Some 350 displaced by fighting arrive in Kindu

DRC: Some 350 displaced by fighting arrive in Kindu

At least 350 people fleeing fighting between Mayi-Mayi militias and troops of the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) rebel movement arrived in Kindu from the village of Kailo, some 50 km to the north, in east-central Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN spokesman Hamadoun Toure said on Thursday.

The city of Kindu has often been at the centre of fighting between the two forces.

Lambert Konga Kanape, a Mayi-Mayi commander in the Maniema region, told IRIN on Friday that the most recent fighting began on 21 July. "We pushed them [RCD-Goma] beyond the shoreline of the other side of the Elila river. We lost five of our men and killed 26 soldiers of the opposition [RCD-Goma]," Konga said, citing information he had received Friday morning.

"From Kailo to across the Elila, all the way to Muyengo, some 36 km from Kindu, all the local population fled before our soldiers attacked," Konga said.

"The population is suffering, they don't have anything to eat, many people have died in the forest while fleeing," he added.
Villagers have refused to cultivate their fields outside of town for fear of being accused by RCD-Goma of collaborating with the Mayi-Mayi. Access to the area thus been rendered very difficult, and humanitarian sources have warned of increasing food shortages.