GENEVA. Thousands more people than previously thought have fled an ethnic conflict in northwestern DRC, the UN refugee agency said yesterday, amid accounts of killings, rapes and pillaging.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said thousands of mostly ethnic Munzayas fled early this month from DRC’s Equateur province to the neighbouring Republic of Congo after attacks by Enyele tribesmen over farming and fishing rights.

The Enyele tribe was "armed" and "appeared to have organised into a militia," UNHCR spokesman Andre Mahecic told journalists. The UNHCR last week estimated that more than 16 000 were displaced, but yesterday it raised the figure by over a third to 21 800.

Mahecic said the refugees told UNHCR staff in the region that they were fleeing Enyele tribesmen who "had gone from house to house, pillaging, raping and killing mostly Munzaya civilians in Dongo and surrounding villages, which are now virtually empty."

About 70 percent of the refugees were women and children, who are now staying in public buildings or with host communities in 11 villages on the Republic of Congo’s side of the Oubangui river.

More than 20 arrived in the Republic of Congo with gunshot wounds, added Mahecic. Among them was an 11-year-old girl who had to have her right leg amputated, he added.

Mahecic said the flow of refugees had stopped amid reports that the national army was intervening to stop Enyele attacks, although UNHCR staff reported seeing "smoke from burning houses across the river."

"While some of the new arrivals told us they would like to go back to their villages once the Enyele militia is crushed, others felt too traumatised and told UNHCR that they were not ready to go back," he added.

The first clashes between the two tribes broke out in March and prompted 1 200 people to seek shelter in the Republic of Congo.

This violence is unrelated to ongoing fighting in eastern DRC, which has displaced 1,7 million people there .— AFP.