United Nations Radio

Thousands of Congolese have fled to Uganda over the past two days to escape renewed fighting and brutal attacks in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reports.

Approximately 10,000 people arrived today at a border town in south-west Uganda, and more are expected.

Francesca Fontanini, UNHCR spokesperson in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, says the new arrivals had been walking for days and are traumatized.

"They were a witness of the killings of their families, of their friends; and also they just took their children and a few things and just ran away. And they are saying that it's still a miracle that they are alive and managed to escape."

Since August, nearly 30,000 Congolese have fled to Uganda to escape fighting between government troops and rebel forces which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in North Kivu province.

The UN refugee agency is working to transport the new arrivals to a safe area away from the border between the two countries.

This is Dianne Penn for UN Radio.

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