Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bukavu (Fides Service) - More than 15,000 people have abandoned their homes because of a fresh outbreak of violence in the south of the eastern Kivu region of Democratic Congo, according to the United Nations Mission in Congo MONUC. Local Catholic Radio in Bukavu, main town in Kivu, has confirmed the news. The fighting is in the Numbi area, about 100 km north east of Bukavu.
This violence is a continuation of conflict this Summer when regular army troops and pro-government Mai Mai militia launched an attack to free south Kivu of rebel soldiers led by General Laurent Nkunda. Nkunda was a member of the main rebel group RCD Goma that signed a peace pact with the government, which included the integration of the rebels in the regular army. However earlier this year Nkunda and colonel Mutebusi convinced the soldiers under their command, mainly former RCD Goma men, to mutiny and attack Bukavu. Pushed back by the army the mutineers were forced to withdraw in the direction of Goma. “Goma is the crucial point; it is the RCD stronghold”. “The fighting is nearing north Kivu, but who knows how far the Kinshasa soldiers will push the rebels. It should be said that these men belong to the 10th military region whose leaders may not enter operation areas of adjacent military regions, the 8th and the 9th and that the latter, so far, have not intervened. A few days ago the military commanders of these regions involved met in Kinshasa but nothing was revealed with regard to their decisions,” the local sources told Fides.
There are reports of fresh fighting in the north eastern region of Ituri, where, according to local UN sources, at least 16 persons were killed in the village of Lengabo which has a population of about 4,000 and is 10 km from Bunia the main town in the region. According to MONUC the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front, the only group in the region, which has not joined the disarmament programme organised by the United Nation mission, launched the attack.
“Unfortunately Ituri is now isolated. We have no contact with local radios there which are part of our network of information,” Radio Mary Queen of Peace told Fides.
In the meantime, during a recent meeting in the sidelines of the UN general assembly taking place in New York, Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Rwanda Prime Minister Bernard Makuza agreed to form a Joint Border Control Body, which will come into force on 1 October. The JBCB, charged with settling problems with regard to border security along the Congo Rwanda border, will be formed of experts from the two bordering countries, the United Nations and the African Union. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 23/9/2004 righe 46 parole 547)
