The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has recaptured the town of Minova in the eastern province of Sud Kivu from a dissident general, a military spokesperson and United Nations officials said on Tuesday.
”The soldiers of General Laurent Nkunda retreated northwards to Goma and Masisi” in neighbouring Nord Kivu province, army spokesperson Lieutenant Kasanda wa Kasanda told reporters here.
The DRC army encountered ”no resistance” when it entered Minova, on the border of Nord and Sud Kivu on Sunday, said Kasanda.
The UN mission in the DRC, Monuc, said a team it had sent to the town to check the claim confirmed that the town was again in the army’s hands.
Monuc spokesperson Jacqueline Chenard said from the city of Goma, capital of Nord Kivu province, about 35km east of Minova, that the situation in the recaptured town was calm.
Military sources in Goma said on Tuesday that large numbers of displaced people from Minova had grouped together at Ngungu, about 15km northwest of Minova. Neither the UN nor aid groups in the region were able to confirm the claim.
Nkunda was one of two dissident officers who led troops into Bukavu, capital of Sud Kivu province, at the beginning of June. He said he had seized the town to prevent the massacre of Congolese Tutsis but withdrew to Minova after a week, admitting he had been misinformed about the seriousness of the threat to his ethnic kin.
Minova was the last town in Sud Kivu province still in the hands of the dissident soldiers. At the weekend, the army captured the towns of Nyabibwe and Dutu. – Sapa-AFP