/ 30 November 1999

FIGHTING RESUMES IN NORTHWEST DR CONGO

HEAVY fighting resumed in the northwestern Equateur Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a rebel spokesman said by telephone on Tuesday. “Since Monday morning there has been very heavy and bloody fighting at Bokungu where we were attacked” by the men of President Laurent Kabila and allied soldiers from Namibia, Zimbabwe and the Interahamwe militia, said Kin Kiey Mulumba, spokesman for the Congolese Rally for Democracy. Casualty figures were not available, he said. Bokungu is a strategically important rebel-held position near Mbandaka, the main town in Equateur Province.