Nine people were killed and 26 wounded in the north-western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when soldiers went on the rampage to avenge a colleague shot dead while thieving, a United Nations-backed radio station said on Monday, quoting the Red Cross.
Radio Okapi said the incident happened on Sunday at Mbandaka, capital of Equateur province, after soldiers undergoing training at a base 5km west of the city seized weapons from an armoury before invading the city.
The radio said a colleague of the soldiers, who were all ex-members of the disbanded Mai Mai militia, had revolted after a colleague was killed on Saturday night by local people when he was caught stealing.
Provincial governor Yves Mobando Yogo said on Monday that only one person, an elderly woman hit by a stray bullet, had died and Mbandaka was calm after a night punctuated by firing.
Mobando said Deputy Defence Minister Mohamed Bule, accompanied by senior officers, had visited the Bokala base and talked to soldiers there. An unspecified number of the mutineers had been arrested and turned over to the provincial high command.
Local MPs had called for a fact-finding mission to go to Mbandaka, adding that the government should act to resolve the situation and punish those responsible.
Under a 2003 peace deal aimed at ending a five-year war in the DRC, rival militia are being incorporated into the armed forces but discipline is poor and wages low, leading to exactions against civilians by troops.
President Joseph Kabila announced last week that army pay would be raised from July. — Sapa-AFP