"Nyamulagira began erupting Saturday at 5:48 am (0348 GMT)," vulcanologist Celestin Kasereka told AFP in the Rwandan capital Kigali by telephone from Goma, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the volcano.

An officer stationed in the region who asked not to be named added: "It began Saturday. There are people who are fleeing their homes and herds of livestock that have been evacuated."

Several battalions of Rwandan rebels -- who include former militiamen held responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda -- have taken positions in recent months in the dense forests of the region where they have clashed with DRC forces.

Kasereka said the area, where rebels are hiding out in forests at the foot of the volcano, was off limits to experts and aid agencies.

"The UN and local administrative authorities say we shouldn't go there because there are lots of movements (of rebels and government troops)," he said.

"So far most of the activity has been concentrated in the main crater. A fissure opened on the north-northwest, and several cones formed. All of it (the fissure) faces the (nature) reserve and people say clouds of ash are falling towards Kichanga," Kasereka said, referring to a village some 40 kilometers northwest of the volcano.

Military sources in the region said the eruption had dislocated some of the rebels.

Nyamulagira, which erupts at least once every two years, has never threatened Goma, which was devastated by another volcano closer by, Nyiragongo, in January 2002.

TERRA.WIRE