Local NGOs report inhabitants fleeing

Local NGOs have confirmed that recent fighting around Shabunda in South Kivu has caused fresh displacement of local populations. The reports from a consortium of local NGOs, backed by the Brussels-based Reseau Europeen pour le Congo (REC), maintain the people were not fleeing Mayi-Mayi warriors, but conquering rebels in the Armee nationale congolaise (ANC)
and Rwandan troops.

Last Thursday, rebel-held Goma radio reported that the ANC had retaken Shabunda from a combination of DRC government troops, Mayi-Mayi warriors, Rwandan ex-FAR and Interahamwe who had apparently occupied the town for five days. The NGOs confirmed Shabunda had been retaken, but added that several hundred families arriving in Bukavu had fled reprisals from ANC
troops who had killed, looted and burned houses in apparent retaliation for the local population's support for the Mayi-Mayi. The NGOs accused the Rwandan and Ugandan governments of conducting a smear campaign against the Mayi-Mayi in order to try and hide the resentment felt by the inhabitants
of the region to the outsiders. However, the situation is further confused by reports of abuses by a separate force of Interahamwe and Rwandan ex-FAR also active in the area and of occasional clashes between the latter and Mayi-Mayi.