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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
DRC: MONUC foils attack from Rwanda
KINSHASA, 15 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - Armed men from Rwanda attempted to enter the town of Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Wednesday, but were repelled by the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo, known as MONUC.
"The [armed men] opened fire one hundred meters from the port of Bukavu," Eliane Nabaa, a MONUC spokeswoman, told IRIN on Wednesday.
Bukavu is the provincial capital of the eastern province of North Kivu and sits on a peninsula in Lake Kivu, bordering Rwanda.
"A contingent of MONUC peacekeepers from Pakistan fired back at the assailants, after which they fled back in the direction of Rwanda," Nabaa said.
The group consisted of a dozen armed men, she added.
At a news conference on Wednesday in the capital, Kinshasa, MONUC's army chief of staff, Col Patrick Colas des Francs, said they were sending a mission to Kigali, Rwanda's capital, to investigate the attempted incursion.
He also said that MONUC officials were meeting with the Congo's military in Bukavu to consider ways of reinforcing security on the peninsula.
Wednesday's foiled attack in Bukavu follows claims by various sources, including the Congolese government, that Rwandan troops had entered the DRC.
In November, Rwanda President Paul Kagame threatened that his troops would enter the DRC to flush out Rwandan Hutu rebels there if the Congolese government and MONUC failed to disarm and repatriate them.
[ENDS]
This material 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 this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
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