Congo army says kills 12 militiamen in new attacks
Source: Reuters
By David Lewis KINSHASA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Congolese government forces killed 12 militiamen on Saturday while fighting off the latest wave of attacks by resurgent Ituri rebel groups just weeks ahead of the final round of historic post-war polls, the army said. Two Bangladeshi U.N. peacekeepers were wounded in the fighting as blue helmets, backed by helicopter gunships firing rockets, battled the eastern Congolese militia who launched their second attack on government positions in a week. The fighting in Ituri, one of the bloodiest corners during the Democratic Republic of Congo's 1998-2003 war, highlights the continuing violence in the east despite millions of Congolese voting in a relatively successful first round ballot in July. Incumbent President Joseph Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former rebel, will face each other in an Oct. 29 run-off to see who leads the country after a war that killed 4 million people, mostly from hunger and disease. "They attacked our positions at about 6 a.m. They are drugged and they keep coming back," Gen Nsiona Mbuayama, commander of the government forces in Ituri district, told Reuters. "So far we have killed 12 of them. We hope that by the end of the day they will stop," he added, saying there were no casualties amongst the government soldiers. The clashes took place at Mont Awi, some 40 km (25 miles) south of Bunia, the main town in the mineral-rich Ituri district on the vast country's northeastern border with Uganda. The army and the U.N. said the fighters belonged to the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front (FRPI), which lost at least a dozen men in fighting against government forces last Sunday. The group, led by a fighter known as Cobra Matata, is one of several that have refused to join a peace process and roam the east, attacking government soldiers, U.N. peacekeepers and harassing civilians. PEACEKEEPERS ATTACKED "The Congolese army asked for support and the U.N. peacekeepers were attacked when they were deployed to the area," said Leocadio Salmeron, a U.N. mission spokesman in Ituri. "Two Bangladeshi peacekeepers have been wounded but their lives are not in danger. The Mi-25 helicopter gunships have been deployed and fired rockets. The operation is still going on," he added. Since the July polls, the first free elections in the former Belgian colony for over 40 years, the U.N. mission has focused largely on Kinshasa, where Kabila and Bemba's forces fought each other for three days after the results were announced. Both men retain private armies in the capital and fears of violence before, during or after the run-off are mounting. The July elections crystallised a rift in the country, where Kabila is popular in the Swahili-speaking east while Bemba picked up most of his votes in the Lingala-speaking west. However, renewed violence in Ituri underlines the failure to disarm and integrate fighters following the latest announcement of peace deals between the government and armed groups. "These groups in Ituri have received some fresh supplies of ammunition and they are trying to push the army out of their positions," a U.N. official told Reuters.
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