|
|
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
DRC: Fighting erupts between RCD-Goma and Mayi-Mayi in South Kivu
KINSHASA, 30 July 2003 (IRIN) - Fighting has erupted between the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and Mayi-Mayi militias in South Kivu Province of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), despite the recent formation of a national transitional government in the country.
Environment Minister Anseime Enerunga, a Mayi-Mayi representative, on Tuesday denounced the fighting, saying it could threaten the just-inaugurated government intended to lead to democratic elections in two years.
He also accused the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) of having redeployed in various regions of the Kivus, a claim that both RCD-Goma and Rwanda have repeatedly denied.
"The RPA has redeployed forces in all the areas from which it had withdrawn," Enerunga said. "The assailants are trying to retake their positions in Mwenga, Bunyakiri and Shabunda. We are calling on the United Nations to redeploy its observers in the region to investigate because these attacks are a threat to the transition."
The UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, had withdrawn its military observers from this region.
RCD-Goma has confirmed fighting in the region, but said Mayi-Mayi militias together with Burundian rebels of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie launched the attacks.
"We have not stopped fighting. We have been fending off attacks by the Mayi-Mayi and other groups that are totally out of control," Jean-Pierre Lola Kisanga, the RCD-Goma spokesman, said.
He said that the heaviest fighting had taken place around the town of Fizi, in southeastern South Kivu.
"We have repelled the assailants, who last Thursday launched a massive offensive on the RCD's Fourth Brigade," he added. "Fighting is currently taking place in the region of the Moyens Plateaux of Minembwe."
No casualty figures were available owing to the prevailing insecurity, but the RCD estimates heavy losses among the Mayi-Mayi.
"The fighting involves heavy weaponry, and we have lost a number of men," Lola Kisanga said. "But there have been numerous casualties among innocent civilian populations."
He said the fighting had also caused several new waves of internally displaced persons living in precarious conditions.
"There has been a flood of displaced from the hillsides around Baraka towards the Hauts Plateaux of Uvira, to the north," he said.
On Tuesday in the capital, Kinshasa, Azarias Ruberwa, one of four transitional government vice-presidents and leader of RCD-Goma, presided over the first meeting of the committee in charge of defence and security, which was reported to have focused on the country's reunification and proposals to restore peace in the Ituri District of northeastern DRC.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Monday giving MONUC a stronger mandate and increasing its authorised strength from 8,700 to 10,800 troops. Resolution 1493 also instituted a 12-month arms embargo against foreign and Congolese armed groups in the east of the country. The move was aimed at preventing "the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer" of arms to armed groups and militias operating in North and South Kivu and in Ituri, areas that have been hit by heavy fighting in recent months.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
The material contained on this Web site comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post any item on this site, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All graphics and Images on this site may not be re-produced without the express permission of the original owner. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
