34 reportedly killed in Dongo clashes

Thirty-four soldiers were killed in fighting on the northwestern DRC front near Dongo on Friday when the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) repulsed a government force attempting to attack Dongo, MLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba told IRIN on Monday. There were 33 soldiers killed on the government side and one on the MLC side as President Laurent-Desire Kabila’s forces attempted to take Dongo “as a step towards Gemena, and onwards to Gbadolite”, Bemba said. The government had decided on a “concerted push” in the north, he added, saying that for Kabila there was “no dialogue, no agreement, no peace”. Friday’s clashes occurred when the MLC ambushed an advancing government force of 1,000 to 1,500 soldiers, but Bemba said he was “still committed to the Lusaka process”. “What do you want me to do, leave Dongo?” he asked, adding that while he had thwarted the government advance for now, his intelligence was that “they are coming back in a different direction”. There was no independent confirmation of the claims.