Months of clashes add 536,000 to refugee toll

The UN refugee agency says that 536,000 people have been chased from home in eastern Congo this year as a result of clashes between government forces and rebels linked to neighbouring Rwanda's 1994 genocide. A UNHCR spokesman, Ron Redmond, said that 35,000 more people had been uprooted since 12 July, when the government embarked on its latest military campaign. He said there were widespread reports of murder, rape and torture by Hutu extremists. In all, there are now an estimated 1.8 million people displaced by years of violence and instability in eastern Congo.