UN says DR Congo forcibly expelling refugees

The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, says the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have forcibly repatriated some five-hundred refugees who were fleeing fighting in northwest Burundi.

A UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said some two-hundred-and-fifty refugees were taken to the border in trucks comandeered from an aid organisation, while others were forced to march to the border by Congolese soldiers.

Relations between the UN and the government of Congolese President Laurent Kabila have been strained since the UN began investigating alleged massacres committed by Mr Kabila's forces last year during the war to oust former president Mobutu.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service