Thousands flee rebel attack in eastern Congo
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thousands flee rebel attack in eastern Congo*
25 Nov 2006 18:11:37 GMT
Source: Reuters
By David Lewis
KINSHASA, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Fighters loyal to a dissident general
attacked army positions in eastern Congo with heavy weapons on Saturday,
killing two soldiers and sending thousands of people fleeing into the
bush, U.N. officials said.
The attack, after months of relative calm in Congo's turbulent east,
came amid tensions in the capital Kinshasa where supporters of a former
rebel chief are protesting President Joseph Kabila's victory in last
month's presidential runoff.
"Our military positions in Sake have been coming under attack from
(rebel general Laurent) Nkunda since early this morning," Congolese
Interior Minister Denis Kalume told Reuters on Saturday.
U.N. sources confirmed the attack on Sake, which is the front line
between rebel and government forces, 20 km (13 miles) west of the
provincial capital of North Kivu and close to the border with Rwanda.
After several hours of fighting, rebel forces appeared to be pulling
back into the bush, said Maj Ajay Dalal, a spokesman for the Indian
peacekeepers in North Kivu.
"For now, the firing has stopped. We are deployed all around and are
supporting the Congolese army but we haven't had to engage yet," he
said, adding that two government soldiers had been killed.
A U.N. military source said Nkunda's troops had bombarded an integrated
brigade of Congo's army, made up of different factions from the
country's 1998-2003 civil war, using mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Hospitals in the regional capital Goma, reported that at least 45 troops
from both sides had been treated for injuries as well as 15 civilian
casualties.
The clashes came after the killing of a member of Nkunda's Tutsi ethnic
group raised tensions in Sake and most of the civilian population had
fled, another U.N. official said.
"Between 15,000 and 20,000 people have fled Sake and the surrounding
area," said Andrew Zadel, acting head of U.N. humanitarian coordination
agency OCHA in North Kivu. "For now we are hoping the situation will
calm down and these people will be able to go back soon - maybe in the
morning."
HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE
The conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo continues to
displace tens of thousands of people, despite a 2003 peace deal which
officially ended the war and paved the way for this year's historic
elections.
The five-year war caused a humanitarian catastrophe which killed an
estimated 4 million people, mainly through hunger and disease. Its
effects are still being felt and more than 1,000 people die each day in
Congo, making it the world's worst humanitarian disaster, the U.N.
estimates.
Many of the human rights abuses are committed by the poorly paid and
ill-disciplined army. On Friday, U.N. investigators announced the
discovery of a mass grave in an army camp in eastern Congo holding
around 30 victims, including women and children, who appeared to have
been recently executed.
This year's U.N.-backed elections, Congo's first free polls in more than
40 years, were aimed at cementing peace in the vast central African country.
However, supporters of former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba rioted in
Kinshasa this week after he refused to accept defeat in last month's
runoff and accused Kabila of "massive fraud". The Supreme Court
continued hearing his appeal on Saturday, only four days it was attacked
by a pro-Bemba mob.
Thousands of Bemba's supporters took to the streets on Friday night as a
rumour circulated the election result had been overturned in his favour.
There were no reports of violence.