Heavy fighting continues in DRC
2006-08-22 07:44
Kinshasa - Fighting rocked the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa for a third day on Tuesday after the announcement of a presidential run-off vote following July 30 elections, witnesses said.
Heavy gunfire was heard near the area where UN and European peacekeepers on Monday rescued a group of foreign ambassadors trapped by fighting between soldiers loyal to President Joseph Kabila and supporters of an election rival.
Uruguayan troops using armoured vehicles and supported by Spanish legionnaires escorted the UN and foreign envoys from the house of Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba in Kinshasa where they were pinned down by gunbattles.
The July polls were the first free national vote for more than four decades in the vast, mineral-rich, war-scarred former Belgian colony.
The UN has its biggest peacekeeping force in the world - more than 17 000-strong - deployed in Congo.