DATE=6/10/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGO-KINSHASA FIGHTING (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263360
BYLINE=TODD PITMAN
DATELINE=KISANGANI
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
INTRO: Rwandan and Ugandan forces in the Congolese
city of Kisangani,Congo Kinshasa (Democratic Republic
of Congo) traded heavy artillery and small arms fire
for the 6th day on Saturday. As Todd Pitman reports
from Kisangani, civilians are continuing to flee the
fighting.
TEXT: Rwandan and Ugandan troops fought fierce fire
fights in Kisangani all day on Saturday and fired
hundreds of mortar rounds across the town. Relentless
bursts of automatic weapons fire peeled from the
city's Tshopo residential district where the two rival
armies are faced off along the jagged front line
several kilometers long. Neither side appears to be
making any substantial gains in the fighting which aid
workers say have killed at least 150 civilians and
wounded 700 others.
Residents who managed to flee the front lines have
terrible stories to tell. One man who recently
returned to Tshopo in search of a missing brother
found only an empty house, burned down buildings, and
corpses scattered around the streets. He said few
people have been able to bury the bodies for fear of
being caught themselves in the crossfire.
Because since fighting has put most residents on edge,
for six days stray bullets have fallen all over town
along with thousands of rockets and exploding mortar
rounds, which have sent lethal shrapnel flying in all
directions slicing through trees, rooftops, and
sometimes human flesh.
Kisangani's city center has been emptied of most of
its inhabitants since fighting first erupted on
Monday. A few residents who ventured out into the
chaos sprinted across empty intersections taking
temporary cover against crumbling concrete walls as
they ran in search of food and crucially water. The
degree of leaves and tree trunks apparently destroyed
by falling bombs, blocked one road, while downed power
lines hung low across another. Not a single shop was
open.
Rwanda and Uganda sent troops to the Congo ostensibly
to support rebels factions fighting against the
government and to approve security along their
borders. But their biggest enemy has turned out to be
themselves. The fighting has deeply angered the
serious residents of Kisangani who accused Rwanda and
Uganda of destroying the city and trapping them in the
middle of a war between foreigners. "They have no
right to be here, no right to fight here," one man
said. "We just want them to leave." (Signed)
NEB/DWJ/PT
10-Jun-2000 19:50 PM EDT (10-Jun-2000 2350 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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