Kibati, Congo - Soldiers went on an overnight looting and shooting spree in a sprawling Congolese refugee camp, stealing from hungry and traumatised people who have fled fighting in the east of the country, witnesses said on Monday.
They said one woman was killed by a stray bullet on Sunday night when soldiers went house-to-house and tent-to-tent in Kibati, a village north of the eastern provincial capital of Goma that has been overrun by about 70 000 refugees.
The soldiers demanded money at gunpoint and stole people's few possessions - many of which had been donated by aid agencies, the witnesses said.
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The people taking refuge here are among some 250 000 who have been driven from their homes by fighting stemming from a long-simmering rebellion that escalated in August.
Patrice Sebahunde said he was awakened at 10pm by four soldiers pointing guns in his face. They took his family's food, clothes and their plastic water bucket.
"They came up, pointed a gun at me, and said, 'Wake up, wake up, give us money and everything you have,"' said Sebahunde, 60, who sat on the front porch of his wooden cabin and stared grimly at the sea of white plastic tents in what used to be his front yard.
Sebahunde and several other witnesses said the soldiers shot in the air, and that one stray bullet hit a 45-year-old woman in the head, killing her instantly.
A 20-year-old woman was killed at Kibati on Thursday night when soldiers shot in the air and a bullet pierced her tent and hit her in the head.
UN refugee officials who had reported Thursday's shooting said they had no information about any violence Sunday.
"Shooting is not something you can easily hide," said spokesperson David Nthegwe.
"Our information on the ground on Sunday night says there was no looting and nobody was killed."
But at least 10 witnesses who spoke separately to The Associated Press told the same story.
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