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[NAIROBI, 29 October 2008]- The international aid agency Oxfam said on Wednesday that the fresh fighting in eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has displaced tens of thousands more people from their homes. In a statement issued in Nairobi, Oxfam called for increased funds and urgent action to bring the region back from the brink. Fighting resumed in North Kivu province of DR Congo on Saturday evening between government forces (FARDC) and the rebels known as the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), led by former general Laurent Nkunda. "The road to Goma town is a throng of men, women and children desperately searching for refuge in the town's crowded camps. Many people have been forced to sleep out in the open as they cannot find shelter," said Juliette Prodhan, head of Oxfam in DR Congo. "The numbers fleeing are staggering. People urgently need our help. And yet it doesn't look like the fighting is over, so the likelihood is that more people will be fleeing in the coming days." The UN mission, MONUC, is intervening to thwart the CNDP's attempt to attack the province's capital Goma and other population centers, according to Alan Doss, the Secretary-General's Special Representative. But Oxfam said that about 20,000 men, women and children fled from the Kibumba area, north of Goma on Monday and about 4,000 of these are currently camped on a makeshift site in Kibati, outside Goma town with very little humanitarian support. According to the aid agency, an unknown number of people from villages north of Kibumba fled in the opposite direction towards Rutshuru. Since August, some 200,000 people have been uprooted from their homes as fighting has surged between CNDP and government forces. As well as responding to immediate humanitarian needs, Oxfam International is calling on diplomats and foreign ministers to apply urgent pressure to stop the crisis from escalating still further. Oxfam said over 15,000 more people have arrived at the already overstretched camps outside Goma in the past two months. Oxfam said it is supplying clean water and sanitation to the camps around the Goma to minimize the spread of disease and has been scaling up its response to deal with the new influx. It is also developing a plan to supply water and sanitation to a proposed new camp in the town, which will open if the situation continues to deteriorate. [Source of press release: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/30/content_10276886.htm] Further information