Aid agencies say recent fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has led to the widespread separation of family members. More than 250,000 people are believed to have been displaced since fighting resumed between rebels and government forces in August.
救援机构说，刚果民主共和国最近发生的交战在许多地方导致人们同家人失散。据信，自从反政府武装和政府军在今年8月再次爆发战争以来，已经有超过25万人背井离乡。
Humanitarian organizations, including Save the Children and Oxfam, say more than half the civilians displaced by recent fighting in eastern Congo may have lost contact with family members.
救助儿童会和乐施会等人道救援组织说，在为躲避刚果东部战乱而逃离家园的人中，有超过一半的人和家人失去了联络。
Save the Children emergency officer George Graham spoke to VOA from Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in Eastern DRC.
救助儿童会紧急行动官员格雷厄姆在刚果东部北基伍省的首府戈马对美国之音说：
"The survey was conducted by four British aid agencies who went into the camps around Goma. We interviewed almost 300 people and found that of those people, two thirds had lost a family member, whether that be a parent or a husband or a wife, or indeed a child," said Graham. "About a quarter of the people we surveyed had lost children."
“四个英国救援组织进入戈马周围的难民营，并且进行了调查。我们采访了近300个人，并发现，在这些人中有三分之二同家人失散，包括他们的父母、丈夫、妻子或孩子。有四分之一的人找不到孩子。”
With its limited sample size, the survey does not provide conclusive figures, but the organization says it provides an indication of the scale of the problem.
由于这次调查的抽样范围有限，调查结果并不具有绝对性，不过，救助儿童会说，调查反映出问题的严重程度。
"The villages have been attacked completely by surprise. Families have found themselves in the middle of the night having to gather their possessions, gather all their family members together and flee to safety," he added. "And in the chaos of this situation, we are finding numerous reports of families ending up separated."
格雷厄姆说：“这些村庄是在完全没有准备的情况下受到袭击的。人们不得不在半夜收拾行囊，把家里人叫到一起，然后逃到安全的地方。在这种混乱的情况下，我们发现许多亲人失散了。”
The aid agency CARE has also said that up to one-fifth of displaced families around Goma are headed by single mothers.
国际关怀组织也说，在戈马周围的逃难家庭中，有五分之一是靠单身母亲支撑的。
Sporadic fighting has plagued eastern Congo since the official end of the country's civil war in 2003, but the violence has intensified since late August. The heaviest clashes have pitted the rebel National Congress for Defense of the People, led by Laurent Nkunda, against government forces. But several other armed groups have been involved in attacks.
自从刚果内战在2003年正式结束以来，刚果东部一直在发生零星的交战，不过，暴力袭击自8月底以来不断加剧。其中恩孔达领导的反政府组织“全国保卫人民大会”和刚果政府军之间的冲突最为严重，不过其它一些武装组织也参与了袭击。
The U.N. Security Council last week approved the deployment of an additional 3,000 troops for the peacekeeping mission in the Congo, known by the French acronym, MONUC. With 17,000 troops it is the world's largest peacekeeping mission, but its forces are spread across a large area and have had difficulty preventing clashes.
Government troops stopped a U.N. convoy Sunday near the Kibati refugee camp outside Goma and removed 23 people being transported by the United Nations. The men were taken despite the apparent objection of the peacekeepers. U.N. officials say they included members of the Mai Mai militia, who have traditionally been allied with the government, but government soldiers accused the men of being rebels.
After the incident, civilians threw stones at the U.N. convoy, the latest manifestation of local frustration with the operation. But for the most part, a tentative ceasefire has been holding in the region.
Last week, Nkunda's forces pulled back from front lines near the town of Kanyabayonga, north of Goma. MONUC military spokesman Jean-Paul Dietrich says that so far the peacekeepers have encountered few problems.
上周，恩孔达的部队撤离了位于戈马北部的卡尼亚巴永加镇附近的前线。联合国驻刚果维和部队的军事发言人迪特里克说，到目前为止，维和人员还没有遇到什么问题。
"The situation has been calm for about a week in this region. There was some attempt of incursion on Thursday, when a group of about 70 Mai Mai tried to enter Rwindi, which was left by CNDP on Tuesday evening," said Dietrich. "But we finally convinced them not to continue towards Kiwanja, I think this was their plan, and they returned from where they came."
他说：“这一地区的局势过去一周以来基本平静。有一些人试图在星期四入侵。在全国保卫人民大会星期四晚上离开鲁因迪地区后，有大约70名迈迈族人试图进入那里，他们的计划是到达基旺加村。不过，我们最终说服他们不要这样做，他们也回去了。”
Nkunda says he is protecting the region's ethnic Tutsi community from Rwandan Hutu militia operating in the area, and has demanded direct negotiations with the Congolese government. The government maintains negotiations must involve all of the numerous armed groups operating in the country's east.
恩孔达说，他在保护这一地区的图西族人不受在这里活动的卢旺达胡图族民兵的伤害，并要求同刚果政府举行直接谈判。而刚果政府表示，所有在刚果东部行动的众多武装组织都必须参与谈判。 |