People continue to flee South Kivu

Another 500 people have fled South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, into northwestern Tanzania, bringing to 13,000 the number of Congolese seeking asylum in surrounding countries since fighting erupted again in Uvira last week.

Refugees arriving in Kigoma, Tanzania, on Monday said they had been forced to flee southwards along the shore of Lake Tanganyika after Burundi authorities had denied them entry into the country, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported. About 11,000 refugees had already been registered in two transit camps in Burundi - in Gatuma close to the capital, Bujumbura, and Rugombo in Cibitoke, a spokesman from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Nicholas McGowan, told IRIN.

He described the town of Uvira, which the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) recaptured on 19 October from pro-government Mayi-Mayi militia, as "tense" on Wednesday. Mayi-Mayi forces had retreated with a significant number of civilians to a distance of about 12 km to the south and west of the town, leading to anxiety that the situation could deteriorate in the event of a renewed attack, he said.

UNHCR reported that the fresh influx of Congolese into Tanzania, coupled with 11,000 Burundians since the beginning of the month, were "outstripping UNHCR's reception capacity" at its transit centre in Mbuba, close to the border area.

"Further deterioration of the security situation in the DRC could result in a large-scale influx of refugees into Burundi, placing additional pressure on a country already struggling to cope with the consequences of its own destructive 10-year civil war," Stefano Severe, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Burundi, said.

Meanwhile, the head of RCD-Goma, Adolphe Onusumba, told reporters in Bukavu on Tuesday that the movement would participate in inter-Congolese negotiations due to take place in Pretoria, South Africa, from 25 to 28 October.