'UN troops siding with rebels'
2008-11-20 21:08
Kiwanja - Mai-Mai militia accused UN peacekeepers of fighting alongside Laurent Nkunda's rebels as fresh clashes erupted on Thursday in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo.
The latest fighting broke out at the villages of Katoro and Nyongera, near Kiwanja in Nord-Kivu province, a security source in Kiwanja who asked to remain anonymous said.
Mai-Mai spokesperson Didier Bitaki said Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and peacekeepers with MONUC, the UN mission in the country, had joined forces against them.
"MONUC fired on our forces, they found themselves in difficulty called for help to the CNDP... it is a CNDP/MONUC coalition against the Mai-Mai," he said.
"The CNDP are trying to dislodge us from Katoro."
MONUC spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich could not immediately confirm or deny the report.
On Wednesday, peacekeepers with the United Nations mission in the country (MONUC) opened fire on the pro-government Mai-Mai fighters in the region after two of their armoured cars came under fire from them while on patrol.
CNDP spokesperson Bertrand Bisimwa said the use of heavy weapons meant that government troops and Rwandan Hutu rebels were involved in the fighting - and he said the Hutu force was fighting alongside the government soldiers, he said.
"They tried to advance on our positions at around 06:30 (04:30 GMT) to take Kiwanja," said Bisimwa. "Our forces are currently resisting them."
CNDP leader Nkunda, a Tutsi, has repeatedly accused the government of backing the Rwanda Hutu rebels - some of whom according to Rwanda took part in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in their country.
The security source at Kiwanja also said government troops and possibly Rwanda Hutu rebels might also be involved in the fighting.
A local villager who had fled Katoro to Kiwanja, five kilometres away, said: "It started towards 07:30. The Mai-Mai were advancing on Katoro.
"When the CNDP saw them, they opened fire. They were using all sorts of weapons," he added.
Kiwanja, 75km north of the provincial capital of Goma, was the scene of fierce clashes earlier this month during which at least 50 civilians were killed. Human Rights Watch, citing civilian witnesses, blamed Nkunda's rebels for most of those deaths.
This latest fighting came just a day after Nkunda's rebels pulled back from two other fronts in Nord-Kivu, at points away from the current fighting.