Nairobi/Goma (Congo) - UN children's fund UNICEF sees life and health of children in Congo's Nord-Kivu region increasingly threatened by enduring fighting.

"This fighting is again having a brutal impact on the children and women of the Kivus," said Julien Harneis who heads the UNICEF operation in eastern Congo.

"Many children are split up from their families as they flee; in refugee camps they are even more vulnerable to malaria, measles, cholera and malnutrition," he added.

Last week's fighting had put all they had so far achieved in their battle against hunger and malnutrition at risk, Harneis said.

According to UNICEF estimates, roughly 1,000 children are among the refugees who are on their own and know nothing of their parents' whereabouts.

Harneis said underage refugees were especially at risk of being forced to fight as child soldiers or of becoming victims of abuse.

A peace treaty for East Congo signed last January was repeatedly violated over the last weeks. Since August, human rights groups and UN peace-keeping troops have reported heavy fighting in the Nord-Kivu region.

An estimated 100,000 people are fleeing the region, where government troops and various, adversary rebel groups are involved in the fighting.

All parties are accused of severe violations of human rights and the systematic rapes of women and girls. (dpa)