Mayi-Mayi and FDD militia attack Lemera

A militia of Congolese Mayi-Mayi fighters and Burundian FDD (Forces de defense pour la democratie) rebels are reported to have seized the town of Lemera, between Uvira and Bukavu in the eastern DRC province of Sud Kivu. The militia attacked Lemera on Tuesday last, 4 April, and took the town on Thursday after overcoming the joint Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) and Rwandan army defence, independent sources told IRIN.
Reliable local information held that FDD rebels fought alongside the Mayi-Mayi, lending ordnance and military strategic expertise to a well-planned operation, they added. Many inhabitants had fled the town and there had been pillaging, Agence France Presse (AFP) agency quoted Boniface Budederi, assistant to the administrator of Uvira, as saying. The alleged killing of Congolese Banyamulenge civilians, and the destruction
in Mayi-Mayi-FDD attacks of several villages in Bijombo locality, could not be independently verified. This was the second seizure of Lemera in less than a fortnight, with the Mayi-Mayi and FDD having taken and lost the town just days before the new offensive and then regrouped to take it again, IRIN sources added.

RCD Chief of Intelligence and Security Bizima Karaha said on Tuesday that Lemera had, indeed, been taken but that his group had regained control of the town. "It was a joint attack by the FDD and the Interahamwe, with few elements of the Mayi-Mayi. At the time of the attack we had a small force at Lemera ... We deliberately withdrew and called for reinforcements and chased them from the area, and our forces control the town and the
surrounding area," Karaha told IRIN.