( CNN ) -- Thousands of people who fled fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are crossing back into rebel-held territory because they say conditions at refugee camps are intolerable . A crowd of refugees gathers at the entrance to a USAID center near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo . With no food , water or sanitation in the camps , people have decided that it is worth the risk to return to their homes , even though rebels killed and raped many people just last week , residents told ITN 's Jonathan Miller , who is near the city of Goma . Many of their villages have been looted and emptied of people by the rebels , they said . Roads were filled with people returning to rebel-held territory , carrying their belongings on their heads or on their backs . However , others , fearful of fresh violence , continued to leave their homes , overwhelming aid centers . See photos of the refugee camps » . Aid groups were expected to travel into the Congo 's rebel-held territory on Sunday to help tens of thousands of people displaced by the latest bout of rebel fighting . On Saturday , aid groups delivered food and water to a refugee camp north of Goma , traveling through a narrow `` humanitarian corridor '' the rebels established following a cease-fire with government forces that the rebels announced Wednesday . British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the international community can not allow Congo to become `` another Rwanda , '' where 800,000 died during a 1994 genocide . Western diplomats shuttled between Goma -- the scene of some of the worst fighting -- and Kigali , in neighboring Rwanda , to meet with leaders in order to get a peace process back on track . Watch the diplomatic efforts » . `` The immediate needs are obvious , '' said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in a joint statement Sunday . `` We saw them yesterday . The cease-fire last Wednesday needs to be bolstered , '' Miliband and Kouchner said . `` The humanitarian needs for food , shelter , water and health care must be met through universal provision and secure routes for delivery . '' The cease-fire seemed to be holding Sunday , but both sides appeared to be massing troops near the cease-fire line . Government soldiers flew in from the capital Kinshasa and deployed in the jungle , and rebels were out in force on their side of the line . ITN reporter Miller heard intermittent firing from the hills that mark the line where the two sides face off only a few hundred yards apart . A small contingent of United Nations troops in the area donned flak jackets and helmets in response . Watch report on gunfire near cease-fire line » . Miller said it was not clear if the two sides were firing at each other . The latest fighting broke out on October 24 when Congolese rebels led by renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda launched renewed attacks in the eastern province of North Kivu . It came days after a tenuous week-old U.N.-brokered cease-fire between rebels and government forces fell apart . The fighting between Nkunda 's rebels and Congolese army regulars displaced thousands of civilians almost immediately , the United Nations said . Many of the displaced fled to Goma , the capital of North Kivu , which borders Rwanda and Uganda . Nkunda is the leader of the National Congress for the Defense of the People . His rebel forces declared a cease-fire late Wednesday after four days of fighting . The fighting is based on ethnic grievances . Nkunda says he is fighting to protect his Tutsi community from attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels . During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda , the country 's Hutu majority killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus , according to the United Nations . When Tutsis came to power in Rwanda , many Hutus crossed the border into Congo . They were afraid to return home , fearing they would be targeted for revenge by Tutsis , so they remained in the jungles of eastern Congo , where they preyed on local residents . In May 2005 , it was reported that Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern Congo carried out hundreds of summary executions , rapes , beatings and kidnappings of Congolese civilians in the province of South Kivu , according to GlobalSecurity.org . Nkunda , a Tutsi , has repeatedly blamed the Congolese government for failing to protect the Tutsis from attacks by Rwandan Hutus . Copyright 2008 CNN . All rights reserved.This material may not be published , broadcast , rewritten , or redistributed . Associated Press contributed to this report .
There is no food , water or sanitation in the refugee camps . Aid groups expected to travel into rebel-held territory in DR Congo . The UN says it has received reports of at least 10 people dying from malnutrition and disease since fighting broke out between government forces and rebels last month.