Chaos in eastern Congo

Furious mobs stoned UN peacekeepers' compounds, and thousands of desperate people fled advancing rebel troops as chaos returned to eastern Congo.

Spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg said UN peacekeepers in helicopters fired at rebel forces surging on Kibumba, about 45km north of the provincial capital of Goma.

In what appeared to be a major retreat, hundreds of government soldiers pulled back from the battlefront north of Goma.

Protesters threw rocks outside four UN compounds in Goma, outraged at what they claimed was a failure to protect them from rebels.