Rebels seize town in Congo
Major setback seen for peace accord; 39 reported killed
BUKAVU, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Renegade Congolese soldiers seized this eastern town yesterday, brushing aside feeble opposition from soldiers loyal to the government and dealing a heavy blow to a year-old peace agreement that halted the nation's five-year civil war.
The crises of Bukavu, perched at the southern tip of Lake Kivu in the heart of central Africa, erupted last week when a colonel who participated in the rebellion against the government tried to overwhelm a government garrison in Bukavu from the south. It ended -- for the moment -- when another former rebel marched from the north to take the town himself, citing rising ethnic tensions.
The Red Cross said 39 people had been killed and 81 others injured in clashes during the past week.
''Militarily, I am in control of Bukavu," said General Laurent Nkunda, a longtime officer with the main rebel group in the civil war that began in 1998 and ended, at least officially, last year.
The collapse of government authority in Bukavu marks a big setback in a turbulent year for Congo's peace accord, which was signed to end the brutal conflict that claimed an estimated 3.3 million lives through combat, disease, and starvation. The peace deal inaugurated a unity government, with President Joseph Kabila presiding over four vice presidents and dozens of ministers. But the unwieldy structure has been unable to quell the tension hundreds of miles to the east, in Bukavu, on the border with Rwanda.
The failure of the United Nations mission in Congo, now more than 10,000 strong, to stall the rapid advance of turncoat soldiers touched off riots against the world body in major Congolese cities as word spread of Bukavu's fate.
Bukavu's residents woke up to heavy shelling and machine-gun fire, but by nightfall the dissident soldiers had the town, which is home to several universities, firmly under their control.
Heavily armed men swaggered through the main streets of the town, largely deserted of civilians. But by evening, reports of looting and assaults on civilians were flooding into the UN headquarters in Congo. Two barges with 300 tons of food aid were looted, the UN World Food Program said, according to the Associated Press.
The fighting began last Wednesday when Colonel Jules Mutebutsi, a former rebel, apparently sought to cross the border into Rwanda with several heavily armed associates. When soldiers loyal to the government would not let him pass, a confrontation ensued. But by Saturday, UN officials thought the situation was under control, with Mutebutsi's forces ensconced in UN-guarded compounds.
Mutebutsi's revolt overlapped with charged ethnic politics that have helped drive the Congo conflict. He hails from the Banyamulenge, a tribe of Congolese who are ethnically related to Rwanda's Tutsis, victims of that country's genocide in 1994.
Banyamulenge dominated the upper ranks of the Rally for Congolese Democracy, the main rebel group that enjoyed extensive backing from Rwanda, and many Congolese blame it for the civil war. Over the past week, as many as 2,000 Banyamulenge refugees, fearing retribution by government soldiers and other civilians, trudged over the border into Rwanda. Community leaders from the group said 14 Banyamulenge had been killed, and spoke of a ''genocide" against them.
But other Congolese said Mutebutsi was using the Banyamulenge issues to camouflage his power grab.
''These clashes are a problem of a few individuals who want to exploit the situation," said Pierre Kabeza, an activist in Bukavu. ''No one is preparing a genocide."
But by the weekend, Nkunda, another former rebel officer stationed to the north of Bukavu, began advancing on the town with a force that eventually grew to 4,000 men. Troops loyal to Kinshasa marched out to meet him but offered only brief resistance Sunday as Nkunda crept forward.
Early yesterday, Mutebutsi's soldiers broke out of their UN-guarded sites and mounted heavy attacks against forces loyal to the government, while Nkunda marched in virtually unopposed. Government forces apparently scattered away from Bukavu in several directions.
Last year, the UN Security Council granted the mission in Congo, known by the French acronym MONUC, broad powers in two eastern provinces. But as a confrontation loomed in Bukavu, senior UN officials apparently decided not to offer military resistance to Nkunda's advance.
''MONUC is not constructed to make war," said Colonel Clive Mantell, chief of staff for UN military operations in Congo. 