Army urges speedier UN, JMC action

The DRC army has called on the UN mission in DRC (MONUC) and the Joint Military Commission (JMC) to act more quickly in implementing the Lusaka ceasefire accord. An army statement, read out over state television on Saturday, claimed the rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) had violated the ceasefire by a “surprise attack” on DRC army troops in the Boende area of Equateur province. The statement alleged the attack took place last Thursday at Lilenga and three Congolese soldiers were killed. It said the rebels were repulsed, and 27 of them lost their lives. “We call on MONUC, the authorities of the political committee and the international community to take punitive measures against these habitual offenders and speed up the disengagement process,” the statement said.

The MLC, for its part, accused the DRC army of boosting it war equipment in Equateur province. In a statement, received by IRIN on Monday, the MLC said that during recent fighting on the Basankusu axis, it had captured five Rwandan Interahamwe fighting on the government side which had launched attacks against MLC positions in Wenga. The MLC claimed 5,000 Interahamwe were fighting alongside DRC government troops in Equateur.