Camps sheltering 50,000 displaced people in eastern DR Congo have reportedly been looted and burned, says the UN.
The UNHCR refugee agency said it was very concerned at reports that the camps in Rutshuru, 90km (56 miles) north of Goma, had been destroyed.
"There are some 50,000 people who were in those camps. We don't know where they would be, we're afraid that they may have just dispersed off into the bush," spokesman Ron Redmond said.
The BBC's Peter Greste in Goma says the road from Goma for mile after mile is choked with families buckling under stoves, food, clothes, bedding and children.
Gen Nkunda said on Thursday that he was opening a "humanitarian corridor" for people to return to their homes.
Our correspondent said that instead of an open corridor, he found people hurrying back to Goma.
"Someone has been shooting at us," one breathless woman said. "We can't go any further."
But those who did reach Kibati told the BBC that they had more chance of getting food in the forests and bushes around the village than inside Goma.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Camps sheltering 50,000 displaced people in eastern DR Congo have reportedly been looted and burned, says the UN
Friday, 31 October 2008 (BBC) report - DR Congo refugee camps 'burned' - excerpt:
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1 comment:
how long shall my people suffer???
oh God!... when shall my people embrace peace instead of violence? when will africa ever rise? if all over the continent there is destruction after destruction?
woe unto the leaders of africa who have no love for their own!!! woe to the leaders who cause so many to go into the way of violence and destruction!!!
the Lord have mercy upon my people!!
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