A/HRC/10/59 page 10 have adopted a policy of forcing internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their places of origin, despite the lack of security, and is reported to have confiscated and redistributed land left behind by displaced persons. In early November 2008, CNDP had several IDP camps in the Rutshuru area forcibly emptied, looted and dismantled. Reports indicate a sharp increase in cases of sexual violence, summary executions and forced labour committed by all sides in the entire Kivus region as well as recruitment of child soldiers by armed groups.8 25. Another 135,000 persons have been forcibly displaced in Irumu, Province Orientale (Ituri district), owing to fighting initiated in September and October 2008 by rebels of the Front Populaire pour la Justice au Congo (FPJC), a new multi-ethnic rebel movement composed largely of demobilized militia fighters and the remnants of other militia groups.9 26. In mid-December 2008, the Congolese, Ugandan and Southern Sudanese armed forces launched a joint military offensive in Province Orientale against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), following a series of LRA attacks against the civilian population in at least 10 locations north of Dungu in September and October 2008.10 LRA fighters retreating from the offensive carried out new atrocities. By mid-January 2009, over 530 killings, more than 400 abductions and numerous rapes by the LRA had been reported. When this report was finalized, an estimated 100,000 persons were displaced as a consequence of this violence. 27. On 16 January 2009, the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda and CNDP announced an alliance (the next day joined by PARECO) and declared their intention to carry out military operations against FDLR in North and South Kivu. Military operations involving FARDC, Rwandan troops and CNDP began several days thereafter. While the thematic special procedures welcome political rapprochement between both countries and encourage further dialogue, they remain concerned that the military operations, particularly when conducted jointly with armed groups like CNDP, lead to violent reprisals against the civilian population and a grave humanitarian crisis involving another wave of massive displacement. In late January and February 2009, following the launch of the Congolese-Rwandan operations against the FDLR, United Nations human rights officers documented several cases of FDLR fighters gang raping women and arbitrarily executing civilians. By mid-February, the population of more than 20 villages in Masisi and Walikale territories had reportedly fled their villages. 3,000 persons had sought refuge in Remeka village (Masisi Territory) alone. 28. FARDC has been often unable to protect the civilian population. In numerous cases, including at the end of October 2008 in Goma and in mid-November 2008 in the Kanyabayonga area, fleeing FARDC soldiers have themselves pillaged civilian settlements, in some cases committing atrocities in the process. In violation of international humanitarian law, FARDC has also used civilian IDP populations in Kibati and Tongo to shield military operations. 8 S/2008/728, para. 33. 9 Ibid., para. 26. 10 Ibid., para. 27.