Both sides in the DRC conflict have reported serious fighting in Equateur province on Wednesday and Thursday, with each blaming the other for violating the Lusaka ceasefire agreement. The Goma-based rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) said there were heavy casualties in clashes that started when government troops attacked with two gunboats and two helicopter gunships on a front west of Ikela in an effort to relieve several thousand Zimbabwean and Namibian troops besieged at Ikela airport. Meanwhile, the Congolese army and its Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) allies claimed that “the rebels and their allies” had attacked Isanga-Yenge, Bolunga Wema, Dembo, Makanza and Bolinga. The SADC allied forces had been “well involved in the process for a lasting peace in DRC,” but “will not remain there without reacting” if threatened by the rebel side, a press release stated.
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