CONGO-DEM.REPUBLIC 1/6/2004 13:49 BUKAVU: RENEWED FIGHTING NEAR AIRPORT General, Brief Renewed clashes are underway in the village of Miti, 7km from the airport of Bukavu, administrative centre of South Kivu, south-eastern province of east Democratic Republic of Congo, along the border with Rwanda. The news was referred by MISNA sources, specifying that the fighting involves the mutinous soldiers, protagonists of the clashes of the past days in Bukavu, and troops of the new Congolese unified armed forces. Already this evening the sides clashed for a few hours. The mutinous are headed by Colonel Jules Mutebusi and General Laurent Nkunda, both from the lines of the former pro-Rwandan RCD-Goma rebellion, today in the transition government but that in time of war controlled all of east DR-Congo. The airport of Bukavu, as all Congolese airstrips, is presided by peacekeepers of the UN Mission in ex-Zaire (MONUC), which already yesterday launched a serious warning that anyone that attempts to cross the âred lineâ around the airport will be met with UN forces fire. The fighting underway may delay the arrival in Bukavu of the high-level government delegation (headed by Azarias Ruberwa, Vice-President of Congo and leader of the RCD-Goma) sent by Kinshasa and blocked for the past two days in Goma, main city of North Kivu, 200km north of Bukavu. [BO]
