REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Civilians killed in new Ninja attack

Ninja militia allied to former prime minister Bernard Kolelas attacked the Marien Ngouabi military academy some 25 km north of Brazzaville early on Sunday, news agencies said. The Associated Press (AP) cited an army spokesman as saying on Monday that government forces had repulsed the attack, killing several dozen rebels. Residents told IRIN on Monday that a number of civilians, including children, had been killed when the attacking Ninjas moved into northern Brazzaville, and houses were completely looted. The city centre was reported tense on Monday, with heavily-armed government-allied Cobra militia patrolling the streets. Businesses and government offices were closed and water supplies were not operating, they said. On Friday, fighting in the Poto-Poto area of Brazzaville between government troops and their Chadian allies left seven killed and dozens wounded, AP added. Meanwhile, a total of 3,676 Congolese refugees in the DRC had voluntarily repatriated to Brazzaville, with UNHCR assistance, between 25 April and 10 May, and another 1,000 refugees were scheduled to return on Tuesday, a regional UNHCR spokesman told IRIN. A UNHCR statement received by IRIN on Monday said "several thousand" additional refugees had already returned to Brazzaville by their own means over the past few weeks. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes late last year due to renewed fighting in southern Brazzaville and in the Pool region, and over 20,000 were estimated to have crossed into DRC's Bas-Congo province.