Refugees flee latest fighting in east Congo

By Emmanuel Braun and Hereward Holland

KIBATI, Congo (Reuters) - Thousands of frightened civilians fled fighting near a refugee camp in eastern Congo on Friday, as renewed clashes between rebels and government troops added urgency to a regional peace summit being held in Kenya.

Carrying infants, bundles, pots and even domestic animals, refugees streamed south away from the camp at Kibati at the base of the Nyiragongo volcano in Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern North Kivu province.

The sound of machine-gun, mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire echoed from the surrounding hills as Tutsi rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda fought government troops dug in near Kibati, 7 km (4 miles) north of the North Kivu regional capital Goma.

The clash occurred as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met African leaders at a summit at Nairobi in Kenya on Friday to try to end the conflict in eastern Congo.

A recent upsurge in fighting in North Kivu between Nkunda's rebels and government troops backed by militia allies has raised fears of a repeat of a wider 1998-2003 war in the vast, mineral-rich former Belgian colony.

United Nations relief agencies, which run the Kibati camp, said the fighting had interrupted the distribution of aid and caused panic among the camp population.

"All our programs in Kibati have been suspended as a result of the shooting, the whole camp is emptying," Jaya Murthy, spokesperson for the U.N. children's agency UNICEF in Goma, told Reuters.

A spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo (MONUC) said the fighting at Kibati broke out when rebel fighters advanced from their positions and fired into the air, drawing return fire from Congolese army (FARDC) troops.

"The FARDC soldiers were provoked to such a point by the (rebels) that they started to shoot," he said.

Witnesses said heavier firing broke out later, sending people running for cover and fleeing down the road.

No details of casualties were immediately available.

CIVILIANS BEING KILLED

Witnesses saw a column of Congolese army troops heading north toward frontline positions occupied by Nkunda's rebels, who had suspended an offensive on Goma last week.

A Uruguayan U.N. commander on the spot said the troops reinforcing the government lines were Angolans, but this could not be immediately confirmed elsewhere. Nkunda's rebels have accused the Congolese government of using Angolan troops.

Angola has one of the largest armies in sub-Saharan Africa and intervened in Congo's earlier 1998-2003 war. Its government is a staunch ally of Kabila but said it would not interfere.