U.N. forces and militiamen battle in eastern Congo

Eddy Isango

KINSHASA, Congo — U.N. peacekeepers battled militia fighters loyal to a dissident general who were trying to advance toward the capital of a province in eastern Congo, U.N. officials said.
“They came under fire from assaulting troops in the vicinity of Sake,” U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said by phone from the capital, Kinshasa. “Our troops returned fire.”

He said an attack helicopter was called in around 7 a.m. and the militia forces pulled back from their advance on Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

Fighting first broke out in the area Saturday, when rebel troops loyal to warlord Laurent Nkunda clashed with Congolese army forces. Thousands fled Sake, a town of about 12,000 people about 18 miles west of Goma. The town was deserted Monday, Saiki said.

The U.N. has about 3,500 troops in the area, part of a force of about 17,500 peacekeepers in the Central African country. They are trying to maintain calm as Congo tries to make the transition to democracy after a 1998-2002 war and decades of dictatorship.

“The attack was stopped, but [Nkunda’s forces] have remained in position,” Saiki said. Sporadic exchanges of gunfire continued, he said, but the U.N. controlled Sake and the surrounding area.

Although a peace deal has formally ended Congo’s fighting, the government in Kinshasa has struggled to gain control of the vast, lawless eastern region of the country.

Nkunda, a former general, quit Congo’s army and launched a low-level rebellion after the war ended, charging that the transition to democracy was flawed and excluded the minority Tutsi community. Nkunda controls thousands of fighters and claims the loyalty of the 81st and 83rd army brigades, the troops involved in the most recent clashes.

Congo is trying to forge half a dozen former militias into a unified army, but progress has been slow. Only 14 of a planned 18 brigades have been integrated, and Nkunda’s forces have refused to join.

Congo’s army reported three dead and about 50 wounded since Saturday, said Jacqueline Chenard, a U.N. spokeswoman in Goma.

Col. Delphin Kahindi, regional commander for Congo’s army in Goma, said he counted 10 bodies of rebel fighters. He added that army forces had captured some wounded fighters.

A delegation of government and U.N. officials arrived in Goma earlier this week to try to broker a cease-fire, Saiki said.

Congo recently elected interim President Joseph Kabila to a five-year term in the nation’s first multiparty elections since independence from Belgium in 1960.

International observers generally called the vote fair, but runner-up Jean-Pierre Bemba, himself a former rebel leader, has charged that the ballot was rigged. Sporadic fighting marred the elections, though most of it occurred in western areas where Bemba has a strong following.

Nkunda has launched attacks over the years on other major eastern towns, including the city of Bukavu, on the shore of Lake Kivu. Rights groups have accused Nkunda’s forces of torturing and raping civilians.

The United States recently imposed sanctions on Nkunda, along with six other warlords and businessmen, accusing them of promoting instability. Their assets were frozen, and Americans are barred from doing business with them.

(Associated Press)