DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Refugee exodus, battles in East Congo fuel fears of widening conflict

Refugees from a renewed offensive against rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are pouring into makeshift camps. Observers fear that the fighting heralds a return to war in the volatile region. Tens of thousands of refugees have fled what is threatening to become a major conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Fighting flared recently as Congolese government forces began an offensive in the volatile North Kivu province against rebel forces under the command of renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda. The two sides fought heavy battles last Thursday (August 30) that sent civilians like Ndoni Sana and her family fleeing for safety. "We saw the soldiers setting up their weapons on the hills, the women ran away taking their children, some clothes and kitchen utensils with them. We have walked for two days without food and sleeping along the way," Sana said. The clashes have raised fears of a return to ethnic conflict in volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which bore the brunt of a 1998-2003 war in which some four million people perished mainly through hunger and disease. In one local school alone United Nations officials said between three and five hundred displaced people were camping out. "People estimate there's between 300 and 500 people just here in this school camping out of the school building under very difficult conditions. They're sleeping not in the school buildings, some have to sleep outside because they can't fit in the building. We've seen, we've received the same reports and evaluations from our monitoring teams, from UNHCR, that the sites are growing," explained United Nations External Relations Officer, Jens Hesemann. Nkunda and around 4,000 Tutsi troops deserted the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) in 2004 but were brought back into the army in special mixed brigades under a January deal brokered by neighbouring Rwanda's Tutsi-led government. Nkunda, who claims he can draw on some 8,000 fighters, has accused President Laurent Kabila's government of supporting his enemies in the largely-Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel group which operates in eastern Congo. Despite successful elections last year, tension in the region has remained high, with villagers reporting attacks by both rebels and government troops on a regular basis. Some displaced people have been living in camps for almost a year. Tensions have risen in the past few months and witnesses said around 1,000 of Nkunda's fighters attacked Charlie Brigade's headquarters in Katale, before dawn on Thursday, triggering a day of heavy fighting. Stray bullets hit civilians in the nearby town of Masisi during several hours of intense machine-gun and heavy weapons fire, prompting nearly all its 10,000-odd inhabitants to flee. U.N. helicopters were shuttling troop reinforcements, weapons and ammunition to Masisi from Goma and returning soldiers killed and wounded in Thursday's fighting. Thousands more government troops are being deployed to the area.

ITN Source | September 4, 2007

Tags:. .enemies. .liberation. .intense. .deserted. .clashes