Red Cross staff leave Congo Pool

The Ninjas pledged to disarm in 2003

The International Committee of the Red Cross has indefinitely suspended its activities in Congo's Pool region after a spate of violence.

The south-eastern region has become a base for the "Ninja" fighters loyal to rebel leader Frederic Bitsangou.

Last year government forces drove the rebels out of the capital, Brazzaville, which borders Pool.

The ICRC said the situation in the region had become too dangerous for its staff to continue working there.

"In the ICRC's view, such incidents are not specifically aimed at it in its capacity as a humanitarian organisation but are part of a general worsening of security conditions in Pool," the ICRC said in a statement released from its Geneva headquarters.

The ICRC has been assisting people in Pool who were affected by the civil war and the subsequent fighting between government forces and the Ninjas.

Frederic Bitsangou, also known as Pastor Ntumi, led an uprising against the government between 1997 and 2003. The Ninjas pledged to disarm after a peace accord in March 2003.