Relief for ruined Congo city

The fighting left one neighbourhood completely destroyed

Aid agencies in the Congolese city of Kisangani have taken advantage of a lull in fighting to assess the humanitarian situation.

Thousands of people who fled the fighting are reported to be moving back from surrounding forests.

The International Red Cross said as many as 250 civilians might have been killed in the crossfire between Ugandan and Rwandan forces.

More and more illnesses are breaking out which are linked to people being crowded together in dreadful hygiene conditions

Dr Bertrand Mubiayi

Much of the city's infrastructure has been damaged, and electricity and water supplies are cut - leaving the 600,000 inhabitants hungry, thirsty and prone to epidemics.

The aid agencies have given priority to the collection of dead bodies littering the streets of the city, which is in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

ICRC official Alexander Liebeskind said so far 84 bodies had been recovered.

In Kinshasa, Health Minister Mashako Mamba said the fighting had killed more than 1,000 people and wounded at least 3,000.

ICRC officials said more than 7,000 people had been displaced by the fighting and had gathered at six different sites.

The ICRC is flying in two plane loads of food and medical aid and has set up an emergency centre with Dutch and Belgian teams from the relief organisation Medecins sans Frontieres.

Hospitals and health centres are packed with the sick and injured.

MSF says it is setting up a cholera centre to try to prevent an outbreak of the disease.

UN buffer

United Nations observers moved into key areas of Kisangani over the weekend to ensure the two sides kept to their agreed ceasefire.

The UN observer mission (Monuc) deployed people on both sides of the main bridge over the River Tshopo, just hours after the fighting stopped.

President Kabila faces a divided rebellion

The UN said the army chiefs of the two countries were due to meet in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Monday to work out an effective ceasefire

But Rwanda said there was no need for talks in Kampala - but instead would talk to Monuc about theior own withdrawal.

Both Uganda and Rwanda say they are now committed to a complete withdrawal from Kisangani.

The Rwandans had said their departure would depend on an expanded UN presence in the rebel-held city.

The two countries, once close allies, are fighting in DR Congo in support of rival rebel factions which both oppose Congolese President Laurent Kabila.

Victory claims

The Rwandan Government said it had decided to "effect a unilateral withdrawal" from Kisangani" in view of the unnecessary fighting and loss of innocent lives".

It said it had won an important tactical victory over the Ugandans, pushing them back from the city.

A Ugandan military spokesman strongly denied that it had suffered any kind of defeat.

Kisangani's Roman Catholic cathedral was damaged by shelling

He said Uganda had pulled its troops out to avoid causing further casualties.

The fighting erupted despite an earlier ceasefire accord signed by the Rwandan and Ugandan leaders.

The BBC correspondent in Kigali, Chris Simpson, says that even if the peace holds, the UN will face a hugely difficult task in restoring calm to Kisangani.

Despite Rwanda's assertion that it was not responsible for civilian deaths, local feeling against both the Rwandans and Ugandans runs high.