More than 2,500 people have been killed since fighting between rival black political factions began five years ago.
To add to the turmoil, a brief civil war was fought between Irish Confederate factions in 1648.
The refugees, trapped by fighting between rival factions near the Zaire-Rwanda border, are said to be dying in large numbers from hunger and thirst.
President F. W. de Klerk announced further measures today to curtail fighting between black factions.
But in the country south and west of Alayor there were rumours of fighting between local factions.
This is not a war on foreign shores fought between fanatical factions.
A total of 32 people died in fighting between black factions since Saturday, reports said.
More social unrest broke out, followed by the Wars of the Roses, fought between rival factions in the English nobility.
Between 14,000 and 60,000 individuals were killed in fighting between various factions on the island or were executed.
Until the following spring anyway, when it began to disintegrate in squabbling and fighting between factions.