DRC

Rebels advance as UN and gov’t soldiers dig in

Article published on the 2008-11-13 Latest update 2008-11-13 18:17 TU

Congolese government (FARDC) troops take shelter from the rain in Kibati.
(Photo: Reuters)

The rebel forces of Laurent Nkunda’s National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) advanced without firing a shot Thursday toward the town of Kanyabayonga where government soldiers were blamed for a looting rampage earlier in the week.

“We are at the entrance of Kanyabayonga,” Bertrand Bisimwa, a spokesperson for the CNDP told the French news agency Agence France Presse.

Government troops, who the UN says carried out widespread looting and “acts of brutality” in Kanyabayonga at the beginning of the week, fled before the advancing rebel forces, Bisimwa said.

But the UN forces (Monuc) stationed in the town would not confirm that the CNDP had arrived.

Contacted by RFI, Monuc military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich said that “Kanyabayonga is a very important city. We have reinforced our positions there and the government forces have done the same.”

Kanyabayonga is located about 100km north of the provincial capital of Goma. “At the moment, the situation in Goma is calm,” Dietrich said.

 

Media reports of foreign fighters in the DRC have been proliferating, claiming that Zimbabwean troops supporting government (FARDC) forces were captured by Nkunda’s rebels, that Rwandan soldiers are fighting alongside the CNDP, and that Angolans are providing more than training to the FARDC.

Dietrich did not, however, confirm the presence of foreign troops on the ground.