Tension in East Congo

Humanitarian sources in the Great Lakes region say more than two-thousand Hutu refugees have been abruptly deported from the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past week to Burundi and Rwanda.

The sources say government troops expelled them from the eastern town of Uvira.

Belgian relief agencies say that ethnic tension and attacks in the area of former Zaire around Uvira have been continuing.

A report obtained by the French news agency says most clashes have been between warriors from the Mai-mai group and the Banyamulenge -- ethnic Tutsis who have lived in the area for hundreds of years.

The report -- by the Belgian National Centre for Cooperation and Development -- says the Mai-mai may have been joined by former soldiers of the defeated army of the late President Mobutu, and by Hutus from the old Rwandan army.

It says they are believed to want all Tutsis to leave the area, and have also been resisting President Kabila's new Congolese army.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service