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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

BURUNDI-DRC: Congolese flee fighting in South Kivu

BUJUMBURA, 14 August 2003 (IRIN) - Some 98 Congolese crossed into Burundi's northwestern province of Cibitoke on Wednesday, fleeing renewed fighting in the eastern province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to local authority officials.

The administrator of Rugombo Commune, Onesphore Nduwumwami, told IRIN he had contacted the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other NGOs active in Cibitoke to see how the Congolese could be assisted.

He said the Congolese were fleeing fighting between fighters of the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and Mayi-Mayi militiamen in the South Kivu areas of Bibokoboko, Cimuka, Bumbembe, Sange, Rusabaga and Mutarare.

He added that the international NGO Austrian Relief Programme had promised to provide the Congolese with aid on Thursday, after which they would leave for a transit camp at Cishemere in Buganda Commune, also in Cibitoke.

The number of Congolese fleeing violence in South Kivu has increased since May, a UNHCR official told IRIN. He said that at least 11,000 refugees were at the Cishemere transit camp.

"Refugees from South Kivu continue to arrive in Burundi despite the installation of a new [transitional] government in which all belligerents are taking part," the official said. "With the renewal of fighting, we expect more; at least 100 crossed the border on Wednesday, we will first register them for identification, then source their assistance from our different partners."

About 3,000 other Congolese refugees are at a refugee camp in Gasorwe in the northern province of Muyinga, bordering Tanzania. They were reported to have fled fighting between RCD-Goma and Mayi-Mayi Mai at Uvira in eastern DRC.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs

[ENDS]

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