Bunia reported calmer

The northeastern DRC town of Bunia is “fairly calm” after Ugandan soldiers moved in to quash a rebellion within a new rebel group. Leader of the governing Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) Ernest Wamba dia Wamba told IRIN on Thursday there was “absolutely no confrontation” and that the problem was sparked by a “few individuals who were trying to use armed groups to oust their party leader”. “The issue was with a small group of people and had nothing to do with the whole [Wahema] ethnic group,” he said. “Assistants to the head of the movement organised militias and decide to move into Bunia to force their leader out, this is when the UPDF [Uganda People’s Defence Force] moved in to save the situation, and the issue has been dealt with,” he said. He said delegations had been sent to talk with the new rebel group, whose members are still in the bush, adding that the problem was “purely political”. The semi-official ‘New Vision’ newspaper reported on Thursday that the UPDF moved tanks and helicopter gunships in a major offensive against the group. It said that by Wednesday, over 500 of the rebels had surrendered to UPDF.