Fighting, troop build-up in southeastern DRC

Congolese troops attacked Rwandan military positions in southeastern Congo in the first such incident since the assassination of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Laurent-Desire Kabila, the ‘Post of Zambia’ reported on Tuesday, quoting Rwandan sources. The DRC government army fired a multiple rocket-launcher late on Friday at the southeastern Rwandan and rebel-held town of Pweto, on the border with Zambia, causing no casualties, said Colonel Charles Kayonga, Rwanda’s presidential defence adviser. Kayonga said Angola had recently reinforced government positions in the area with 2,400 troops stationed at Dubie, a front-line town about 30 km southwest of Pweto. The allied troop build-up around Pweto suggests an attempt to re-take the strategic town could be imminent. Newly nominated DRC leader Joseph Kabila reportedly vowed on Saturday to restore the country’s territorial integrity and retake rebel-held areas. Pweto fell to Rwandan-backed rebel forces late last year, prompting a refugee exodus into northern Zambia. Thousands of DRC troops and at least 300 Zimbabwean soldiers defending the town also fled across the border. But Emanuel Egyir, a UNHCR programme officer in northern Zambia told IRIN on Tuesday that another battle for Pweto was not likely to create a new refugee influx. “There are no civilians left after the last conflict there, they’ve all left,” he said. UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies in northern Zambia have been preparing contingency plans in case rebels, who already control some key towns in Katanga province, extend their offensive.