DATE=12/20/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N-H-C-R / CONGO (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257325
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A U-N team is trying to track down the
whereabouts of thousands of refugees from Congo-
Kinshasa who crossed into neighboring Congo-
Brazzaville to escape fighting between government and
rebel forces. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the
United Nations says the refugees have fled into a
remote, difficult to reach area of Congo-Brazzaville.
TEXT: The U-N Refugee Agency, U-N-H-C-R, estimates
13-thousand refugees have crossed the Oubangui River
into Congo-Brazzaville. They have gone to Impfondo,
an area about one-thousand-kilometers north of the
capital, Brazzaville.
U-N-H-C-R spokesman, Paul Stromberg, says a United
Nations team that reached Impfondo last week only
found a few-hundred refugees there. He says the
refugees and local officials told the team that
thousands of other refugees were staying in villages
and settlements scattered along a 300-kilometer
stretch of the Oubangui River.
/// STROMBERG ACT ///
The staff that were able to visit Impfondo last
week said that the situation was not dramatic,
that they appear to be surviving with the help
of the local population by fishing, by farming.
And obviously, the refugees are hoping to go
back as quickly as possible. The problem is
obviously continued fighting. If the fighting
lasts a long time, these people will not be able
to go back and more people will be driven out.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Stromberg says people in Impfondo have heard
artillery fire across the river. And, refugees say
fighting between rebels and the government of
Congolese President Laurent Kabila for the towns of
Bururu and Bomongo continued until a few days ago.
Fighting in various parts of Congo-Kinshasa has broken
out repeatedly, despite a cease-fire agreement that
was signed July 10th in Lusaka, Zambia.
Mr. Stromberg says refugees report fighting is taking
place in villages over a widespread area. He also
says flooding has been a problem.
/// STROMBERG ACT ///
The other concern is, of course, the flooding
that has affected Kinshasa even, and that has
damaged the local economy making it harder for
these very small villages to welcome and to
shelter and to help groups of refugees that may
be five times the size of the original
population of the village. So, those are the
concerns in the coming weeks.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Stromberg says the U-N team, which arrived in
Impfondo last week, was unable to look for the 13-
thousand missing refugees upstream because no boats or
fuel were available. But he says a new mission is
being planned to try and find the refugees and to
bring them emergency aid. (SIGNED)
NEB/LS/GE/RAE
20-Dec-1999 09:29 AM EDT (20-Dec-1999 1429 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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