Civilians flee renewed fighting in North Kivu

Fighting resumed on Wednesday in the town of Kanyabayonga in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"Kanyabayonga has been emptied of its inhabitants," said Mamadou Bah, spokesman of the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC. "The number of people displaced remains unknown."

Reports put the number as high as 35,000.

Kanyabayonga is 150 km northeast of Goma, capital of North Kivu Province.

Intense fighting has been taking place elsewhere in North Kivu, MONUC's army chief of staff, Col Patrick Colas des Francs, said at a press conference on Wednesday in Kinshasa.

"MONUC is collecting information on the systematic destruction of four villages, the partial destruction of two other villages, the assassination of eight civilians, the abduction of 30 villagers and the forced displacement of almost 5,000 inhabitants," he said.

The identity of the combatants was unclear. The Congolese government claimed Rwandan-supported fighters as well as Rwandans who recently crossed the border, had attacked the village. A week ago, MONUC sent a team to the village of Ikobo, where they heard testimony from 20 villagers who said they had been taken hostage by Rwandan soldiers.

However, des Francs said that "from the information we now have, we can say that it is an inter-Congolese affair" in Kanyabayonga.

"Elements from the 8th Military Region have blocked [other] troops who were recently deployed in the region," des Francs said.

Congolese authorities disagree.

"The Congolese troop reinforcements deployed last weekend are fighting a coalition of Rwandese troops and troops from the former rebel ANC," said communication advisor in the DRC army, Jean-Willy Mutombo, speaking to IRIN on Tuesday from Kinshasa. ANC stands for the Armee Nationale Congolaise, which is the military wing of Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie, a former Congolese rebel movement allied with the Rwanda government.

"Two of six soldiers captured by the DRC army have been identified as Rwandan and have identified themselves as such," Mutombo said.

Congolese government spokesperson Henri Mova Sakanyi said Wednesday morning's fighting between MONUC peacekeepers and Rwandan fighters attempting to enter the Congo from Bukavu, capital of South Kivu, was evidence that armed combatants fighting the Congolese army at Kanyabayonga have also recently infiltrated the DRC from Rwanda.

Bukavu is on the border with Rwanda.

MONUC announced that it had dispatched observer teams to Kanyabayonga to verify the various allegations.