Foreign minister arrives in embattled area

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Foreign Minister Antoine Ghonda, heading a government delegation, arrived in the eastern town of Bukavu on Tuesday, shortly before fighting resumed between rival army factions.

"We have come to support the town's residents and restore government authority," he told IRIN from the town.

He said the absence of central government authority had created a political vacuum in Bukavu, in South Kivu Province, and this had brought about the breakdown in law and order.

Fighting first broke out in Bukavu on 26 May, when regular government troops under the commander of the 10th Military Region, Mbuza Mabe Nkumu, tried to stop fighters loyal to Col Jules Mutebusi, from crossing into Rwanda. Before being absorbed into the new unified DRC army as the deputy commander of the 10th military region, Mutebusi was a regional commander with the former rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma.

The fighting also spread to Nguba, Ruzizi I, College al-Fajiri and Nyawera districts, UN News reported on Friday.

On Monday, Mabe's men were reinforced by troops loyal to Gen Laurent Nkunda in Goma, a town about 120 km northeast of Bukavu. The composition and size of the reinforcements were not immediately known.

"We have not yet been able to verify this, but from the information available to us, there are 150 foreign officers who neither speak Swahili nor any Congolese language," Ghonda said.

He added that he had told government officials in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, on Thursday, while on an official visit, that it would not be helpful for Rwanda to intervene in a dispute that was solely within the DRC army.

Rwandan troops withdrew from the DRC in October 2002.

After a brief truce, fighting resumed on Tuesday northwest of Kavumu airport, some 30 km from Bukavu.

However, the rebel troops announced that they had halted their advance on Bukavu at the orders of DRC Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa, who is in charge of the country's political commission, defence and security.

The DRC Red Cross in Bukavu says at least 39 people have died since the fighting started on 26 May. The head of the Red Cross in Bukavu, Leon Mbalabala, said that the deaths of two children, 16 civilians and 21 combatants had been verified. He added that 81 wounded people had been taken to hospitals and health centres, and that 650 internally displaced persons had been registered.

He said, however, that the Red Cross had not yet had access the suburb of Nguba, where fighting had been intense during the first three days.

Meanwhile, Ruberwa has been stuck in Goma since Sunday, unable to reach Bukavu. The presidential spokesman, Kudura Kasongo, said Ruberwa and his delegation were under orders from the defence ministry and the armed forces chief of staff to work with local authorities towards re-establishing public order.