Congo rebels to pull back
2008-11-19 10:01
Kayna - Rebels were pulling back their forces from the frontlines to allow talks with the army, their spokesperson said, as retreating army soldiers battled mobs of spear-wielding militiamen in eastern Congo.
Streams of machine-gunfire crackled through the rural hilltop village of Kayna all day as so-called Mai Mai militias attacked government soldiers who had been fleeing a rebel advance further south. The army reported similar clashes with the militia in Kirumba, a few kilometres further north.
Tuesday's violence marked another low in the complex crisis that is Congo. It also has dealt a severe blow to the army, which relies on help from the Mai Mai in its broader war against rebel leader Laurent Nkunda.
Fighting between the army and Nkunda's men since August has forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes into crowded camps. The UN puts the total refugee figure at 250 000, but tens of thousands have also deserted Kanya and Kanyabayonga, which are occupied now exclusively by soldiers and their families.
Rebels have advanced close to Kanyabayonga, perched on a mountain ridge around 16km south of Kayna.
Nkunda launched a rebellion in 2004, claiming to protect ethnic Tutsis from Hutu militias who fled to Congo after Rwanda's 1994 genocide left more than 500 000 Tutsis and others slaughtered. But critics say he is more interested in power and Congo's mineral wealth.
Rebel spokesperson Bertrand Bisimwa said on Tuesday that his group would immediately withdraw 40km from hotspots around the northern towns of Kiwanja and Kanyabayonga to allow rebels and Congolese army officials to meet on Wednesday.
The meeting near Kanyabayonga "will examine the establishment of zones of separation between their two armies, in order to prevent any possibility of confrontation," Bisimwa said.
Nkunda told UN envoy Olusegun Obasanjo at the weekend he was committed to a cease-fire and UN efforts to end the fighting. But his troops have been gobbling up more territory in the remote hills north of the provincial capital Goma by the day.
Associated Press Writer Anita Powell in Goma, Congo, contributed to this report.
- AP