MORE than a million people have fled their homes in the parts of the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under rebel control, a UN official said this week. Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda have been fighting the government of President Laurent Kabila since 1998 and now control vast swathes of territory in the north and east of the country. The Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy, one of three rebel movements fighting Kabila, controls Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu. More than 50% of these people have been forced to leave their homes since the beginning of the summer. – AFP