DATE=7/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGO FIGHTING (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-252193
BYLINE=TODD PITMAN
DATELINE=CYANGUGU, RWANDA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
are reporting fresh fighting in the north of the
country. As Todd Pitman reports from Cyangugu,
Rwanda, the rebels are saying that 24 soldiers --
loyal to Congolese president Laurent Kabila - were
killed on Monday.
TEXT: Rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba, who heads the
Congolese Liberation Movement - or M-L-C - says
government troops shelled rebel positions at Djombo
and Lusengo - two small towns about 850 kilometers
northeast of the capital, Kinshasa.
Mr. Bemba says rebels were on the defensive, but
fought back with heavy artillery, laying ambushes that
killed 21 loyalist troops in Djomba and three more in
Lusengo.
Ugandan soldiers make up the military backbone of the
M-L-C, which operates exclusively in the northern
province of Equator.
Another rebel group -- the mainstream Congolese Rally
for Democracy -- or R-C-D - controls most of the east
of the country. R-C-D officials this week claimed the
capture of Bokungu and Mondombe - two small towns in
the same area.
R-C-D officials meanwhile denied reports that three-
thousand rebel soldiers in the southern province of
Katanga had defected to the government side. But R-C-
D vice president Moise Nyarugabo says 41 rebel troops
have deserted. Mr. Nyarugabo says the soldiers had
been captured by rebels as they advanced, and were
suspected of working the government.
The news comes as rebel officials are continuing talks
in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam in an effort to
iron-out differences among them. Six African
governments involved in the conflict signed a cease-
fire accord in Zambia earlier this month. But
internal divisions within rebel ranks prevented them
from signing the agreement, and armies on both sides
say fighting and artillery exchanges are continuing.
(Signed)
NEB/TP/PCF/KL
27-Jul-1999 07:51 AM LOC (27-Jul-1999 1151 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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