Escalating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has continued to uproot thousands more people to neighbouring countries where they face dire conditions without many basic necessities,

Burundi has "accelerated" the withdrawal of some troops from DR Congo, a senior military source told AFP Thursday, as the UN warned the small Great Lakes nation was seeing its biggest influx of refugees from its conflict-riven neighbour in 25 years.

Burundi has begun pulling its forces out of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), where they had been fighting alongside Congolese troops