AROUND 350,000 people have been displaced from their homes and left without shelter in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations warned today, as the Rwanda-backed paramilitaries claimed to have seized a second airport in the region.

Journalists were not immediately able to confirm whether Kavumu national airport was under the control of the M23 rebels or government forces.

Locals told reporters that the rebels were a few miles from the airport, a strategic spot for the government military in its fight with the rebels.