Goma, Congo - Fighting erupted between forces loyal to
dissident General Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese army Tuesday,
sending at least 25,000 already displaced people fleeing from their
temporary homes in camps in eastern Congo.
The roads outside of the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma
swelled with impoverished civilians, many of whom fled with little
more than the clothes on their backs.
'This morning I heard shooting and realized the rebels were
coming,' said Zawag Karafuru, who carried her young son on her back.
'I ran from the camp.'
Congo accused Nkunda of launching an attack on a Congolese army
post nearby the Mugunga camps early Tuesday but Nkunda's spokesman
denied the accusations.
The exodus sparked fears of a deepening humanitarian crisis that
has seen an estimated 370,000 people displaced since fighting erupted
between Nkunda loyalists and Congo's army late last year.
Camps for the displaced have sprouted since the fighting broke out
and pepper areas around Goma.
'Displaced people are getting re-displaced, fleeing for their
lives,' said Aya Shneerson, the head of the World Food Programme in
North and South Kivu province.
Some children reported being separated from their parents in the
confusion and many people expressed concern over where they would
stay if fighting continued.
Nkunda pulled out of a January peace agreement claiming that
Congo's administration has not done enough to disarm Hutu militias
know as the FDLR, who have links to the perpetrators of neighbouring
Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
Nkunda says he is trying to protect Congolese Tutsis from attacks
by the FDLR.
Last weekend Congo and Rwanda signed an unprecedented joint
agreement, in which Congo vowed to take steps to disarm the militias
and help repatriate genocide suspects to Rwanda.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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