SA peacekeepers killed in DRC

2004-06-06 16:43

Bukavu - Unknown assailants ambushed a UN convoy in eastern Congo on Sunday, killing two South African peacekeepers and wounding nine others, a UN official said.

The two UN trucks were attacked in Rugari, about 40km north of Goma, the main city in eastern Congo, when they went to investigate reports of an attack on a civilian vehicle, said Jacqueline Chenard, the UN spokesperson in Goma.

"Two South African blue helmets are dead and nine others are wounded and have been evacuated by helicopter," she added.

She said the attack was not connected to clashes last week in Bukavu, the capital of the adjacent Sud-Kivu province, between rival factions in the army.

"Two peacekeepers' trucks were coming back to Goma from Rutshuru, about 80km when locals said a civilian truck had been attacked," she said.

"They decided to go and see and, when at the scene, were attacked by unidentified men."

She said locals blamed the attack on Interahamwe, a term used for Hutu extremists who fled neighbouring Rwanda after carrying out the 1994 genocide there.

Residents told UN personnel that the ambush was carried out by insurgents from neighboring Rwanda based in eastern Congo, Chenard said.

Rwandan insurgents, including members of the former Rwandan army and extremist Interahamwe militia, have been based in eastern Congo since leading the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

There are about 10 800 UN troops deployed in Congo to help implement peace deals that ended the five-year civil war in that country.

The bulk of the peacekeeping force is deployed in eastern and northeastern Congo which has remained volatile, mainly because of attacks by rival tribal factions and the Rwandan insurgents.

The war in Congo erupted in August 1998, but ended when the main rebel groups and the government set up a transitional government last June.

- AP