Refugee Camps Abandoned in Eastern DRC

(03 Nov 08 - RV) Aid workers in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo tried to locate and help tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting today after they found refugee camps in a rebel zone empty.

Camps previously run near the eastern town of Rutshuru by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, and housing at least 50,000 people, were found levelled and deserted when the aid convoy arrived.

The humanitarian workers had travelled with a United Nations aid convoy to the town captured by advancing Tutsi rebels last week in the DR Congo's North Kivu province: