The United nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has been given free access to tens of thousands of Angolan refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo, under an agreement signed with the government in Kinshasa.

Congolese officials said the agreement -- which was signed on Tuesday -- entitled the refugees to protection under international conventions.

The UNHCR estimates that thirty-thousand Angolan refugees have arrived in southern and western Congo following the latest upsurge of fighting in their country.

The Congolese authorities put the figure closer to one-hundred thousand.