The conflict in eastern Congo continues this week. Villagers who began trickling back to Kiwanja on Thursday after two days of clashes said rebels had killed those suspected of supporting a local pro-government militia known as the Mai Mai, the Associated Press reported. Rebels said the dead, mostly men in civilian clothes, had been armed militia fighters. Human Rights Watch accused both sides of deliberately killing civilians in Kiwanja and said U.N. peacekeepers nearby had been unable to protect them. It said at least 20 people were killed and another 33 wounded during the battle for the town. (14 images)
Protegee, carrying her sibling on her back, cries as she looks for her parents through the village of Kiwanja, 90 kms north of Goma, eastern Congo on Thursday. A fragile cease-fire in Congo appeared to be unraveling Thursday as the U.N. said battles between warlord Laurent Nkunda's rebels and the army spread to another town in the volatile country's east. AP / Jerome Delay
Thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) gather in a field to receive food aid from the Red Cross near a camp for IDPs in the town of Kibati, just north of the provincial capital of Goma, on Wednesday. The humanitarian situation remains catastrophic in the North Kivu region, where over one million people have been displaced by fighting a week ago. AFP / Getty Images /Roberto Schmidt
Thousands of villagers make their way south in an effort to escape fighting between DRC's ethnic Tutsi renegade general Laurent Nkunda's men and the Mai Mai militia in the area on Wednesday. The United Nations Children's Fund said on November 3, more than 100,000 people had been driven from their homes by last week's rebel offensive, with more than a million homeless in Nord-Kivu province since Nkunda launched his rebellion in late 2006. AFP / Getty Images / Walter Astrada
Residents of the North-Kivu town of Kiwanja gather in front of a UN peacekeepers base in an effort to seek refuge on Thursday in Kiwanja after fighters from the Rebels of Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) clashed with pro-government Mai Mai militia leaving scores dead and displacing thousands. Rebels smashed a ceasefire and wrested control of another town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in clashes with government forces on the eve of a regional summit on the crisis, the UN said. AFP / Getty Images / Roberto Schmidt
Two residents of the North-Kivu town of Kiwanja sit in front of a UN peacekeepers base on Thursday in Kiwanja. Rebels smashed a ceasefire and wrested control of another town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in clashes with government forces on the eve of a regional summit on the crisis, the UN said. AFP / Getty Images / Roberto Schmidt
Congolese people displaced by the latest fighting escape the village of Kiwanja, 90 kms north of Goma, eastern Congo on Wednesday. Heavy fighting erupted for a second day Wednesday between rebels and a pro-government militia in Congo's lawless east, but a wider cease-fire was holding around this provincial capital, U.N. officials and a rebel commander said. The latest clashes pit the Mai Mai militia against the rebels. AP / Jerome Delay
Congolese people displaced by the latest fighting, seen near, rebels as they leave the village of Kiwanja, 90 kms north of Goma, eastern Congo, Wednesday Nov. 5, 2008. Heavy fighting erupted for a second day Wednesday between rebels and a pro-government militia in Congo's lawless east, but a wider cease-fire was holding around this provincial capital, U.N. officials and a rebel commander said. The latest clashes pit the Mai Mai militia against the rebels. AP / Jerome Delay
Rebel soldiers loyal to Laurent Nkunda, see as they head towards Mai Mai militias, near the village Kiwanja, 90 kms north of Goma, eastern Congo, Wednesday Nov. 5, 2008. Heavy fighting erupted for a second day Wednesday between rebels and a pro-government militia in Congo's lawless east, but a wider cease-fire was holding around this provincial capital, U.N. officials and a rebel commander said. The latest clashes pit the Mai Mai militia against the rebels. AP / Jerome Delay
Rebel soldiers loyal to Laurent Nkunda carry a soldier they claim belongs to the FDLR group, wounded in the village of Kiwanja, 90 kms north of Goma, eastern Congo on Wednesday. Heavy fighting erupted for a second day on Wednesday between rebels and a pro-government militia in Congo's lawless east, but a wider cease-fire was holding around this provincial capital, U.N. officials and a rebel commander said. AP / Jerome Delay
Children plead with aid workers to get coupons that will allow them to receive high energy biscuits at a clinic of the International Medical Corps, at a displaced people's camp, in Kibati, north of Goma, eastern Congo on Tuesday. AP / Karel Prinsloo
Displaced Congolese people struggle to cope with a rain storm in the Kibati camp north of Goma, eastern Congo on Tuesday. Congo's government on Tuesday rejected rebel leader Laurent Nkunda's demand for direct talks to solve the crisis in eastern Congo, where fighting between rebels and the government has left tens of thousands of refugees desperate for international aid. AP / Jerome Delay
A child is weighed to establish if he is malnourished at a clinic of the International Medical Corps in a displaced people's camp on Monday in Kibati, north of Goma in eastern Congo. A 12-vehicle U.N. aid convoy set off Monday to go behind rebel lines in eastern Congo, carrying medical supplies for clinics looted by retreating government troops. It was the first humanitarian aid delivery behind rebel lines since fighting broke out in August. AP / Karel Prinsloo
An aid worker moves a girl out of the queue after she received packets of high energy biscuits at a clinic of the International Medical Corps, at a displaced people's camp, in Kibati, north of Goma, eastern Congo on Tuesday. AP / Karel Prinsloo
Congolese people displaced by the latest fighting seek refuge near the UN base in the village Kiwanja, 90 kms north of Goma, eastern Congo on Wednesday. Heavy fighting erupted for a second day Wednesday between rebels and a pro-government militia in Congo's lawless east, but a wider cease-fire was holding around this provincial capital, U.N. officials and a rebel commander said. AP / Jerome Delay
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