United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed that rebel fighters have started withdrawing around two eastern towns. Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, the spokesman for the UN mission (Monuc), said on Wednesday that fighters from General Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) were pulling back "in their hundreds". "Since yesterday evening they have been withdrawing. They are pulling back south on three axes - from Kanyabayonga towards Kibirizi, from Kanyabayonga towards Nyanzale and from Rwindi south," Dietrich said.

"It is a process that is still ongoing."

The CNDP said on Tuesday that it had decided a "unilateral and immediate pull back" to create "separation zones" between themselves and government forces in North Kivu province. Its deputy chief of staff was due to meet the DR Congo's national army land forces commander on Wednesday near Rwindi, where well-armed rebel fighters have pushed back the demoralised DR Congo army in recent days.

However, thousands of people continued to flee the fighting which flared up several weeks ago, with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Wednesday reporting a new influx into neighbouring Uganda.

"There was an influx of 2,000 people who crossed into Ishasha last evening [Tuesday]," Roberta Russo, UNHCR's spokeswoman in Uganda, said. More than 14,500 people are believed to have arrived in the region since August.

Most of the Congolese in Ishasha wanted to be transported to the Nakivale, a large refugee camp in Uganda's Mbarara district, Russo said.