Sporadic gunfire strikes DRC
2007-10-08 14:39
Kinshasa - Sporadic gunfire was heard on Monday between the Democratic Republic of Congo army (FARDC) and rebel forces loyal to renegade ex-general Laurent Nkunda in the east of the country, according to the United Nations.
More than 70 rebel fighters had been killed in recent days in the Nord-Kivu province, according to the army, with fighting spreading at the weekend to a gorilla reserve in a national park.
Major Prem Tiwari on Monday, a military spokesperson for the UN mission in DRC (Monuc), said: "Sporadic firing is still signalled from various locations.
"Nine FARDC (regular army) troops were reported injured by the army. We don't know for the other side."
Mountain gorillas killed
He said: "Fighting between the rebels and army was heavy yesterday afternoon around Rumangabo before stopping at the end of the afternoon."
Rumangabo was in the Bukima and Kokwe hills 25km north of regional capital Goma.
Over the weekend, the two sides clashed heavily in the hills of the Virunga National Park, which was home to the endangered Congolese mountain gorilla.
Ten mountain gorillas had been killed and two had gone missing in Virunga National Park since January. Only 700 remained in the wild, most of them in the hill forests of eastern DRC, Uganda and Rwanda.
On Sunday, an ally of Nkunda warned that the renegades were on the brink of launching a massive offensive against the army, which had tried to incorporate them into its ranks as part of an ethnic mixing policy before many defected.
Bwambale Kakolele said: "We have waited for the opening of a dialogue with the government of Kinshasa for a long time, but they are still fighting us."
UN-brokered ceasefire collapsed
According to the army, 38 Nkunda rebels were killed on Saturday, in addition to a further 35 who died last Thursday.
Almost daily clashes between the army and rebel groups had taken place in eastern DRC since an 18-day UN-brokered ceasefire collapsed at the end of September.
The government had refused to negotiate with Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi who accused the army of collaborating with Rwandan Hutus who had been in eastern DRC for 13 years.
Some of these, with their own politico-military movement, were accused by Rwanda of taking part in its 1994 genocide, when Hutu troops and militias rounded up and slaughtered about 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Since December 2006, fighting between the rebels and government forces had displaced at least 370 000 civilians in Nord Kivu, according to the UN. Heavy clashes between August 27 and September 06 alone displaced more than 90 000.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned on Friday that rebel groups in Nord Kivu had taken advantage of the lull in violence since then to build up their forces, and were reportedly recruiting child soldiers.