DRC rocked by skirmishes

KINSHASA – Skirmishes erupted Tuesday in eastern Congo between rival factions loyal to a renegade warlord, killing at least one civilian and wounding two others, the army and UN officials said.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the clashes between fighters loyal to Laurent Nkunda in the villages of Luke and Murambi, both set in mountains in the Masisi area of east Congo, Major Ajay Dalal, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission, told The Associated Press from the regional capital, Goma. Dalal said the UN dispatched a contingent of troops to the area and found the two villages emptied of their inhabitants, though some residents began returning after spotting blue-helmeted UN soldiers.It was not known how large the villages were.At least one civilian died in the crossfire, and two others were wounded, Dalal said.Earlier this month, Nkunda agreed to stop fighting government forces in exchange for a government promise not to pursue war crimes charges against him, according to the army.Under the deal, Nkunda would also go into exile and his troops would be integrated into the national army.Colonel Delphin Kahindi, a top army commander responsible for east Congo’s lawless North Kivu province, which includes Masisi, confirmed Tuesday’s clash and said the villages had been burned.He said the fighting might have erupted because of differences over whether or not Nkunda loyalists should join the national army.The central government led by President Joseph Kabila, based in the capital, Kinshasa, has struggled for years to regain control over the eastern reaches of the country.The area was carved up into fiefdoms by rival rebel groups during the 1998-2002 war, and has remained lawless since then.About 17 000 UN troops are deployed to bolster security in the Europe-sized country, which held democratic elections last year for the first time in four decades.Nkunda, who commands thousands of troops in the east, has been accused by the government for years of war crimes.Once a senior officer, Nkunda quit the army and gained notoriety in 2004 after his forces briefly seized the lakeside city of Bukavu.Human Rights Watch says it has documented summary executions, torture, and rape committed by soldiers under Nkunda’s command in Bukavu in 2004, as well as in the northern city of Kisangani in 2002.Nampa-APDalal said the UN dispatched a contingent of troops to the area and found the two villages emptied of their inhabitants, though some residents began returning after spotting blue-helmeted UN soldiers.It was not known how large the villages were.At least one civilian died in the crossfire, and two others were wounded, Dalal said.Earlier this month, Nkunda agreed to stop fighting government forces in exchange for a government promise not to pursue war crimes charges against him, according to the army.Under the deal, Nkunda would also go into exile and his troops would be integrated into the national army.Colonel Delphin Kahindi, a top army commander responsible for east Congo’s lawless North Kivu province, which includes Masisi, confirmed Tuesday’s clash and said the villages had been burned.He said the fighting might have erupted because of differences over whether or not Nkunda loyalists should join the national army.The central government led by President Joseph Kabila, based in the capital, Kinshasa, has struggled for years to regain control over the eastern reaches of the country.The area was carved up into fiefdoms by rival rebel groups during the 1998-2002 war, and has remained lawless since then.About 17 000 UN troops are deployed to bolster security in the Europe-sized country, which held democratic elections last year for the first time in four decades.Nkunda, who commands thousands of troops in the east, has been accused by the government for years of war crimes.Once a senior officer, Nkunda quit the army and gained notoriety in 2004 after his forces briefly seized the lakeside city of Bukavu.Human Rights Watch says it has documented summary executions, torture, and rape committed by soldiers under Nkunda’s command in Bukavu in 2004, as well as in the northern city of Kisangani in 2002.Nampa-AP