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DATE=8/17/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGO FIGHTING (L UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-252875
BYLINE=TODD PITMAN
DATELINE=KIGALI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 
            /////  EDS:  THIS REPORT UPDATES CR 2-
252861, CEASEFIRE AGREED AND APPEARS TO BE HOLDING.  
/////
INTRO:  Officials from Rwanda and Uganda have agreed 
to a cease-fire between their forces in the rebel-held 
city of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  
As Todd Pitman reports from the Rwandan capital, 
Kigali, the cease-fire comes after several days of 
heavy fighting between the two sides.
TEXT:  Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwanda's 
powerful Vice President Paul Kagame reached the cease-
fire deal after two days of talks at a safari lodge in 
southwestern Uganda.
The two nations reaffirmed their commitment to finding 
a peaceful resolution to the Congo crisis, and said 
the cease-fire was to come into immediate effect.
Ugandan and Rwandan military commanders, speaking from 
different parts of the divided city, said Kisangani 
had been relatively calm since late Tuesday afternoon.
But Kisangani residents remained hidden in their 
houses throughout the day while firefights and 
sporadic fighting between Ugandan and Rwandan troops 
continued across the city.
Aid workers estimate at least 50 people have been 
killed in the clashes, which began at the main airport 
on Saturday.
Both nations claim the upper hand in Tuesday's 
fighting, and reported many dead and wounded.  But the 
claims could not be independently verified.
Once firm allies in a rebel war against Congolese 
President Laurent Kabila, Uganda and Rwanda now back 
rival rebel factions and are deeply divided about how 
to conduct the war.
The clashes follow a series of gunbattles fought in 
the city one week ago between Rwandan-backed rebels 
from the Congolese Rally for Democracy, or R-C-D, and 
Ugandan troops who support a splinter R-C-D faction 
led by Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, who was ousted from the 
group's leadership in May.
Rivalry between the two factions blocked the rebels 
from signing a peace accord to end the wider war, 
which was brokered on July 10th in Zambia and signed 
by six African governments involved in the conflict.   
(SIGNED)
NEB/TP/JWH
17-Aug-1999 13:43 PM LOC (17-Aug-1999 1743 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.