Congo rebels push north despite cease-fire pledge

RWINDI, Congo - Well-armed Tutsi rebels in eastern Congo have pushed back demoralized army troops and advanced north, extending the territory under their control, despite their leader's pledge to support a cease-fire and peace talks, witnesses said yesterday.

Government troops abandoned their position late on Sunday at Rwindi, 80 miles north of Goma in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu Province, after a battle with the rebels involving small arms and heavier weapons. UN peacekeeping troops at Rwindi stayed in their base during the fighting.

On Sunday, the rebels' leader, renegade General Laurent Nkunda, told a UN envoy seeking to end weeks of renewed fighting that he was committed to the talks and the cease-fire. He met with Olusegun Obasanjo, former Nigerian president, named special envoy by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Obasanjo also met Congolese President Joseph Kabila and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda in an effort to stop the east Congo conflict from escalating into a repeat of a 1998-2003 Congo war, in which several million people died.

A UN peacekeeper at Rwindi who declined to be identified said Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People forces had started advancing against government troops on Sunday, the day Nkunda met Obasanjo.

"By morning [on Monday], the CNDP was here," he said.

The road into Rwindi was littered with army boots and blankets.

At the town, a ranger post for the Virunga National Park, rebel fighters manned checkpoints abandoned by the army.

To the north, sporadic gunshots rang out that peacekeepers said were probably fired by hungry soldiers poaching animals.

Local residents said they wanted the conflict to stop.

"There were more than 100 bombs that fell last night. What kind of cease-fire is that?" said Clement Augustin Kasabuni, 33.

A UN official said the retreating government soldiers had destroyed equipment left behind in Rwindi including ammunition and a rocket launcher.

The rebels have been collecting large amounts of military hardware abandoned by the weak and chaotic Congolese army.