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DRC: Intense fighting displace about 50 000 people -UN
Wed. October 15, 2008 05:35 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
(SomaliNet) The UN said on Tuesday that intense fighting between the Congolese army and Ugandan rebels have forced about 50 000 people to flee their homes in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ituri region.
"The fighting broke out in September and has since caused heavy loss of life," said Ron Redmond, the UN refugee agency's spokesperson.
Local authorities have claimed that the bodies of 100 civilians were dumped in a river, while 80 children have been reported missing with parents fearing that they had been recruited by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army, added Redmond.
Meanwhile, fresh fighting that broke out at the end of August in the neighbouring province of Nord-Kivu has displaced another 100 000 people.
Aid agencies now estimate that the total number of people forced to flee from the district is around one million.
"Our teams report that thousands of displaced are trapped in the towns further inland, not daring to move for fear of the fighting," said Redmond.
The French EU presidency warned on Monday that "huge massacres" could once again take place in DRC.
"We must raise the alarm. The situation is becoming murderous and untenable again. Once more everything is in chaos," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency. - Sapa-AFP
News Category: Africa
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