Congo army retakes town

GOMA — Congo’s army said yesterday it had retaken a strategic town from rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda in the country’s violence-torn eastern province of North Kivu.

Government forces bombarded rebel positions around Mushake, about 40 km west of the provincial capital Goma, with attack helicopters, rockets and artillery for three days before ground troops occupied the town early yesterday. “We are in Mushake.It is under the control of the army.We’ve occupied it since this morning,” General Vainqueur Mayala, the army’s top commander in North Kivu, told Reuters.Mushake lies on one of the main roads leading out of Goma.Nkunda’s fighters held the town for several months, limiting access by humanitarian agencies, and cutting the army’s supply lines to government brigades in the west of the province.The army launched its latest offensive against Nkunda loyalists on Monday, overrunning a number of rebel-held areas and forcing the insurgents from hilltop positions overlooking the town, which has fallen to Nkunda twice in a year.Nkunda first led 4 000 soldiers into the bush in 2004, claiming he was protecting east Congo’s Tutsi ethnic minority.Mushake has been an important base for his fighters since they abandoned a Rwandan-brokered peace deal in late August and quit special mixed army brigades formed in early 2007.Nampa-Reuters”We are in Mushake.It is under the control of the army.We’ve occupied it since this morning,” General Vainqueur Mayala, the army’s top commander in North Kivu, told Reuters.Mushake lies on one of the main roads leading out of Goma.Nkunda’s fighters held the town for several months, limiting access by humanitarian agencies, and cutting the army’s supply lines to government brigades in the west of the province.The army launched its latest offensive against Nkunda loyalists on Monday, overrunning a number of rebel-held areas and forcing the insurgents from hilltop positions overlooking the town, which has fallen to Nkunda twice in a year.Nkunda first led 4 000 soldiers into the bush in 2004, claiming he was protecting east Congo’s Tutsi ethnic minority.Mushake has been an important base for his fighters since they abandoned a Rwandan-brokered peace deal in late August and quit special mixed army brigades formed in early 2007.Nampa-Reuters