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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19981231_feat3.html
Thousands Flee To Uganda From DRC
December 31, 1998
KAMPALA, Uganda (PANA) - Some 3,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) have entered Kisoro district in south-western Uganda, the Kampala-
based "Monitor" newspaper reported on Thursday.
"...The refugees appear to be running away from a war situation in the (DR) Congo. They also say they're running away for fear of their lives," according to Ugandan Third Deputy Prime Minister, Paul Etyang, who is in charge of disaster preparedness and refugees.
The Monitor quoted sources from Kisoro as saying that the refugees were running away from insecurity in the areas of Rushuru and Goma in eastern DRC which is occupied by foreign and rebel armies.
The area is being controlled by the Rwandan Patriotic Army, the Uganda People's Defence Forces and the rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy fighting to topple President Laurent Kabila's year old regime.
Etyang said he could not comment on why refugees were fleeing areas controlled by forces opposed to the Kabila government.
"If someone tells you they're running away from danger, the first thing you do is to receive and try to resettle them. After this, then you can ask them questions," Etyang said.
The public information officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Uganda, Tomoko Niino, said the refugees started entering parts of Kisoro in November, adding that the rate of the influx has increased tremendously over the past week.
"The people who have so far been registered (2,970 men, women and children) complain of insecurity in the areas of Rushuru, alleging that soldiers are harassing them," Niino said.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and the Uganda Red Cross Society have worked hard in the past week to provide relief supplies to the refugees in Kisoro, the newspaper reported.
A worker at the Red Cross head office in Kampala involved in transporting relief to Kisoro said incoming waves of refugees had overstretched their capacity to deliver aid.
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