RCD-Goma captures Lubero as ceasefire talks continue

The Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) on Thursday captured the town of Lubero, in North Kivu Province of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the region continued in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. "We confirm that the town fell into the hands of the RCD-Goma this morning following heavy fighting," Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, told IRIN. Toure said the matter was under discussion in Bujumbura, where ceasefire talks presided by MONUC head Amos Namanga Ngongi were underway among all parties to the conflict: RCD-Goma, the Kinshasa government and the RCD-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K/ML) to which Kinshasa is allied. "Heavy arms are still being fired, and civilians are fleeing the Rwandan army, which is massacring the population under cover of their ally, RCD-Goma," Jean-Louis Ernest Kyaviro, the RCD-K/ML representative, told IRIN from Beni, 100 km north of Lubero. Rwanda has repeatedly denied the presence of any of its troops in the DRC and there is no independent verification to back the RCD-K/ML claim. MONUC and RCD-K/ML said they were not yet able to provide information regarding how many people had been displaced by the fighting. Kyaviro said his movement would abandon the national peace process if RCD-Goma failed to withdraw from its newly captured positions, as a UN Security Council delegation had demanded during its recent visit to the region. He also warned that his movement could end its alliance with Kinshasa, which he accused of failing to help repel RCD-Goma. "We no longer count on him [DRC President Joseph Kabila] and we will find our own means of defending ourselves," he said. RCD-Goma has said the withdrawal of its forces from newly occupied territories in North Kivu depends on the withdrawal of the Congolese army from the northeastern town of Beni, headquarters of its ally, RCD-K/ML. RCD-Goma said its withdrawal would also depend on disarmament of "negative forces" such as the ethnic Hutu Interahamwe militiamen and Rwandan former armed forces, ex-FAR, which were largely responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Kinshasa has denied having troops in the region. However, RCD-K/ML said that at least 200 government military instructors had been sent to train its rebel forces. RCD-Goma has accused the Kinshasa government and RCD-K/ML of using Interahamwe militias, and has admitted to capturing the locations of Kanyabayonga and Alimbongo in North Kivu. The ceasefire talks were expected to end on Thursday.