CONGO-DEM.REPUBLIC 31/5/2004 13:06 TENSION FROM BUKAVU TO GOMA, FEAR FUELLED BY CONFUSED REPORTS General, Standard There is much tension and confusion in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where unconfirmed reports from Bukavu and Goma, the two main cities in the region, of movements of troops, threats and fighting are nonetheless fuelling fears of fresh clashes on a large scale. Numerous sources contacted by MISNA in the two cities and in the capital Kinshasa this morning outline an extremely uncertain scenario. After an intense battle with soldiers of the regular Congolese army, which began yesterday evening, the troops commanded by Colonel Mutebusi allegedly managed to take the runway at Kavumu (around 40 kilometres from Bukavu), after the Kinshasa forces made what MONUC (UN Mission in DR-Congo) has described as a âstrategic retreatâ. However, this morning MONUC, which says that it still has control of the airport, threatened to use force should anyone try to cross the âred lineâ around the landing strip, while General Leon Nkunda, who has close ties with the mutinous soldiers of Colonel Mutebusi, said that he had surrounded Kavumu and that he was ready to enter Bukavu with his 1,000 men, though it is not clear whose side he might eventually take. He was allegedly blocked in his advance by a telephone call from the deputy President, Azarias Ruberwa, the leader of the former pro-Rwandan rebellion that controlled the southeast of the country for years before entering the government of national unity in 2003, and to which Nkunda and Mutebusi also belong. Ruberwa is currently in Goma, capital of North Kivu, together with a top-level government delegation sent by Kinshasa, which is heading for Bukavu with the aim of trying to calm the situation there. However, there is also tension and confusion in Goma, where the airport (presided by the âblue helmetsâ like all the airports in the country) was closed after being surrounded by unidentified armed men. In the meantime, part of the government delegation â which includes the communications minister Vital Kamerhe, the defence minister Jean Pierre Ondekane, the interior minister Theophile Mbemba and the minister for human rights Madeleine Kalala â took refuge in the MONUC headquarters in Goma this morning. In the city, where the shops and schools are closed and people have opted to stay at home until the situation becomes clear, some of the ministers are rumoured to have received death threats. Meanwhile, Mayi Mayi, Congolese partisans allied with Kinshasa, are reportedly heading towards Bukavu from throughout the surrounding area in support of the government troops. Similarly, reinforcements for the âmutineersâ led by Mutebusi are apparently arriving from the area near the border with Rwanda. Contacted by MISNA this morning, MONUC spokesman Hamadoun Tourà said that the UN mission is trying to check all the information in circulation and that it will only be possible to have a general picture of the situation in the early afternoon.[LC
