Girl (4), thrown across border, finds her father

A four-year-old girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who was thrown over a border fence into Spain's north African enclave…

A four-year-old girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who was thrown over a border fence into Spain's north African enclave of Ceuta last week, has been reunited with her father in Spain, newspapers reported yesterday.

Clarice and her father, Mr Moubiala Kipupa, met at a railway station in Madrid under the auspices of the Spanish authorities, who brought the child to the mainland, the newspapers said.

The case of Clarice attracted nationwide attention after she was hurled over a 2m-high fence separating Ceuta from Morocco last Wednesday, with a note stating her name and her father's telephone number in Spain. She suffered only light bruises from the fall. No details are known of her mother's whereabouts.

Clarice will be cared for by Spanish authorities pending her father's appeal for refugee status, the newspapers said.

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Every year, hundreds of immigrants die trying to enter Spain from Africa in search of a better life, mostly from drowning in attempted sea crossings.

Rwandan strongman Mr Paul Kagame was in Uganda yesterday for further talks with President Yoweri Museveni on the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On Tuesday, the two men signed a ceasefire to halt four days of fighting between their "allied" troops in the north-eastern DRC city of Kisangani.