Military

DATE=10/27/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CONGO / FIGHTING (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-268522

BYLINE=TODD PITMAN

DATELINE=KIGALI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo say 35 government troops have been killed in clashes in the southeast of the country. As Todd Pitman reports from the Rwandan capital, Kigali, rebel officials say the fighting is part of a new government offensive on the southern front.

TEXT: Moise Nyarugabo, a senior leader of the Rwandan-backed rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy, says heavy fighting continued for the 10th day straight Friday around the southeastern town of Pepa, just north of the Zambian border.

Rebel troops and their Rwandan allies were forced to withdraw from Pepa last week, but Mr. Nyarugabo says the town is a ''no-man's land" and neither side controls it.

He says government troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, are trying to advance past the town while the rebels are trying to retake it. He says 35 government soldiers died in a fierce round of clashes near Pepa on Thursday.

There was no independent confirmation of the report and the government has so far issued no statement.

The rebels, backed by Rwanda and Uganda, have been fighting for more than two years to oust Congo-Kinshasa President Laurent Kabila, whose army has the military support of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.

A peace deal signed in the Zambian capital ,Lusaka, last year has failed to stop fighting in the north, but southeastern Congo - where Rwandan troops are heavily deployed along the frontlines - has largely been quiet since then.

Mr. Nyarugabo says government-allied troops began a new offensive to retake rebel territories in the southern province of Katanga two weeks ago in what he called a gross violation of the accord.

Mr. Nyarugabo says two government warplanes are flying sorties over rebel positions in the area every few hours, bombing Pepa and Moba, another town farther north on the southern end of Lake Tanganyika.

Rwandan officials say regional leaders are trying to organize an emergency summit next week in the Mozambican capital, Maputu, to bring together the warring parties. (Signed)

NEB/TP/GE/JWH