Fierce fighting in South Kivu

Fierce fighting has been reported in parts of South Kivu between Mayi-Mayi militia and the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma). According to the BBC Kinyarwanda service, the fighting is in two areas - the Hauts Plateaux area near Uvira, and the Kalehe area northof Bukavu. In Kalehe last week, 60 civilians were killed in an attack by the Mayi-Mayi and Interahamwe against the villages of Nyabibwe and Numbi, the BBC said. It added that RCD fighters killed 20 of the attacking forces. The radio quoted South Kivu deputy governor Benjamin Serukiza as saying that in the Uvira region, the RCD launched a third attack against a Mayi-Mayi stronghold in the Rugeje mountains on Tuesday. Six civilians and 25 Mayi-Mayi have reportedly been killed, with 20 militiamen captured. Civil society groups in South Kivu have warned that while international attention is focused on the fighting in the northeastern town of Kisangani, the "strategy of terror" in South Kivu is going unnoticed. The battle zone has been described as extending in a semi-circle around Bukavu from Kalehe to Uvira. Several sources say that Congolese soldiers in the area are being replaced by Rwandans. Meanwhile, a group representing the Mayi-Mayi "resistance", Union des federalistes congolais (UFC), has called for its inclusion in the inter-Congolese dialogue. In a letter to the facilitator of the dialogue Ketumile Masire, the UFC claimed it was the true representative of the "popular resistance" in the Kivus, and urged the facilitator to meet its members.