UN tries to end Congo violence

Aid workers are struggling to cope with the numbers of refugees

The United Nations has held talks with rival ethnic militias to try to end fierce fighting in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Hema and Lendu militias, battling to control the town of Bunia, have been urged to withdraw to camps on the outskirts.

More bodies of civilians from the latest fighting have been found - including three babies - while the few remaining aid workers in the area are battling to feed thousands of refugees.

The situation will be discussed by the UN Security Council on Monday - which is expected to be asked to deploy more peacekeeping troops.

There are currently 625 UN troops in Bunia, struggling to keep apart as many as 28,000 tribal fighters from across the region.

"The problem is that there are too many armed groups in the town and as long as they remain in close proximity, it is easy for them to resume fighting," Amos Namanga Ngongi, head of the UN mission in Congo, told Associated Press news agency.

He said that if the fighters went to the camps and disarmed, aid workers would provide them with food and medicine.

Low relief supplies

The UN has been unable to calculate exactly how many people have been killed in the four days of fighting as some parts of the town are still off limits to them, but Mr Ngongi said the death toll would be "quite heavy".

UN representative Patricia Tome said the bodies of five men, four women and three tiny babies were found in the centre of Bunia on Sunday. The adults had suffered gunshot wounds and cuts, and the babies had had their throats slit.

She told BBC's Focus on Africa that UN workers also found 13 nuns hiding at the site of a massacre near a church on Saturday, in which 20 people, including two priests, were killed.

DR CONGO'S WAR

Four years

Seven foreign armies

At least 2 million dead

Disease and abuses widespread

London talks progress

A hard road to peace

She added that many of the militias were on drugs. "In certain parts of town there are lots of militiamen, including many child soldiers, with machetes, axes, loot on their backs," she claimed.

Relief workers have begun distributing some food and water to thousands of increasingly desperate refugees but supplies are said to be dangerously low.

The UN says it is currently looking after around 8,000 people but estimates there are 30,000 more refugees in the area. Tens of thousands are thought to have crossed into Uganda.

The militia groups have been fighting for control of Bunia - capital of the Ituri region - since Ugandan troops left on Tuesday in accordance with an international peace deal for the DRC.

Since 1999, more than 50,000 people are estimated to have been killed and half a million displaced by unrest in the Ituri region.