NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Fighting in eastern Congo has driven tens of thousands of people from their

homes since a rebellion began over three months ago, the U.N. refugee agency said Monday.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said more than 65,000 people have been displaced since

Aug. 2 when rebels launched an insurgency in the vast Central African country to topple President

Laurent Kabila.

The U.N. report said more than 14,000 Congolese had been driven from the Lake Tanganyika towns of

Uvira, Baraka and Fizi across the lake to Tanzania, and more than 100 refugees were crossing daily.

Another 6,500 Congolese crossed the border from south Kivu to Burundi, and 500 went to Rwanda, the

agency said.

More than 45,000 others have fled their homes but remained in the same regions, the U.N. agency said.

The refugee agency expressed concern that Rwandan Hutu men camped among legitimate refugees are

trying to cross into Congo to fight on Kabila's side.

Also Monday, Congolese rebels said they had captured the port of Moba on Lake Tanganyika, which

would be the southernmost town now under their control, and vowed to keep up the pressure on Kabila

as long as he refuses to negotiate with them.

In South Africa, Congolese Foreign Minister Jean-Charles Okoto Lolakombe again refused to directly

negotiate with the rebels, demanding that neighboring Rwanda and Uganda first withdraw their support

for the insurgents.

At least a half-dozen countries in the region have allied themselves either with Kabila's forces or the

rebels, and have sent troops into Congo, adding to concerns that regional stability is threatened.

Arthur Ngoma, a rebel leader, said from the eastern rebel stronghold at Goma that his troops took

Moba, 300 miles south of Goma, in copper-rich Katanga Province early Monday.

There was no independent confirmation of the report. If true, the seizure could undermine efforts by the

government and allies from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia to launch a counteroffensive against rebel

positions in the east.

The rebels control more than one-third of Congo. Ngoma said his forces, backed by troops and arms

from Rwanda and Uganda, were advancing on the diamond city of Mbuji-Mayi in Eastern Kasai, on

Katanga's regional capital of Lubumbashi, and on Equatoria Province in northern Congo.

AP-NY-11-16-98 1640EST