Refugees want to leave camp in DRC

KANKONONA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. humanitarian relief head Jan Egeland was told on a visit a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo the inhabitants want to go home.

About 150,000 people are living in camps in remote parts of Katanga after fleeing fighting between the army and Mai-Mai rebels, the U.N. Integrated Regional Information Network reported. Egeland traveled to the Kolomani Camp Wednesday and met with a representative of the more than 1,300 refugees there.

"We have suffered so much for more than a year that we are now willing to return home even if not all the Mai-Mai fighters there have disarmed and the situation is still dangerous," Jean-Venance Mwamba said.

Mwamba said the inhabitants of the camp are from the village of Mwenga, about 50 miles away. He said that in the camp they cannot farm and have no fishing equipment, and their children are unable to attend school.

Soldiers and Mai-Mai continue to harass them, Mwamba told Egeland.