More trouble in Congo

BUKAVU, Congo – A renegade leader withdrew from a strategic eastern Congolese city yesterday, four days after seizing Bukavu from government troops.

General Laurent Nkunda, whose forces captured Bukavu on Wednesday last week, drove out of the city in a convoy of two vehicles accompanied by about a dozen troops. The fall of Bukavu was the most serious setback to Congo’s transitional government since it was set up to end the five-year conflict in Africa’s third-largest country.”I’m out of here,” Nkunda told The Associated Press as he left.The bulk of Nkunda’s forces pulled out of Bukavu on Friday, setting up camps at military barracks on the outskirts of the city after UN troops took charge of security.But dozens of his fighters remained to protect his commanders and key installations.Nkunda said his troops would move to Kavumu, a small town 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of this city.But a second renegade commander, Colonel Jules Mutebutsi, said his troops would remain in the city, which is an important trading centre on the border with Rwanda.Mutebutsi said his fighters – who fought alongside Nkunda’s forces – would be quartered in camps while efforts were made to resolve the crisis.During the civil war, Nkunda and Mutebutsi were commanders in the main rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, which joined the transitional government when it was set up last June.An estimated 3,3 million people were killed – mainly through war-induced disease and hunger – in the conflict, which drew in at least six foreign armies after it erupted in August 1998.Most of Congo has been relatively peaceful since the transitional administration took office, but eastern and north-eastern Congo have remained volatile.Both Nkunda and Mutebutsi were integrated into the national army, but later fell out with their commanders.Nkunda claims he has more than 4 000 troops, while Mutebutsi is estimated to have several hundred fighters.They say they launched their assault Wednesday because the regional military commander assigned by the Kinshasa government – Brigadier-General Mbuza Mabe _ was persecuting members of a Tutsi community, the Banyamulenge.Both renegade commanders are members of Congo’s Tutsi community.Nkunda said he was withdrawing after talks with the head of the UN mission in Congo, William Lacy Swing, and senior government officials.”We are leaving to let the government install the governor and send a delegation to investigate the massacres of the Banyamulenge,” Nkunda said.”I am leaving Bukavu.I had only one objective – to liberate the Banyamulenge from massacres.”The government appointed governors to the nation’s 11 provinces last month, but the new governor of South Kivu province has yet to take up his post.Earlier yesterday, a couple of dozen of Nkunda’s troops loaded crates of arms and ammunitions into trucks outside the governor’s residence in the center of Bukavu as they prepared to head to Kavumu.The airport that serves Bukavu – the main city in South Kivu – is located at Kavumu.Mutebutsi, who was based in Bukavu when he was integrated into the national army, said he was staying because his fighters belonged there as part of the army.”I’ve put my troops in… camps like I was originally asked to,” Mutebutsi told The Associated Press.”This our home and there’s nowhere else for us to go.”The government has accused Rwanda of being behind uprising.Rwanda has denied the accusations.On Sunday, Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Muligande said Rwanda had closed its border with Congo because of Kinshasa’s accusations.During the civil war in Congo, Rwanda backed the Congolese Rally for Democracy.There are some 10 800 UN troops deployed in Congo to help implement the peace deals that ended the conflict.- Nampa-APThe fall of Bukavu was the most serious setback to Congo’s transitional government since it was set up to end the five-year conflict in Africa’s third-largest country.”I’m out of here,” Nkunda told The Associated Press as he left.The bulk of Nkunda’s forces pulled out of Bukavu on Friday, setting up camps at military barracks on the outskirts of the city after UN troops took charge of security.But dozens of his fighters remained to protect his commanders and key installations.Nkunda said his troops would move to Kavumu, a small town 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of this city.But a second renegade commander, Colonel Jules Mutebutsi, said his troops would remain in the city, which is an important trading centre on the border with Rwanda.Mutebutsi said his fighters – who fought alongside Nkunda’s forces – would be quartered in camps while efforts were made to resolve the crisis.During the civil war, Nkunda and Mutebutsi were commanders in the main rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, which joined the transitional government when it was set up last June.An estimated 3,3 million people were killed – mainly through war-induced disease and hunger – in the conflict, which drew in at least six foreign armies after it erupted in August 1998.Most of Congo has been relatively peaceful since the transitional administration took office, but eastern and north-eastern Congo have remained volatile.Both Nkunda and Mutebutsi were integrated into the national army, but later fell out with their commanders.Nkunda claims he has more than 4 000 troops, while Mutebutsi is estimated to have several hundred fighters.They say they launched their assault Wednesday because the regional military commander assigned by the Kinshasa government – Brigadier-General Mbuza Mabe _ was persecuting members of a Tutsi community, the Banyamulenge.Both renegade commanders are members of Congo’s Tutsi community.Nkunda said he was withdrawing after talks with the head of the UN mission in Congo, William Lacy Swing, and senior government officials.”We are leaving to let the government install the governor and send a delegation to investigate the massacres of the Banyamulenge,” Nkunda said.”I am leaving Bukavu.I had only one objective – to liberate the Banyamulenge from massacres.”The government appointed governors to the nation’s 11 provinces last month, but the new governor of South Kivu province has yet to take up his post.Earlier yesterday, a couple of dozen of Nkunda’s troops loaded crates of arms and ammunitions into trucks outside the governor’s residence in the center of Bukavu as they prepared to head to Kavumu.The airport that serves Bukavu – the main city in South Kivu – is located at Kavumu.Mutebutsi, who was based in Bukavu when he was integrated into the national army, said he was staying because his fighters belonged there as part of the army.”I’ve put my troops in… camps like I was originally asked to,” Mutebutsi told The Associated Press.”This our home and there’s nowhere else for us to go.”The government has accused Rwanda of being behind uprising.Rwanda has denied the accusations.On Sunday, Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Muligande said Rwanda had closed its border with Congo because of Kinshasa’s accusations.During the civil war in Congo, Rwanda backed the Congolese Rally for Democracy.There are some 10 800 UN troops deployed in Congo to help implement the peace deals that ended the conflict.- Nampa-AP