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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
DRC: Sporadic fighting continues near Sake
KINSHASA, 29 Nov 2006 (IRIN) - Government and United Nations troops continue to fight army dissidents just outside the eastern Congolese town of Sake, which they seized from the rebels early this week, UN spokesman Kamal Saiki said on Wednesday.
"For the moment, MONUC [the UN mission in the DRC] and the army's 11th and 14th brigades control Sake but sporadic shooting is taking place two to three kilometres to the north," he said.
Officials from the government and MONUC arrived in Goma, capital of North Kivu Province, on Monday to try to stop the fighting. Sake is 28 km northwest of Goma.
Dissident army troops under Gen Laurent Nkunda took Sake on Sunday, and then lost it a day later in an army counterattack, backed by UN helicopters, armoured personnel carriers and infantry.
Saiki said nine government troops and one civilian had been killed since the fighting started on Sunday. Rebel casualties are unknown at the moment, he added, but should be heavier because of the UN's use of helicopters and armoured personnel carriers.
The fighting has so far caused the displacement of 15,000 civilians to Goma and other locations. An accurate assessment of their condition is difficult due to the continued fighting. Nkunda was dismissed from the army in 2005 after starting a revolt the previous year, having claimed he was protecting Congo's Tutsi population from massacre by the rest of the eastern population.
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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 2006
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