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DRC: Some 35,000 Flee Fighting in South Kivu Province

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
NEWS
July 29, 2004
Posted to the web July 29, 2004
Nairobi
Fighting over the last three weeks between loyalist and dissident Congolese
government troops has caused some 35,000 civilians to flee in the eastern
province of South Kivu, a UN official told IRIN on Thursday.
Thirty thousand Kinyarwandan-speaking Congolese have fled Kalehe north to the
other towns of Numbi, Shanje and Chebumba; the head of the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in the eastern town of Goma,
Patrick Lavand'Homme, said. Another 4,000 to 5,000 non-Kinyarwanda-speaking
Congolese are fleeing Kalehe in the opposite direction, south, towards the
loyalist army positions, he added.
The Kinyarwandan speaking Congolese have strong ethnic ties to those in
neighbouring Rwanda. Tension has mounted again recently between these groups.
Loyalist forces under Gen Mbuza Mabe, commander of the 10th Military Region
based in South Kivu, are said to be heading for Minova; the stronghold of the
dissident army general, Laurent Nkunda. But so far fighting has been
concentrated on the high plateau area around Kalehe, on the western edge of
Lake Kivu.
Lavand'Homme said residents in Numbi, Shanje and Chebumba were sheltering the
displaced, who were in "relatively good shape". However, he added, that their
numbers had streached the meager food resources of this mining region, but that
OCHA and the UN World Food Programme were working to satisfy the most urgent
needs.

   

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