A hundred unarmed South Sudanese refugees in eastern Congo took 13 United Nations mission staff hostage on Tuesday, demanding to be moved to a third country, a U.N. official based in the area said.
They were among 530 people who have been living in the Munigi base, outside Goma, since fleeing South Sudan last August, U.N. Goma bureau head Daniel Ruiz told Reuters.
Most are former fighters loyal to former vice president Riek Machar, who have clashed with President Salva Kiir's forces since July 2016.
The United Nations estimates about 3 million South Sudanese have been uprooted by the violence in their country, the biggest cross-border exodus in Africa since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Ruiz said the camp occupants had been demanding to be moved to a third country for months, but no one would take them.
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