13,000 Congolese flee to Uganda

FE Team | Published: November 29, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Some 13,000 people have fled into Uganda from a rebel advance in the Democratic Republic of Congo in just two days, the UN refugee agency says, report agencies.
Some 250,000 people have fled their homes because of the recent upsurge of fighting in eastern DR Congo.
The UNHCR said that 10,000 people had arrived in Uganda Thursday alone.
"The stream of new arrivals continues. More and more people are arriving and we need to transport them away from the border to a safe place immediately," said the UNHCR's Yumiko Takashima.
They have been arriving in Ishasha about 50km (35 miles) north-east of the rebel-held town of Rutshuru but they are to be moved away from the border.
Some of those who crossed the border said their relatives had been killed by the rebels of General Laurent Nkunda.
His forces declared a ceasefire last week but say this does not apply to operations against foreign militia and they are now attacking Rwandan Hutus. Earlier, the EU was urged to send forces to stop the DR Congo fighting.
Sixteen former top officials and world leaders sent a letter to EU heads of state, saying they were best placed to intervene because it would take too long for the UN to send reinforcements.
The UN this month said it would send an extra 3,000 troops to DR Congo, on top of the 17,000 already there - the world's largest peacekeeping force.
But Mr Egeland said this was not enough for DR Congo, which is almost the size of western Europe.
Gen Nkunda's Tutsi-dominated forces say they are attacking Rwanda Hutu fighters, some of whom are accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.
The UN has accused all sides of mass killings and rape in the latest fighting which resumed in August, with rebels advancing on the regional capital, Goma.
On Wednesday, the Congolese government rejected an offer from India to supply extra peacekeeping troops.
They already account for about a quarter of the UN force in DR Congo, known as Monuc
A government spokesman refused to give reasons why the Indian offer was declined.
An estimated five million people died in the DR Congo conflict, which officially ended in 2003.
But some say the root cause of that war - the presence of Rwandan Hutu rebels in DR Congo - was never addressed.
The DR Congo is the greatest loss of life at our watch," Mr Egeland said.
The UN says it is investigating reports that a mass grave containing 2,000 skeletons has been discovered in Bukavu, south of Goma, according to the AFP news agency.