By Justin Dralaze KISORO, Uganda, Dec 9 (Reuters) - When Ange Seli fled eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to escape militiamen raiding her village and bullets ricocheting through its mud huts, she didn't spare much thought for where she was going. "I was so scared, I just ran into the bush," the 26-year-old said, balancing an infant strapped to her back. "We got lost but then eventually found ourselves here." Seli is one of thousands of Congolese refugees who fled across the border into western Uganda after fighting flared between Congo's armed forces, backed by U.N. peacekeepers, and rebels led by dissident General Laurent Nkunda. Officials initially put the figure at 12,000, but the U.N. says the number of refugees fell after Congolese government soldiers regained control of Bunagana, which lies 15 km (9 miles) from the Ugandan border. "It's not clear how many there are now, but they're decreasing, many are going back. There's maybe 3,000 left," UNHCR spokeswoman for Uganda Robert Russo said. But a Reuters witness saw refugees still streaming into western Uganda's Kisoro town on Friday and Saturday, most of them women and children. Many looked exhausted as they heaved their few remaining possessions -- jerry cans, cooking pots, utensils and sleeping mats -- across pot-holed dirt roads and muddy fields. "Now we don't know what to do," Seli said. "We have no food, no water, no bedding. I've lost one of my children." Nkunda says he is fighting to defend Congolese Tutsis of Rwandan origin who some say are persecuted. During Congo's 1998-2003 war he fought with Rwandan-backed rebels hunting Hutu militiamen responsible for the 1994 genocide, but he has become increasingly marginalised as Congo's presidential elections wind up a long peace process. Nkunda's men have fought fierce battles with the army and U.N. peacekeepers in the past month, including one in which 150 rebels were killed -- the highest recorded death toll involving U.N. peacekeepers in Congo. The U.N. Security Council congratulated Joseph Kabila on Tuesday on his election to the Congo presidency but expressed "serious concern" over fighting by Nukunda's renegade force. Russo said UNHCR was working to assist about 2,000 refugees at a settlement south of Kisoro. "We've installed latrines and built various shelters where refugees are spending the night, and we're vaccinating the children and pregnant mothers," she said. Jean-Paul Kalimunzia, 31, wants to go home but says it is not safe. "There's no way I'm going back yet," he said. "The rebels who raided us are still there, the bullets are still there -- and they going to be fired again." (Additional Reporting by Tim Cocks in Kampala)
