Uganda army fights Congo's Nkunda rebels, kills one
Source: Reuters
By Tim Cocks KAMPALA, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Ugandan troops clashed with four Congolese rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, killing one of them in a shootout after they crossed into Ugandan territory, Uganda's military said on Tuesday. The army spokesman for western Uganda, Tabaro Kiconco, said a battle broke out on Monday in the volcanic district of Kisoro, bordering Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "A group of armed thugs from Nkunda's group crossed the border but our troops intercepted them and closed in for arrest," Kiconco told Reuters by telephone from the scene. "They resisted and fired several shots, so we fired back," he said, adding that the army had killed one of the men in the exchange but suffered no casualties itself. Three were wearing military uniforms, but one -- the one they killed -- was in plain clothes, he said. He rejected the possibility the man was a civilian, saying he was armed. Thousands of refugees have fled camps in eastern Congo's violent North Kivu province, which borders Uganda and Rwanda, fearing reprisals after Congo's army said Nkunda's Tutsi-dominated rebels attacked its positions nearby. More than 370,000 people have fled fighting between a confusing hotchpotch of Congolese soldiers, Nkunda's insurgents, Rwandan Hutu rebels and Mai Mai militia since January. Many thousands have crossed the border into Kisoro. "We are warning these armed groups not to cross into Uganda," Kiconco said. He added that army intelligence showed it was only Nkunda's group operating in the area. Nkunda has waged an insurgency against the Congolese army since late August, when he abandoned a January peace deal. Neighbours suspect Rwanda of backing him. Uganda has twice joined Rwanda to invade Congo, officially to stop rebels using the mineral-rich country as a base for attacks over the border. The second sparked a 1998-2003 war killing 3.8 million people, mostly from hunger and disease. "Uganda has no plans to go back into Congo," Kiconco said. (Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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