Congolese Tutsis flee over fears of attack

At least 1,000 Congolese Tutsi, known as Banyamulenge, crossed into Burundi on Tuesday after they fled their homes in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over fears of an attack by sympathisers of the former Mayi-Mayi militia movement. "Since this morning, we have already registered 70 families," Prosper Banzambe, head of Gatumba suburb in the Burundi province of Bujumbura Rural, said. He added that the number of arriving refugees was increasing. The refugees comprised mainly women and children from the Congolese border regions of Sange, Uvira and Kiriba in the eastern province of South Kivu. They were directed to a transit centre set up by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for registration. One of the refugees, Nabihogo Nabatutsi, who fled Uvira with her five children, told IRIN that since the outbreak of fighting in Bukavu on 26 May, Banyamulenge communities had been subjected to various forms of violence from their pro-Mayi-Mayi neighbours. "They enter houses and take everything, even some children have been abducted," she said. "Our neighbours changed their attitude after the fighting started in Bukavu and we fear retaliation," another refugee added. Local authority officials as well as those from the UNHCR were registering the new arrivals. The fighting in Bukavu had revived tensions between Mayi-Mayi and Banyamulenge communities, with the Mayi-Mayi accusing the Banyamulenge, whom they consider Rwandan because of their origins, of being responsible for the conflict in eastern DRC. Prior to the installation of a transitional government in Kinshasa in June 2003, the Mayi-Mayi were a loose association of traditional Congolese local defense forces, who supported the government of President Kabila. Dissident troops loyal to Gen Laurent Nkunda and Col Jules Mutebutsi invaded Bukavu on 26 May allegedly to protect the Banyamulenge after they received reports that they were being persecuted by Gen Mbuza Mabe, the commander of the Congolese army's 10th Military Region, under which Bukavu falls. The dissidents withdrew from the town on Tuesday, allowing for the re-entry of loyalists troops into Bukavu on Wednesday. [On the NET: MONUC facilitated dissidents' withdrawal from Bukavu, official says]