Refugees flee fighting

Fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is forcing a "steady flow" of refugees into Zambia, a spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) told IRIN on Friday. "The refugees have told us that the reason they are fleeing into Zambia is because there has been a number of militia actions and skirmishes, mostly in the eastern part of Congo near the border with Zambia, that they are running away from," Kelvin Shimo said in the Zambian capital, Lusaka. According to him, a total of 787 DRC refugees entered Zambia in October through Kaputa, situated more than 1,000 km north of Lusaka, in Zambia's northen Luapula province. Previously around 100 refugees a month were crossing the border. The newly arrived refugees have been given temporary shelter at Chiengi, Mpulungu and Kaputa, while they wait to be transferred to Kaala refugee camp, said Shimo. UNHCR said it was not yet concerned with the situation. "We can manage the numbers ... those that have come in are within the number we can easily handle, in fact I can safely say they are a trickle, but it is something to watch," Shimo said. Zambia is home to some 55,000 DRC refugees, who have been fleeing internal disputes since the early 1960's, according to UN figures. For more details see: Fighting displaces thousands in Mwenga, South Kivu Province