GENEVA, Switzerland, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The United Nations says thousands of refugees, many of them ill, are fleeing fighting in the eastern Congo and pouring into neighboring Uganda.
They said the fighting was between two major ethnic militias, Hema and Lendu, in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said Friday.
An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people made their way across Lake Albert by boat to the village of Nkondo, some 180 miles from the Ugandan capital of Kampala, he said.
Most of the refugees were women and children in poor health who were unable to climb up the escarpment rising from the lake, said the spokesman, adding that UNHCR had contacted other U.N. agencies to provide food and sanitation and other essentials. It was also negotiating with local authorities to put up a water tank.
Another 10,000 Congolese had arrived in Ishaka, further north along the border with Congo, and may be transferred to Kyaka, an existing refugee settlement six hours away in western Uganda, but one so far lacking sufficient water, UNHCR said.
