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An official of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said on Wednesday that there was a high risk of fierce fighting between rival pro-Ugandan rebel groups in the district of Isiro, 350 km north of the northeastern city of Kisangani.
"The situation in Isiro is worrying," Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the UN mission, known as MONUC, said at a news conference.
Two factions of the dissident Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie - the RCD-K-ML (Kisangani - Mouvement de liberation) and the RCD-N (Nationale) - as well as the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba, have put their fighters on full alert. MONUC said RCD-K-ML fighters loyal to Mbusa Nyamwisi had pushed back those of Roger Lumbala's RCD-N to Dungu, 130 km to the northeast, but that Bemba's fighters had advanced to support Lumbala's retreating forces.
"We are not far from confrontations," Toure said, "but we have appealed to each party to spare the civilians who would bear the brunt of any confrontation."
There was no reason to resume hostilities, he said, now that Rwanda and the DRC had signed a peace agreement. All the Ugandan-supported factions in this zone were signatories to another accord - April's power-sharing deal signed in Sun City between the government in Kinshasa and the MLC.
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