Congo Kinshasa
Heavy fights in Katanga produce 60,000 refugees

afrol.com, 5 December - The town of Pweto in Katanga, southeastern Congo Kinshasa (DRC), is subject to heavy fights between DRC Government troops and rebels. The fighting reported from this regional centre of 20,000 inhabitants and its outskirts is producing some 60,000 refugees entering Zambia.

The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, today confirmed the influx of some 60,000 refugees from the DRC into Zambia during the last days after the fighting that rages between Government troops and rebel forces in and around the DRC town of Pweto. The southeastern Katanga province town is a heavily populated regional centre and has reportedly changed hands several times in the past few days. Pweto has some 20,000 inhabitants, but the town and surroundings has also accommodated up to 20,000 additional war-affected displaced people, now on the run again.

Pweto has been subject to rebel attacks for over a year now, but has remained under Government control so far. On Sunday, however, the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) claimed to have captured the town. RCD claims the attacks on Pweto on the Zambian border were a reaction to the offensive of Government troops in Northern Katanga and Eastern DRC, including the bombing of Kalemie. According to the refugees from Pweto, the town was first captured by RCD rebels, later by Government troops and fighting went on in and around the town.

Pweto, at the shores of Lake Mweru and the Zambian border, is located some 500 kilometres south of the core areas of the rebel troops, which now control most of the DRC's vast western border areas. 

Heavy fighting between rebels and Government troops have been going on in the southern Katanga Province for over one month, after the Government and its Zimbabwean and Namibian allies broke the ceasefire in October and launched an offensive to regain control over the parts of the resource rich province that are in rebel hands. The recaptures by the Government included Kontaula, Kasasaika, Musa, Balanga, Mutoto-Moja, Kyeruzi, Murungusha as well as Pepa town and airport. After some rapid gains for the Kinshasa Government and its allies, however, RCD rebels have managed to retake control over most areas first lost.

Fighting in the Katanga province have taken a heavy humanitarian toll. In addition to the casualties in the actual fighting and Government bombing, the refugee problem in the region is growing rapidly out of control. Zambia, which already accommodates 225,000 refugees (mostly Angolans), now suddenly receives 60,000 more war victims to whom it must give shelter. 

- As of Monday, there were a confirmed 10,000 new refugees accommodated in a school in the Zambian town of Chiengi, said UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski. Up to 50,000 others could be scattered in surrounding villages, according to unconfirmed reports. "The 10,000 refugees at the school are being transferred to an established refugee camp at Kala, 140 kilometres inland. The Kala camp already hosts more than 4,500 refugees, while Mwange - another refugee camp in northern Zambia - has a Congolese refugee population of 22,000," Janowski said today.

The UN agency says it is rushing more staff and supplies to the area to deal with the sudden influx. "New camp sites have also been identified to accommodate more refugees should the arrivals continue," says Janowski. The number of Congolese who have fled the fighting in the DRC since last May could now total more than 80,000.

This is the second round of refugee influx to Zambia from the Pweto area. In March 1999, following the first rebel attacks on the town and its surrounding villages, some 4,000 refugees fled into Northern Zambia. 

In 1999, the refugees included some 600 DRC Government troops and police, whom the Zambian authorities disarmed and separated from the other refugees. Also today, UNHCR reports some of 489 DRC soldiers arriving with the civilian refugees. These were again disarmed by Zambian authorities and have been accommodated in a separate facility.

Sources: Based on UNHCR and afrol archives

© afrol.com. Texts and graphics may be reproduced freely, under the condition that their origin is clearly referred to, see Conditions.    You can contact us at mail@afrol.com