Fears are growing for the fate of more than 250.000 civilians forced to flee their homes by fierce fighting in eastern DR Congo (former Zaire), BBC online reports Saturday.
A ceasefire between government troops and rebels is holding but the situation is desperate, with chaotic scenes reported at aid distribution centres. Families stormed one camp in Kibati as others tried to scale the walls.
Meanwhile, European diplomats have met Congolese President Joseph Kabila as part of efforts to end the crisis. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his British counterpart David Miliband said they had urged the full implementation of existing peace agreements between DR Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, and the disarming of militias.
The forces of renegade general Laurent Nkunda – who says he is protecting his Tutsi people against the Hutus linked to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda – has halted his troops close to the city of Goma.
The UN refugee agency said camps sheltering 50.000 refugees in Rutshuru, 90 km north of Goma, had been forcibly emptied, looted and then razed. The UN has more than 17.000 peacekeeping troops in DR Congo – the largest UN force in the world – but correspondents say it is struggling to cope with the scale of the crisis.
The Rwandan and Congolese presidents have already agreed to attend a regional summit in the coming weeks to try to end the fighting.
