Refugee influx continues

Fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has continued to send refugees streaming across the border into Zambia, aid workers told IRIN on Monday.

An estimated 50,000 refugees and several thousand troops loyal to the Kinshasa government - including a complete brigade - have fled into northern Zambia in the last few weeks ahead of an advance by a Rwandan-backed joint rebel force of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA). Among those to have escaped the fall of the DRC town of Pweto last week are a reported 300 Zimbabwean troops. “It’s very difficult to tell (what the situation is across the border) but if we already have 7,300 (registered refugees) in Chiengi and everyday 500 to 1,000 are arriving in Kaputa, I don’t think we could say the situation had stabilised,” a humanitarian official said.

“My biggest concern is the rainy season which will make it difficult to reach Chiengi,” the closest Zambian town to Pweto, the official said. “Food in the area may not be enough as larger and larger numbers of people come to Zambia, both combatants and refugees. The refugee situation could be further complicated if everybody went foraging for food.” The registered refugees in Chiengi (as opposed to the vast majority of arrivals who aim to stay around Zambian villages on the border or cross to Lubumbashi in southern DRC) are being transferred to the Kala camp, 140 km inland. Since the operation began on 7 December, around 600 refugees have so far been moved.