More than 10,000 Congolese civilians fled to Uganda in a matter of hours Thursday to escape renewed fighting, AP quoted the U.N. refugee agency as saying. Roberta Russo, the UNHCR spokeswoman in Uganda, said the refugees reported attacks by rebels who launched a fresh offensive in August after years of low-level fighting among armed groups in eastern Congo. The new refugees bring the number of Congolese who have fled to Uganda since August to more than 27,000. «They say they have seen many dead bodies on their way to Uganda,» Russo told The Associated Press.
