Bukavu crisis threatens DRC

2004-06-03 07:56

Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo - Renegade commanders captured this strategic border town on Wednesday.

The loss of Bukavu, a trading centre on the frontier with Rwanda, would be the biggest setback to Congo's UN-backed transitional government since it was set up after the close of the 1998-2002 war.

DRC President Joseph Kabila went on national television to condemn Rwanda, his country's rival in the five-year war.

"The city of Bukavu is in the hands of the Rwandan national army," Kabila said. "Rwanda has imposed itself of us."

Kabila said he had initiated a process that would bring a state of emergency.

Rwanda denied any involvement on Wednesday.

Internal problem

"What is happening in Bukavu is Congo's internal problem, and we have nothing to do with it," Rwandan army Colonel Patrick Karegeya said.

UN officials in the region also said they had not confirmed any Rwandan role.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the capture of the city and called on the region's warring parties to abide by an earlier cease-fire. The United Nations defended its troops' inaction against the factions that took Bukavu, saying the mandate of its 10 800-strong Congo force did not extend to battles.

"We can intervene to protect civilians, but we don't have a mandate to fight against armies. We have no artillery, no warplanes," said Colonel Clive Mantel, a UN commander in the capital, Kinshasa.

Up to 3 600 people caught in the conflict around Bukavu fled across the nearby border into Rwanda.

Wednesday's fighting injured at least 10 people, said Lucia Alberghini, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Bukavu.

Amid the chaos, civilians looted two barges loaded with 300 tons of food aid, the UN World Food Programme said, adding that unconfirmed reports indicated that a WFP warehouse containing a thousand tons of food also was looted.

"There was heavy looting this morning, mostly by civilians," said Ndeley Agbaw, head of WFP's office in Bukavu. "Now most people are locked in their houses."

The forces that captured Bukavu are loyal to Nkunda and Colonel Jules Mutebutsi, former rebels who joined the army after the war.

Mutebutsi said the government's military commander in the region, Brigadier General Mbuza Mabe, had fled.

"Many of his troops have joined us, others have shed their uniforms and are staying at their homes, and a few have fled with Mabe," Mutebutsi said by telephone.

Mutebutsi's troops first clashed with government forces in Bukavu a week ago, sparking three days of fighting in which at least 39 people were killed and 105 were wounded, Alberghini said.

UN officials estimate that Nkunda has up to four thousand troops, while Mutebutsi controls several hundred fighters.

- AP