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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Hundreds flee fighting in Uvira

KINSHASA, 25 April 2003 (IRIN) - Close to 1,000 people fled Uvira, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on Friday after fighting broke out between rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma (RCD-Goma) forces who control the town, and Mayi Mayi militia, local sources told IRIN.

"Six shells fell in the town, but no one has been able to see what damage they've caused because the shooting only stopped around 10 a.m.," the source said.

Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN Mission to the DRC, confirmed the fighting. "There has been sporadic shooting since 0500 local time," he said.

Uvira, in DRC's South Kivu province, lies on the shore of Lake Tanganyika on the border with Burundi. Radio Bonesha, reporting from the Burundian capital Bujumbura, said that a man and two children had been killed by a shell which landed on their home.

RCD-Goma spokesman Jean-Pierre Lola Kisanga said that fighting was particularly heavy around the port of Kalungu.

The RCD-Goma rebels, together with the pro-government Mayi Mayi militia and all other parties to the war in the DRC, sighed a peace accord on 2 April to end more then four years of fighting.

But Lola accused the government of sending troops to attack Uvira, supported by the Mayi Mayi together with Rwandan and Burundian rebels. Lola said the fighting might affect RCD-Goma's decision to participate in the next meeting of the national follow-up committee, which is charged with ensuring the formation of a transitional power-sharing government.

"How the situation in Uvira develops will affect whether we come to Kinshasa," Lola said.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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