Ugandan commander killed in Beni clashes

The leader of the Bunia-based rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML), Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, has confirmed media reports that Ugandan commander Major Reuben Ikondere was killed on Sunday during an attack by Mayi-Mayi militia on Beni in North Kivu. “The major was killed plus two of his bodyguards, but the attackers were repulsed and about 60 of them were killed,” he told IRIN on Monday. Radio Uganda on Sunday quoted a statement from Ugandan Chief of Staff Brigadier James Kazini which said further information on the motive of the attack was being obtained from captured fighters. “One of the problems is that under the term Mayi-Mayi, so many people are now included, even armed bandits,” Wamba told IRIN. “Were these Mayi-Mayi allied to [DRC President Laurent-Desire] Kabila, Mayi-Mayi acting on their own, or Mayi-Mayi said to be sympathetic to the Goma group?”