AP and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Congo | Wednesday
A TRIBAL militia loyal to Congolese President Laurent Kabila attacked a rebel-held market town on Congo’s border with Uganda, setting off a battle that left at least 30 attackers dead.
Using spears and machine guns the pro-government fighters, known as the Mai-Mai, attacked at Butembo in the northeastern Masisi region.
Ugandan troops stationed in the area intervened and helped the rebels kill 30 of the attackers, said Phillipe Mbilizi, a representative for Congolese rebel leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba.
In a separate incident, the Mai-Mai fighters killed 14 civilians travelling in a bus on a road 25km north of Uvira in southeastern Congo, rebel official Moise Nyarubago said.
No further details were available on the Uvira incident, but both attacks highlight the spiralling insecurity in eastern Congo, one of the richest agricultural areas in the country.
Mbilizi, speaking from rebel headquarters in Bunia, 200km north of Butembo, said four rebel soldiers were wounded in the fight, which spread from the Butembo airport to the town. The number of civilian casualties was not known.
The Mai-Mai come from tribes that are opposed to the Ugandan and Rwandan presence in eastern Congo. They are believed to be receiving arms and communications equipment from the Congolese army.
Rwanda and Uganda support the three rebel factions that have been fighting to oust Kabila since August 1998. Although Kabila and the rebels signed a peace agreement last year, the fighting continues.
Kabila still has to authorize the deployment of 5 537 United Nations observers and troops in Congo to monitor the fragile cease-fire.
Wamba was ousted as the leader of the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy, and formed his own rebel faction with Ugandan backing. Two of his closest aides unsuccessfully tried to oust him recently.
Agriculturally rich North Kivu province, of which Masisi is a part, has been devastated by politically motivated ethnic violence. Tens of thousands of people are thought to have died since last year in clashes over land.