Fresh fighting in Congo forces thousands to flee
KIGALI, Rwanda (Reuters) - A fresh upsurge of fighting between rival militias in southeastern Congo has forced up to 20,000 people to flee their homes, relief workers in the region said Thursday.
The vast central African country is slowly emerging from a five-year regional war that killed more than 3 million people, but peace deals taking hold in the distant capital Kinshasa have failed to halt sporadic fighting in the bush.
Rival militias and bandit gangs still roam the lawless mountains and jungles of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with impunity.
"Between 10,000 and 20,000 people have been displaced by fighting near Kitenge in northern Katanga province," medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres said in a statement, adding that the latest attacks had begun in mid-January.
"North of Kitenge remains inaccessible: roads are dangerous and fighting goes on, preventing access to humanitarian aid," the statement added.
The army said last week that a traditional militia led by a man named "Cut-Throat" had massacred more than 100 civilians and soldiers in southeastern Congo since January, severing tongues and fingers or draining blood from victims.
The widespread insecurity in eastern Congo has cast doubt over the ability of the new transitional government and the U.N. mission in Congo to impose the rule of law across Africa's third largest country.
Members of the recently unified, but still ragged, national army have also been accused of terrorizing and killing civilians in remote parts of Congo, a nearly roadless maze of jungles and forest the size of Western Europe.
03/04/04 11:42 ET
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