Nearly 20,000 people are in a "critical humanitarian state" in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after fleeing renewed fighting between central government forces and dissident troops around Lake Kivu, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Some 15,000 people have taken refuge along the banks of Lake Kivu, after fleeing the fighting between the DRC's armed forces (FARDC) and dissident leader Gen. Laurent Nkunda. Nearly 5,000 others fled to the High Plateaux region south-west of Minova following abuses by soldiers and armed groups in the Kalehe area.