Battles between ethnic militias in the eastern Congolese town of Bunia are continuing as world leaders try to put together an international peacekeeping force to avert a possible genocide.
Lendu fighters are using mortars, artillery and small arms, Associated Press reports, to try and recapture the town which they lost to the Hema-led Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) on Monday. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled, desperate to escape the indiscriminate ethnic killings being carried out by the rival tribal militias, said a UN official in Bunia. About 10,000 people are sheltering in and around the UN compound in Bunia, said the official. Even there, they are not safe. A woman seeking sanctuary inside the compound was killed by a stray bullet on Tuesday, she said. Full Story
