UN agency "extremely worried" about possible attempt to retake Uvira

The UN refugees agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday it was "extremely worried" that a possible battle for the eastern Democratic Republic of Congolese town of Bukavu or a counter attack to take Uvira could lead to more population displacement into Burundi and southwestern Rwanda.

The agency's expression of concern came as a spokesman for the main rebel group, the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), claimed the movement had already taken Sange, Luvungu and Bwekera, at the start of a counter offensive on Monday to retake Uvira, on the northwestern shores of Lake Tanganyika.

"Our forces are preparing to attack Uvira," Jean Pierre Lola Kisanga, spokesman for the Rwandan-backed RCD, told AFP.

RCD lost Uvira to pro-Kinshasa government Mayi-Mayi militia, on Sunday, eight days after Rwanda troops, which backs the RCD, completed their withdrawal from the country.

Fighting between the rival Congolese groups has forced some 7,000 people to flee to neighbouring Burundi. UNHCR said those who fled Uvira on Saturday were Congolese Tutsi, also known as Banyamulenge.

"The majority of the refugees arrived with plenty of belongings, including food and cooking utensils, in private cars or hired vehicles," UNHCR reported.

They arrived in Burundi through the border crossing at Gatumba, in Bujumbura Rural, and were transferred to refugee camps less than 10 km from the border with the DRC. Gatumba is about 15 km west of the Burundi capital, Bujumbura.

The Burundi government had designated the site at Gatumba for the settlement of at least 300 refugee families, UNHCR reported, adding that the flow of refugees through this point had stopped by Monday.

UNHCR said that refugees who stoke to a joint UN/NGO team at the border on Saturday said they wanted to return home as soon as possible. Many said that many were worked that their homes and property would be looted.