East Congo fighting sends tens of thousands fleeing

Nov 13, 2007, 13:24 GMT

Goma, Congo - Fighting erupted between forces loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese army Tuesday, sending at least 25,000 already displaced people fleeing from their temporary homes in camps in eastern Congo.

The roads outside of the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma swelled with impoverished civilians, many of whom fled with little more than the clothes on their backs.

'This morning I heard shooting and realized the rebels were coming,' said Zawag Karafuru, who carried her young son on her back. 'I ran from the camp.'

Congo accused Nkunda of launching an attack on a Congolese army post nearby the Mugunga camps early Tuesday but Nkunda's spokesman denied the accusations.

The exodus sparked fears of a deepening humanitarian crisis that has seen an estimated 370,000 people displaced since fighting erupted between Nkunda loyalists and Congo's army late last year.

Camps for the displaced have sprouted since the fighting broke out and pepper areas around Goma.

'Displaced people are getting re-displaced, fleeing for their lives,' said Aya Shneerson, the head of the World Food Programme in North and South Kivu province.

Some children reported being separated from their parents in the confusion and many people expressed concern over where they would stay if fighting continued.

Nkunda pulled out of a January peace agreement claiming that Congo's administration has not done enough to disarm Hutu militias know as the FDLR, who have links to the perpetrators of neighbouring Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Nkunda says he is trying to protect Congolese Tutsis from attacks by the FDLR.

Last weekend Congo and Rwanda signed an unprecedented joint agreement, in which Congo vowed to take steps to disarm the militias and help repatriate genocide suspects to Rwanda.