U.N. says 1,500 flee Congo fighting to Zambia

LUSAKA, Zambia (Reuters) -- More than 1,500 people have fled renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo into neighboring Zambia, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday.

Oluseyi Bajulaiye, regional head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said in a statement that more than 1,000 civilian refugees and 500 soldiers had crossed into Zambia Wednesday.

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Zambian Defense Minister Chitalu Sampa told Reuters Wednesday that 300 Congo soldiers had fled to Zambia to escape fresh fighting between rebels and government troops.

Their flight may be a sign of an intensifying conflict.

The Congo soldiers and civilians are arriving through Kaputa district, 440 miles northwest of the capital Lusaka.

"The current waves of the inflows are as a result of the upsurge in fighting in the neighboring country. It is predicated that if the current situation in the Congo persists, more could cross into Zambia," said Bajulaiye.

He said UNHCR officials registered 762 civilian refugees from the Congo Wednesday and a further 300 were yet to be registered by UNHCR and Zambian immigration authorities.

Registered refugees would be moved to a settlement called Kala, in Zambia's northern province, which is already home to 2,350 refugees from the Congo.

Bajulaiye said the onset of heavy rains threatened an outbreak of disease if there were delays in moving the refugees.

"Only four trucks, which can carry a maximum of 240 people, have been deployed to transfer refugees from Kaputa to Kala camp," Bajulaiye said.

Zambia hosts some 225,000 refugees. The vast majority are Angolans fleeing fighting between the Luanda government and Jonas Savimbi's rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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