Kinshasa warns rebels

The authorities in DRC have said they were targeting "military targets" and denied civilians were hit in the bombing raids against rebel-held Goma and Uvira on Tuesday.

Press reports cited deputy armed forces chief Commandant Francois Olenga as saying the bombardments were a "warning that we are hardening our position". Humanitarian sources in Goma told IRIN on Wednesday at least 30 people, most of them civilians, had been killed in the raids on the town. The Zimbabwean government daily 'Herald' on Thursday quoted a Zimbabwean military spokesman as saying the air strikes in the east would continue. He claimed the allied forces had the "capability to strike Goma and beyond".

The UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, expressed regret over the bombings, which, he said had "resulted in the deaths of over 40 civilians and the injury of many others". He urged all sides in the conflict "to desist from violence against civilians".

Kinshasa mobilising Interahamwe "to finish the genocide", Rwanda says.

A Rwandan defence ministry statement on Thursday accused the Kinshasa authorities of mobilising "thousands" of Interahamwe rebels to fight alongside the allied forces. The eventual aim was to "overthrow the Rwandan government, then complete the genocide they began in 1994", the statement said, according to news organisations. "The government of Rwanda considers their presence in the DRC to be the biggest single threat to the very survival of the Rwandan nation and its people. No effort will be
spared in defending the nation against this threat."