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The latest truce in the decades-long conflict that was to end Friday has been extended by 15 days until August 3, the U.S. State Department said in a statement that urged all actors “to respect the truce” that had been violated since it took effect on July 5.
The United States announced the extension of a humanitarian truce that had reduced fighting in eastern Congo. However, the reports indicate that violence and human rights abuses continue there, leading to calls for an end to the conflict to allow displaced people to return home.
The latest truce in the decades-long conflict that was to end today ( Friday) has been extended by 15 days until August 3, the U.S. State Department said in a statement that urged all actors “to respect the truce” that had been violated since it took effect on July 5.
The violence concentrated in the eastern North Kivu province has resulted not just in arbitrary killings and arrests but also in sexual abuse with women and children affected the most, according to Carine Kaneza Nantulya of Human Rights Watch.
The decades-long conflict in eastern Congo has produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Over 100 armed groups are fighting for control of the mineral-rich area near the border with Rwanda. A key actor in the conflict — the M23 group — is allegedly backed by Rwanda.
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Along with other groups, the rebels are accused of carrying out mass killings in the conflict that has spread from the front lines to surrounding villages, and displaced at least 7 million people, many beyond the reach of aid. Aid groups have complained of insufficient resources even for those within their reach.
