(RTTNews) - A French medical charity group alleged Friday that some of its measles vaccination sites in rebel controlled-territories in eastern DR Congo came under fire last month when security forces attacked rebel bases in the region while thousands of civilians had gathered at the sites for vaccinations.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday denounced the army attacks on rebel bases when the aid group was carrying out vaccinations for children in the region, stating that "such actions seriously compromise our neutrality."

"The attacks coincided with the beginning of our vaccination and put the lives of civilians in extreme risk. Thousands of people, and the MSF teams, were trapped in the gunfire. The attack was an unacceptable abuse of humanitarian action to fulfill military objectives," Luis Encinas, head of MSF programs in Central Africa, said in a statement.

Saying that the charity felt that its vaccination camps were used as "bait" the Congolese security forces, Encinas asked: "How will MSF be perceived by the population now? Will our patients still feel safe enough to come for medical care?"

He was apparently referring to a UN-backed October 17th army offensive against Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels in eastern Congo. The offensive targeted all seven MSF vaccination sites in the Masisi territory of eastern Congo, which under rebel control at that time.
Earlier, MSF had launched a mass vaccination campaign in Masisi district on 17th October to support the Congolese health ministry in its efforts to tackle a measles epidemic. MSF maintains that it had informed all the parties to the conflict, including FDLR rebels and Congolese military, about the vaccination campaign, and had received security guarantees from them.

However, the Congolese army launched attacks on each of the seven MSF vaccination sites when the charity's medical teams were vaccinating thousands of children in Ngomashi and Kimua regions of the Masisi district, which was controlled at the time by the FDLR.

The MSF claim came amidst international concerns over the alleged atrocities committed by Congolese security forces during the UN-backed offensive against Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo had backed the army offensive against the FDLR rebels by providing rations and fuel to the army troops, helping in planning operations and evacuating injured Congolese soldiers by UN helicopters.

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