Kinshasa (Fides Service) - Some 30,000 people have fled in masse the town of Mambasa in eastern Congo. Mambasa, the scene of fierce fighting among different rebels groups, is in the diocese of Butembo. "Mambasa is now a ghost city" Patricia Tome spokesperson for the UN Mission in Congo told Fides Service. "There are only about 300 people still in the city, the others have fled to the forest where they have nothing to eat. They now depend entirely on humanitarian aid which is urgently necessary".
The Patriotic Army RCD-K, which withdrew to 50 km outside Beni, along the Beni-Mambasa road, is camped at 60km from the troops of the MLC Movement for the Liberation of Congo led by Jean-Pierre Bemba took Mambasa. What most people fail to realise is that both rebel groups fighting for Mambasa are allied with Uganda. We hope the international community will pressure the warring parties to put an end to the fighting. the UN Mission ordered Bemba's troops to evacuate Mambasa immediately, and it would seem that they are complying with the order. (Fides Service 23/1/2003)