DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Thousands of civilians flee fighting in eastern Congo as Goma ceasefire holds

Record ID: 375319

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Thousands of civilians flee fighting in eastern Congo as Goma ceasefire holds
  • Date: 6th November 2008
  • Summary: EMPTY ROAD WITH AUDIO OF HEAVY ARTILLERY EMPTY ROAD WITH WHITE SMOKE IN BACKGROUND
  • Embargoed: 21st November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA26EPZD7XNNL3ZUWV2O3BW3OPE
  • Story Text: Thousands of civilians have fled fighting in eastern Congo as plans are announced for a summit of Great Lakes leaders later this week to try to end the conflict.
    Thousands of civilians fled fighting on Wednesday (November 5), the second day of clashes at Kiwanja near Rutshuru, seized last week by General Laurent Nkunda's Tutsi rebels, raising fears of more fighting in the region near Rwanda.
    Civilians streamed from Kiwanja to Rutshuru to escape what they said were attacks by pro-government Mai-Mai militiamen.
    Machinegun fire and the thump of artillery could be heard. One elderly man walking with a cane wore a shirt covered in dried blood from a bullet wound. He sought help from soldiers nearby.
    "It's the MONUC who are treating my wounds," the old refugee man said referring to the U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC.
    "The Mai Mai attacked us, they come even in our houses, we are being massacred," said another refugee said.
    In Kiwanja, several hundred civilians sheltered at a ruined primary school close to a camp of Indian United Nations peacekeepers. Smoke rose from one part of the town.
    Last week Nkunda declared a ceasefire, suspending a major offensive by his Tutsi fighters against Goma which had sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives.
    A rebel spokesman earlier on Wednesday accused Congolese government forces of breaking the ceasefire at Kiwanja.
    The enduring conflict in eastern Congo, years after the end of a wider 1998-2003 war, has triggered international efforts to secure a lasting peace on Congo's Great Lakes border with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.
    But Nkunda, while describing the fighting as a "bad sign", said he was upholding the ceasefire around Goma, the provincial capital, where foreign aid agencies are struggling to help and care for refugees packed into camps.
    U.N. peacekeepers said they had launched an operation around Kiwanja to try to halt the fighting and obtain the release of a Belgian journalist, working for a German newspaper, whom U.N. officials said had been seized by Mai-Mai militiamen.
    The enduring conflict in eastern Congo, years after the end of a wider 1998-2003 war, has triggered international efforts to secure a lasting peace on Congo's Great Lakes border with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.
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