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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Fighting breaks out in northern Ituri district

NAIROBI, 23 May 2003 (IRIN) - Fighting broke out on Thursday in the area around Aru, in Ituri District, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), close to the Ugandan border, news agencies reported.

The clashes were due to in-fighting in the rebel Congolese group, Forces armees pour le Congo (FAPC), a breakaway faction of the Hema group, the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC), news agencies said.

They said there had been an attempt to topple the FAPC leader, "Commander" Jerome Kakawavu Bakonde, but the attempt had failed and calm had returned to the area.

The FAPC controls the area around Aru and Mahagi, where there is a lucrative crossborder trade between DRC and Uganda.

Aru is about 170 km north of Bunia, the principal town of Ituri, where at least 300 people have been killed in fighting between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias since the withdrawal of Ugandan soldiers on 6 May.

Fighting in Bunia subsided after a ceasefire agreement reached on 16 May, which was also signed by the FAPC. According to the UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, the UPC still controls Bunia, while Lendu militia are located in the southern outskirts. MONUC has been meeting leaders of the two militias to try to work out a plan for the fighters to withdraw to their camps.

News agencies reported on Thursday that Belgium, Canada and Germany had indicated they were prepared to support a UN rapid reaction force to be led by France, although details of the three countries' contributions still had to be worked out.

Germany suggested it would give financial help, while Belgium may decide to provide air logistics support, news agencies said. Canada was reported to be considering making a "small" contribution, but had yet to decide whether this would involve sending troops.

Meanwhile, aid agencies are still struggling to cope with internally displaced people who fled Bunia. The British charity, Merlin, which provides healthcare in emergency situations, said on Thursday that people arriving in Eringeti, some 140 km south of Bunia, had suffered the "whims of countless local militias" along the way.

"We are treating 550 new cases in Eringeti alone and the people continue to arrive," a Merlin aid worker, Michelle Brown, said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he intends to appoint William Lacy Swing, a career US diplomat, as his next special representative in the DRC, replacing Amos Namanga Ngongi, UN News reported. Swing, who was Annan's special representative to Western Sahara, is due to take up the post on 1 July.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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