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UGANDA: UN REFUGEE AGENCY SAYS HUNDREDS OF CONGOLESE REFUGEES FLEE TO UGANDA October 30, 2008
(SomaliNet) The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday that hundreds of refugees have fled the Democratic Republic of Congo's war-torn eastern province for neighbouring Uganda.
"We witnessed 500-600 people coming along a road from a place in the DRC called Rugarama," said Roberta Russo, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Uganda.
The refugees have been crossing over since Tuesday from Rugarama, some 15km away from the border. Rugarama was seized by rebels of the Congolese renegade general Laurent Nkunda after a month of clashes.
"Hundreds are believed to have travelled along another road. Both groups were heading to Busanza, a Ugandan town on the Congo border," she added.
Residents told the agency that all of Rugarama's 3 000 people have fled and that more refugees are likely to arrive at the border town soon.
The Congolese refugees are being housed by friends and relatives on the Ugandan side, but the local community is overburdened, according to Russo, with food and medical supplies running low.
So far, the refugees have resisted relocation to a refugee camp in Uganda's western Mbarara district because they do not want to move too far from their homes. - Sapa-AFP