- There are "very alarming reports" from Congo Kinshasa's North Kivu province of fights between different fractions of the Congolese armed forces, according to UN peacekeepers here. The fighting near the Rwandan border threatens to reverse the Congolese transition to peace and democracy.
According to the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo Kinshasa, MONUC, there has been heavy fighting among different fractions within the Congolese army close to the Rwandan border this weekend. The fraction fighting ordinary troops is a former Rwanda-supported rebel group that in 2002 was integrated in the Congolese army as part of the transition process.
The fighting comes at a volatile moment as the Rwandan government has threatened to intervene in its eastern neighbour country to disarm Rwandan rebel groups based there. MONUC has earlier indicated that Rwandan troops may already be active in eastern Congo, and a connection between the rioting ex-rebels and Rwandan troops is not ruled out.
The Kinshasa transitional government of President Joseph Kabila has announced the deployment of 10,000 new troops to the Rwandan border area in a bid to fight the rebels threatening Rwanda before Rwandan troops intervene on Congolese soil. The initiative by Kinshasa however came to late to prevent the infighting in the Congolese army.
The renewed fighting in North Kivu is seen as "very alarming" because it threatens to undermine the entire peace and transition process in Kinshasa. The region's ex-rebels hold key posts in Kinshasa's transitional government, from which they have threatened to resign on several occasions.
Since 2002, Congo Kinshasa has been in a transition process to create peace and democracy in the war-ravaged country. Several Congolese rebel groups were united in a transitional government that has been charged to establish democratic institutions and prepare for general elections in June 2005. The transition process ended the 1998-2002 civil war, which had killed up to four million people.
MONUC today appealed for "calm and a ceasefire in North Kivu" to prevent a new large-scale conflict. The UN peacekeepers said they supported the Kinshasa government's efforts aiming to extend its authority throughout the territory.
Moreover, MONUC claimed to have "information about a distribution of arms to civilians in the province of North Kivu." The UN mission said the warring parties would be held responsible for this and ordered the immediate end of these arms distributions.
MONUC threatened that those distributing arms would "individually be held accountable for the dramatic consequences of their actions." Prosecution for war crimes would possibly be the consequence for this action.
The renewed clashes in eastern Congo are already reported to have victimised large parts of the Kivu region's civilian population. An undisclosed number of people in North Kivu have been displaced by the fighting, according to the Kinshasa government. Fighting had been particularly tough around the localities of Kanyabayonga and Bweremana.
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