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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: 15 die in Bukavu clashes

KINSHASA, 8 April 2003 (IRIN) - Fifteen people died on Sunday when shooting broke out between a rebel military group and a local militia in Bukavu, the principal town of South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), rebel leaders and local journalists said.

"Ten to 11 attackers died and two to three of our soldiers," Azarisa Ruberwa, the secretary-general of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), told IRIN on Tuesday.

Ruberwa said RCD-Goma forces, which control the area, had repelled a "limited" attack on Bukavu by a local militia known as Mudundu 40.

Local people confirmed the fighting but said civilians were among the people killed. "Eleven civilians are dead, four RCD-Goma fighters and one from Mudundu 40," Ben Kabamba, a journalist with the local catholic radio station, told IRIN.

The UN mission in DRC, known as MONUC, confirmed that shooting broke out on Sunday, but it did not have details on casualty figures.

Mudundu 40 was initially a branch of the pro-Kinshasa Mayi-Mayi militia which fought against Rwandan and Ugandan-backed rebels in the east of DRC. Mudundu 40 subsequently developed close ties with RCD-Goma, but members had apparently been angered by the arrest of their leader by RCD-Goma last week.

All parties to the conflict in the DRC signed a peace agreement on 2 April to end more than four years of brutal fighting.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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