Selv om den berygtede rebelgruppe M23 nu vil overgive sig til regeringshæren efter at være trængt ud af flere byer i det østlige DR Congo, har nylige kampe mellem regeringsstyrker og rebellerne tvunget tusinder ud af kæmpelandet på flugt ind i nabostaten Uganda.
KAMPALA, 5. november 2013 (UN News Service): Some 10.000 people in the DR Congo have been forced to flee to Uganda after the latest wave of fighting between Congolese Government forces and the rebel group M23, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday.
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the attacks occurred near the DR Congo’s border with Uganda’s south-west Kisoro district. Bombs reportedly fell very close to the border, and amid the shelling, some areas of Uganda were also hit.
Monday morning, UNHCR began transporting refugees from the border to the Nyakabande transit centre. As of last night, more than 3.500 people have been moved, the largest number in a single day since fighting began in April last year.
“Many local residents closed their homes and shops and moved away from the border area,” UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards said in Geneva.
“Refugees arriving at the Nyakabande Transit Centre, some 20 kilometres away, told us that they had seen bodies on the Congolese side of the border,” noted he.
UNHCR estimates that there are now around 8.230 people in the transit centre. The agency is providing them with shelter, emergency relief items, and food supplied by the World Food Programme (WFP).
