Fighting continues in Congo diamond town past latest cease-fire

June 8, 2000
Web posted at: 8:55 p.m. EDT (0055 GMT)

In this story: 'They are committing a genocide' Artillery shells rain down on city 'No excuse for it,' Holbrooke RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

KISANGANI, Congo -- Ugandan and Rwandan troops continued fighting in the Congolese city of Kisangani on Thursday, long after a U.N.-brokered cease-fire was due to go into effect.

Dozens of wounded people and their relatives crouched in the hallways of a hospital in the diamond-rich city as mortar bombs exploded nearby.

The presidents of Rwanda and Uganda on Thursday agreed to a cease-fire and troop withdrawal from the disputed city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a U.N. spokesman said.

MESSAGE BOARD Congo peace

But hours after the cease-fire was due to go into effect, at 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT), fierce machine-gun battles between the two armies were continuing into the night near the city center and sporadic artillery fire could still be heard.

U.N. officials said the true test of the cease-fire would come early on Friday.

At least 50 civilians have been killed in the last four days as the two occupying armies continue to fight for control of the city.

'They are committing a genocide against the city'

"They are committing a genocide against the city," said Lieutenant-Colonel Danilo Paiva, force commander for an unarmed, 20-man U.N. military team based here. "They are destroying the city and they must be held responsible for their actions."

Rwanda and Uganda were both allies of the rebel forces in the war against Congolese President Laurent Kabila, but they now support different rebel factions and have clashed several times for control of Kisangani, a key center of the country's diamond trade.

At least 15 cease-fires have failed to take in the last four days.

"There's no military purpose to it," Paiva said as Ugandan shells whistled over the city cathedral compound, which houses the U.N. headquarters and around 60 civilians, including some wounded, taking refuge from the fighting.

"This war could be fought in the jungle. The soldiers are very safe in their trenches. The ones who are dying are the civilian population," Paiva said.

Artillery shells rain down on city

On Thursday morning, dozens of artillery shells rained down on residential neighborhoods along the Congo River, as the two combatants exchanged artillery fire from their positions on opposite banks of the river.

Civilians caught up in the fighting have grown bitter and resentful toward both sides.

"Somebody has to do something. Who gave these foreigners the right to fight in our country? We want them to leave but nobody is doing anything," said Eric Kambale, a 23-year-old student with a bullet lodged in his upper right thigh.

"This morning I went out to get water -- we haven't had any food or water for four days -- and I got hit," he said.

Congolese President Laurent Kabila, whose government is at war with the rebel factions backed by Uganda and Rwanda, called on the world to demand that both nations pull out of the Congo.

"We are asking the international community to make the occupiers go home," he told state television in the capital Kinshasa.

'No excuse for it,' Holbrooke says

Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, condemned the fighting.

"We are sick and tired of this lamentable, inexcusable fighting between two countries that are friends, that are allies and that are fighting each other on the soil of a third country," he said, in an interview with CNN. "There is simply no excuse for it.

The latest cease-fire agreement was reached between President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda after contacts with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Holbrooke, U.N. Spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a written statement.

The fighting in Kisangani is one of many violations of an agreement signed last year in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, meant to end a conflict in which the government of Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila is backed by Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.

Annan hoped that "with the demilitarization of Kisangani, the DRC will move closer to a comprehensive cease-fire and eventually a stable and durable peace under the Lusaka cease-fire agreement," Eckhard said.

Under phase one of the U.N.-announced cease-fire, Rwandan troops were supposed to withdraw across the Congo River towards Ubundu and Lubutu while Ugandan troops were to pull back to positions north and east of Kisangani, toward Banalia and Bafwasende.

A second phase would involve further pullbacks under the supervision of the U.N. Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) which currently comprises only about 130 military observers and support staff.

The Security Council on Feb. 24 authorized increasing the force to 500 military observers and some 5,000 troops to protect them and provide logistics.

But Annan will only deploy them when security and other conditions permit.

Reports from the city say that civilians in Kisangani are running short of food and water and there is a shortage of medical supplies as the number of casualties grows.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Rwandan, Ugandan forces defy cease-fire in Congolese city
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African leaders mull Congo withdrawal proposal
April 21, 2000
U.N. demands end to Congo fighting before deploying peacekeepers
March 22, 2000
U.N. looks warily at sending peacekeepers to Congo
February 16, 2000
Albright calls for end to 'Africa's first world war'
January 24, 2000

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