The UN confirmed today that Rwandan troops have crossed the border into Congo in pursuit of rebel forces and was investigating reports that villages had been set ablaze.

War weary Congo was plunged into conflict again tonight and a Cabinet minister in the east of the African nation said “We are being attacked by Rwandan troops.”

Rwanda has sent thousands of troops into Congo in recent days, a Western diplomat said today.

Rwanda has warned it will launch an attack “very soon” on Hutu rebels sheltering in east Congo – an ominous development that raised fears of renewed central African conflict.

Fleeing civilians jammed roads out of an eastern Congo city by the thousands to escape rival ethnic militias battling for control with mortars and machetes.