KINSHASA, Nov 25: More than 200,000 people have been living in the bush in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for the past week, hiding in fear of the battle between rebels and government troops, according to the United Nations.

An evaulation team from the UN mission in DR Congo, MONUC, which returned to Kinshasa at the weekend after visiting towns at the centre of the conflict in Nord-Kivu province, reported the tens of thousands living in the open bush, MONUC said in a statement released Monday.—AFP