Kinshasa, Mar 5 (UNI) More than 2,500 schools have been affected by an ongoing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), one senior official said Tuesday.
Raissa Malu, state minister in charge of national education, said at a press briefing that over 2,500 schools have either been destroyed or occupied in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces during the conflict, adding that more than 1 million students have also been affected.
"We also had to lament a school that was allegedly used as a cemetery. There are schools where blackboards have been destroyed, benches have also been destroyed and used as firewood, and even the doors of latrines," she deplored.
The ongoing conflict between the M23 rebels and the DRC government has led to massive population displacements and worsened the humanitarian crisis. Tensions remain high despite diplomatic and military efforts to end the hostilities.
The M23 claimed control over several territories in eastern DRC, including Goma and Bukavu. On Friday, the group appointed a "governor" for South Kivu after establishing a parallel administration in North Kivu in mid-February.
For the past four weeks, 414,000 Congolese have been on the move in the DRC's North Kivu and South Kivu provinces after the M23 ordered people in camps for internally displaced people to return to their hometowns, said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees via a report on Tuesday.
UNI XINHUA ARN