Thousands flee fighting in Congolese town

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.

More than 10,000 frightened residents were gathered today around a UN compound in Bunia and the nearby airport, seeking the protection of 625 Uruguayan troops stationed there.

At least 100 people have been confirmed killed in the fighting, including scores who sought refuge at a parish church. The chaos has made it impossible to determine the overall toll.

UN officials and others have warned of possible genocide in Bunia and elsewhere in the Ituri province, where the rival Hema and Lendu tribes have been fighting since Uganda pulled out the last of its 6,000 troops on May 7.

Hemas, traditionally cattle-raisers, and Lendus, predominantly farmers, have grappled for centuries for land and other resources in east Congo.

The rivalry has become more bloody because Ituri province around Bunia is rich with gold, and neighbouring nations that became involved in wars in the Congo in the 1990s - Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia – had armed both sides as proxy militias.

The armies have withdrawn as part of a series of peace deals, but Uganda had warned that the final troop withdrawal would leave a security vacuum.

Yesterday, Congo’s president and the factions’ leaders began talks over easing the violence. UN workers, meanwhile, appealed to the crowds swarming its compound to move to the UN-controlled airport where thousands more have sought safety. They were offered a UN escort for the trip.

“That would let us have more space, burn the trash, close the latrines and dig new ones,” Patricia Tome, a UN spokeswoman, said from the overrun city. Aid workers tried to restore water supplies at the compound yesterday, fearing outbreaks of cholera and dysentery.

A UN commander tried to negotiate a 24-hour cease-fire to allow for the relocations, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York. It was not clear if that accounted for the easing of fighting.

People in Bunia also took advantage of a lull in fighting yesterday to flee homes where many had been trapped for a week.

“It’s a rare quiet day and I have been out on the streets where I saw 2,000 people walking on the road to the airport,” Ms Tome said.

Aid workers flying over Bunia saw “a massive column of people” streaming toward Beni, 100 miles to the south west, said Gemma Swart, a spokeswoman for Oxfam.

“They estimated that between 30,000 and 60,000 people are on that road alone,” Ms Swart said by telephone from Goma, 230 miles south west of Bunia.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appealed for troop contributions for an international security force. Britain and France say they are weighing specific requests.

In Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, Congo President Joseph Kabila and leaders of the tribal factions opened urgently convened talks to stem the bloodshed.

Nsingi Zi Lubaki, Congo’s acting ambassador to Tanzania, said more than 30 people, including UN officials and representatives from six or seven groups in Bunia, were attending the talks.

“The talks are at an early stage ... but there is optimism,” Kabila spokesman Mulegwa Zihindula said. “Immediately after this we would like to see a cessation of hostilities.”

“We are ready to negotiate with everybody,” said Thomas Lubanga, leader of the key Hema militia, which sees Mr Kabila’s government as supporting its rivals.