Militia fighters have clashed with former rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) volatile east, forcing at least 2 000 people to flee, officials said on Friday.
The fighting erupted on Monday and continued until Wednesday in Bweremana, about 25km from the eastern city of Goma, said army commander General Obedi Rwibashira.
It was not clear what sparked the clashes between traditional Mayi Mayi militiamen and soldiers of former Rwandan-backed rebel group the Rally for Congolese Democracy. The two groups were on opposite sides of the DRC’s 1998-to-2002 war.
There was no word on casualties, but about 2 000 people displaced in the fighting fled to Minova, a small village on Lake Kivu about 50km from Goma, said John Shweka, head of a military post in Minova.
Despite peace deals that ended a war that drew in the armies of six nations, the DRC’s eastern regions have remained unstable.
President Joseph Kabila is leading a national-unity government in the faraway capital, Kinshasa, an administration that brings together the former warring parties to prepare for 2005 elections. — Sapa-AP