13,000 "hostages" return to capital

The army has "freed" more than 13,000 civilians held hostage in the Pool region by Ninja militia allied to former prime minister Bernard Kolelas, the Inter-Press Service (IPS) said on Tuesday. The civilians, mostly women, children and the elderly, were transported back to Brazzaville in government-hired trucks over the past two weeks, it said. IPS quoted returnees as saying they had been used as "human shields" by the Ninja after they had fled their southern Brazzaville homes on account of fighting in December. Meanwhile, a total of 32,000 people have crossed to the DRC's western province of Bas-Congo from the Pool region since the refugee influx started late last year, a regional UNHCR spokesman told IRIN on Thursday. The rate of the influx into Bas-Congo remains at about 750 people a day, he said.