 people displaced in the provinces of North and South Kivu.

The operation began after DR Congo and Rwanda reached an agreement to allow Rwandan troops across the border to tackle the FDLR – something Rwanda has been keen to do for a long time.

Rwanda’s first act in crossing the border was to arrest rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda, a long-term ally of the Kigali government.

Nkunda’s National Congress for the Defence of the People then promised to integrate into the Congolese army, bringing an end to the conflict that flared up in October.

However, while many of the civilians who fled last year’s fighting have now returned home, the fight against the FDLR – taking part in different areas of DR Congo – has forced many others to flee.

The United Nations has faced continuous criticism of its role in DR Congo – the 17,000-strong force was unable to protect civilians during the fighting last year – and Oxfam said that once again a lack of resources was hampering efforts to protect the general populace.

“More than four months after the UN Security Council approved 3,000 additional peacekeepers, not one extra soldier has arrived,” said Nicole Widdersheim, the Head of Oxfam International’s New York office.

“Until the reinforcements come, MONUC (the UN peacekeeping force in DR Congo) needs to ensure that the troops on the ground are doing all in their power to protect people.”(dpa)