The Ugandan government says its soldiers are intervening to try to prevent ethnic clashes in north eastern Congo.

President Museveni said they had been asked to intervene by local authorities and said the situation was now quiet.

The region is under the nominal control of rebels allied to Uganda in the civil war being fought in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Fighting between the Hema and Lendu communities over the past seven months has led to the deaths of an estimated two-thousand people.

The situation has led to an acute humanitarian crisis.

The International Red Cross says it has supplies for one hundred thousand people who can be reached but believes the same number again are cut off in remote locations.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service