"....Tongo sits on a strategic junction which had allowed rebels to receive
supplies from neighbouring Uganda. The two towns had for weeks been under the
control of rebels loyal to Nkunda..."
DRC army, rebels battle for eastern towns
Sun Nov 26, 3:46 PM ET
GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) - Rebel forces seized part of a key town in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo in heavy firefights with government soldiers,
putting thousands of civilians to flight, officials said.
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Forces loyal to a rebel general occupied part of the town of Sake in the east
of the country (DRC) Sunday, after at least eight people died the previous day
in battles between rebels and government troops.
"The 11th Integrated Brigade launched an attack, the attack failed and the
11th brigade abandoned Sake," Ajay Dalal, spokesman for the UN mission in the
DRC (MONUC) told AFP, referring to an element of the regular DRC army (FARDC).
Heavy weapons fire began about 5:30 am (0330 GMT) Sunday near Sake, the site
of Saturday's battle, said a Congolese army officer who requested anonymity.
UN peacekeepers hold the other part of the town, located some 25 kilometres
(15 miles) northwest of the town of Goma, capital of DRC's restive northeastern
Goma province.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 civilians have fled their homes due to the fighting
in Sake, MONUC and humanitarian sources reported.
"We heard the bangs of heavy arms early this morning. We immediately left our
homes without taking anything, with us," said one resident, Anselme Kubuya.
The fighting appeared to have died down by the afternoon, but the atmosphere
remained "tense", Dalal said.
FARDC General Gabriel Amisi held an urgent meeting with senior MONUC leaders
in Goma on Sunday afternoon.
Clashes are frequent between government forces and soldiers loyal to renegade
Congolese general Laurent Nkunda, who is based in the Masisi mountains north of
Sake, but Saturday's attack was the first major offensive by these rebels in
months.
MONUC sent a half-battalion of soldiers -- at least 700 men -- to reinforce
its presence in Sake, Dalal said. The UN troops were not involved in any of the
fighting, but at one point fired warning shots as rebel fighters advanced.
Meanwhile, government forces wrested back control from rebels of two other
towns in the region, Tongo, which lies 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Goma,
and Nyanzale, Dalal said.
Tongo sits on a strategic junction which had allowed rebels to receive
supplies from neighbouring Uganda. The two towns had for weeks been under the
control of rebels loyal to Nkunda.
"We hold Tongo, but they (the rebel fighters) have not gone away. They are up
in the mountains," an officer of the FARDC's ninth brigade told AFP.
Seven soldiers and one civilian were killed Saturday, sources said. There
were no reports yet of casualties in Sunday's fighting.
After a calm night, the rebels apparently received reinforcements and
launched Sunday's attack to push back the government forces which had retreated
five or six kilometers to the east of Sake, Dalal said.
"There are between 600 to 800 men (from the rebel forces) around Sake," said
Dalal, the UN spokesman.
Violence broke out after elements from the renegade 81st and 83rd Brigades of
the country's regular army erected roadblocks in the region to demand the
payment of unpaid wages. The DRC's official army is being reformed as the
country continues to recover from a devastating five-year civil war that ended
in 2003. These two brigades have not yet been reformed under the restructuring
programme, however. The clashes also followed the murder in Sake of a
Congolese Tutsi by a police officer during a search on Friday. Nkunda warned
in September that he would defend his Tutsi "brothers" if they were
"threatened". He is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity when his men
briefly controlled the eastern city of Bukavu in 2004. On Sunday evening,
civilians also ambushed MONUC vehicles on patrol in Goma, throwing stones at
them after youths erected a barrier forcing the patrol to stop, Dalal said. No
one was hurt. A local journalist said the attackers accused MONUC of
supporting Nkunda. The violence in eastern DRC came alongside high tension
in the capital Kinshasa after deadly post-election violence. The Supreme
Court was expected on Monday to give its verdict on a challenge to the
presidential run-off election results by Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, who
was beaten according to the vote-count by the electoral commission.
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