TODD PITMAN, Kisangani | Thursday 5.00pm.
RWANDA has told its troops fighting Ugandan forces in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Kisangani to stop hostilities. ”I have just received a very clear instruction about the ceasefire and I relayed it to commanders in Kisangani,” Colonel Karenzi Karake said. Karake said the ceasefire is ”extremely serious.” ”It’s coming from the top authorities in our country and normally, the ceasefire should hold,” he said. Uganda and Rwandan forces, ostensible allies in the rebellion against the DRC president Laurent Kabila have been fighting in Kisangani since Monday, despite a troop withdrawal agreement signed last month.
Thursday 12.30pm
INTENSE shelling and machine-gun fire echoed across the Congolese city of Kisangani early on Thursday as Rwandan and Ugandan troops fought for a fourth day.
More than 50 civilians have already been killed in this week’s clashes as the two occupying armies destroy a city they claim to be liberating.
The fighting grew steadily in intensity on Wednesday, not even letting up as night fell. Huge orange flashes silhouetted palm trees as mortar rounds fell and red lines of tracer bullets lit up the night sky without respite.
”What does the international community say?” asked Gaspar Mande, a hotel employee trapped at work since the fighting started on Monday. ”Can’t the international community do anything? We have had no water, no electricity for four days. People talk about the Ugandans and the Rwandans — they are fighting, but the Congolese, they no longer exist.”
Rwanda and Uganda used to be staunch allies but now support different rebel factions fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and have clashed several times for control of Kisangani, the centre of the country’s diamond trade.
The United Nations, which has a team of military observers in the city, has tried repeatedly to broker a ceasefire since fighting began on Monday, but to no avail.
”We had a ceasefire tonight — for 15 minutes,” said Colonel Karenzi Karake, operational commander of the Rwandan army.
The latest fighting began on Monday morning when Ugandan troops shelled Rwandan positions in response to an attack on a Ugandan army vehicle by unidentified assailants.
It came as the two sides were supposed to be withdrawing from and demilitarising the city under U.N. supervision.
UN officials and aid workers on Wednesday put the death toll at more than 50 civilians, including at least 19 children, in this week’s fighting. –Reuters