United Nations Radio

United Nations refugee agency says up to 50,000 internally displaced people have gone missing after their camp sites near the town of Rutshuru in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were burnt down.~Patrick Maigua reports.~~~

The agency suspects the camps were emptied and destroyed last week at the height of the current crisis in the region. The missing IDPs were based in the Dumez, Nyongera and Kasasa IDP camp sites. The agency says the camps were in remote areas under the control of forces loyal to Laurent Nkunda. UNHCR staff who toured the camp sites yesterday for the first time since the start of the current hostilities said the camps were completely destroyed and there was no indication as to where the IDps had fled to. Ron Redmond is UNHCR spokesperson in Geneva.

".. many of them would be quite frightened to go back to their home villages because they have not been there for almost a year, and some of them a re quite far from the camps, so they wouldn't know what to expect to find of they were to go back. We believe many of them are probably staying with friends or relatives some of them are staying in churches and other public buildings,, some of them could have gone to Uganda as well as more could be headed towards the border. It is going to take some time to figure out where they went."

UNHCR says it was rushing to deliver more aid to some 250,000 people displaced since the fighting escalated in August in North Kivu. The six camps run by agency around Goma, are playing host to 135,000 internally displaced people. Patrick Maigua UN Radio Geneva.

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