GENEVA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency UNHCR said Friday it is "extremely worried" after insecurity in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC's) North Kivu province led to more than 100,000 people fleeing their homes in April.
"As attacks continue to terrorize the population, UNHCR is extremely worried about the safety of civilians," said the refugee agency's spokesperson Babar Baloch at a UN briefing here.
"The displaced are in a desperate situation, and the volatile situation is hampering access to them," he said.
UNHCR said it is estimated that up to 60,000 people fled in April due to fighting around Kamango near the town of Beni.
In the same month, an estimated 50,000 people fled in neighboring Lubero territory, where the Congolese Army was fighting Mai-Mai armed groups.
The agency said that while a string of attacks by armed groups within Beni town has ceased, these have moved to rural areas and UNHCR teams visiting the area have received reports of rape and child recruitment by armed groups.
Fighting continues in southern parts of North Kivu and toward the provincial capital of Goma in the east of the DRC.
UNHCR said DRC 's North Kivu province remains one of the country's most displacement affected regions with an estimated displaced population of over a million.
"It also has the highest number of reported incidents of sexual and gender-based violence in the country with the number of reported cases of rape rising in particular in Masisi Territory," said Baloch.
He noted that kidnappings and killings have traumatized the population and that often, displaced people are the targets.
Last week, five mutilated bodies were found in a river in Masisi territory, around 60 kilometers to the northwest of Goma, said Baloch.
The bodies included those of three children.
Four of the dead were people who had been kidnapped from Kashuga, a nearby displacement site.
In the same area, over 20,000 newly displaced civilians have arrived over the past months in just three small towns -- Mweso, Kashuga, and Kirumbu in Masisi territory, said the UNHCR.
