100,000 Displaced in Congo

About 100,000 civilians in eastern Congo fled during a week of fighting between government troops and renegade soldiers and hid deep in the forest where humanitarian workers cannot reach them, U.N. officials said Sunday.

Battles broke out again Sunday north of Kanyabayonga, where reinforcements sent by the central government have been fighting troops loyal to a former rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, which fought in Congo’s 1998-2002 war.

The group, known as RCD, is now supposed to be part of the government army. The Congolese government says the renegade soldiers are supported by Rwanda, but Rwanda denies involvement.

Since Dec. 12, about 100,000 civilians are believed to have fled the fighting near the Rwandan border, said Rachel Leflaive, a spokeswoman for United Nations humanitarian operations in Congo.

Leflaive said members of the U.N.’s 11,000-strong peacekeeping mission determined the tally of the displaced after finding all-but-abandoned towns and villages along a road near Kanyabayonga, 60 miles north of the city of Goma.

The displaced civilians are living in the surrounding forest and cannot be reached by humanitarian workers, she said. Earlier aid-agency estimates said 35,000 had fled their homes.

Congo’s war drew in six nations and left more than 3 million people dead, mostly from hunger and disease, aid groups estimated.

The postwar national-unity government, which includes former rebels, is trying to project its authority over the lawless east, which former insurgents still control. The army’s cohesion is viewed as a crucial test for long-term peace in Congo.