Entire Population Flee DRC Town Amid Fighting
More than 800,000 people have fled their homes since fighting began in March 2012
In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the entire population of Bunagana town, bordering Uganda, has fled fighting between government and rebel forces, residents were quoted as saying.
Fresh fighting erupted between Congolese government troops and rebel fighters, forcing about 10,000 people flee their homes in Bunagana, the main base of the rebels called the “M23 movement” on the DR Congo-Uganda border, according to UNHCR.
New arrivals in Uganda at the Bunagana crossing point. Since Friday, more than 10,000 people have crossed through Bunagana, according to UNHCR figures. News reports said the government had captured Bunagana today, but aid workers heard sound of gunfire and explosions before leaving the border area for security reasons and before an air attack left people injured inside Uganda. Source: UNHCR/OPM
More than 56,000 Congolese from eastern provinces of the DRC have arrived in Uganda, so far this year, said UNHCR. Congolese refugees make up 65 per cent of the entire refugee population of 234,000 in Uganda alone.
“Eastern DR Congo has been wracked by conflict since 1994, when Hutu militias fled across the border from Rwanda after carrying out a genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus,” said a report.
Located in central Africa, DRC is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa the 11th largest country in the world, with an area of 2,345,409 km2, and has a population of about 75 million.
The Second Congo War has devastated the country since 1998. The war also known as the “African world war” has involved nine countries and more than twenty armed groups.
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