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| More than 10,000 Congolese flee to Uganda-UNHCR |
| 2005-02-22 |
| More than 10,000 Congolese civilians have fled into Uganda to escape renewed clashes between tribal warriors and former rebels, almost half of them since mid-January, the U.N. refugee agency said on Monday. The refugees survived a perilous 35 km (22 mile) canoe journey across stormy Lake Albert from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before washing up in western Uganda. "They say they are fleeing fighting between Mai-Mai militia and former rebels from RCD-Goma, and between the Hema and Lendu (tribes)," Roberta Russo, UNHCR spokeswoman in Uganda, told Reuters. She said 10,385 refugees had so far been registered at a camp by the agency near Kyaka village, 200 km (125 miles) west of the capital Kampala. Of them, 4,258 have arrived since January 14, she said. In recent years, remote western Uganda has seen repeated influxes of Congolese villagers fleeing fighting in their country's mineral-rich Ituri province. At least 50,000 people have been killed there by militias since 1999, and clashes have continued despite the end of Congo's wider war in 2003. The trigger for the latest flare up in fighting was not immediately clear. Russo said about 70 refugees were crossing the lake to Uganda each day, and that most new arrivals were Congolese women and children following husbands who fled earlier. U.N. aid officials said earlier this month some 85,000 people fearing rape and death in northeastern Congo had fled their homes so far this year. Most of them were staying with host families or makeshift camps elsewhere in the region. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |