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Uganda withdraws forces from key Congo city
KISANGANI, Congo -- Ending six days of fighting with Rwanda, Uganda said Sunday it had withdrawn its troops from the Congo city of Kisangani. Uganda and Rwanda have been fighting in Congo, which led to a showdown in the strategic port city of Kisangani. Uganda and Rwanda support rival groups opposed to Congo's government in the civil war there. Only six Ugandan army personnel remained in Kisangani, in northeastern Congo, and they were working with U.N. authorities, according to James Wapakhabulo, head of Uganda's coordinating committee on African affairs.
Wapakhabulo said commanders with the Uganda People's Defense Forces decided to withdraw late Saturday after reviewing the fighting. By Sunday morning, Ugandan troops had moved north from the key Tshopo bridge in Kisangani, a jungle city of about 200,000, to Kapalata, the defense forces' home base. "The U.N. has taken over the territory which we held at Tshopo bridge and symbolically put ... their own flag and a U.N. vehicle," Ugandan army spokesman Phinehas Katirima said. Rwanda said it also would pull out of its positions in Kisangani, and it called on U.N. officials to witness the withdrawal. Also Sunday, warring parties involved in Congo's ongoing civil war agreed to release all prisoners of war, a committee overseeing a peace plan for the nation said. Besides Uganda and Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia have been drawn into the civil war in Africa's third-largest country. Fighting kills at least 150For a week, Rwanda and Uganda traded artillery fire in a ferocious assault for Kisangani that killed at least 150 people and wounded 700. Most victims were civilians trapped in the middle in what Lt. Col. Danilo Paiva, head of a 22-man U.N. military observer unit, termed "a humanitarian crisis." Both countries are in the Congo because of the 22-month civil war. While they are nominal allies, Rwanda and Uganda are backing opposing rebel factions seeking to oust Congo President Laurent Kabila. Pope: 'Heart of Africa is bleeding'Authorities have been working to restore peace in Congo through an agreement, prepared in Lusaka, Zambia, that calls for participation by a U.N. observer force. Wapakhabulo said Sunday that Uganda believes the Lusaka accord is the best solution for the Congo. "I think if the international community is interested, then it can work," he said. Details regarding the release of prisoners of war are expected to be worked out in the coming weeks. No dates were announced Sunday. Among those hoping for a peaceful resolution in Congo is Pope John Paul II. "Yet again," he said Sunday, "the heart of Africa is bleeding." Speaking before Uganda announced its withdrawal, the pope appealed to both Uganda and Rwanda to think of the people of Kisangani. "I appeal to the responsibility and feeling of political and military authorities, and I pray to God to make them hear the voice of their conscience inside themselves," he said Sunday in his weekly public address at the Vatican. "Africa, and the Congo in particular, need reconciliation and peace." The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: 200,000 hungry, frightened citizens of Congo diamond town trapped amid fighting RELATED SITES: United Nations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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