U.N. takes control during lull in Congo fighting

June 12, 2000
Web posted at: 4:19 p.m. EDT (2019 GMT)

In this story: More than 1,100 Congolese injured Working out the details of withdrawal Civilians emerge from hiding RELATED STORIES, SITES

KISANGANI, Congo (CNN) -- United Nations peacekeepers took advantage of a lull in the fighting on Monday to place observers near a bridge where Rwandan and Ugandan armies fought fierce battles last week in Kisangani in northern Congo.

"There is no firing any more. The Ugandan army has withdrawn," said Lt. Col. Danilo Paiva, head of the 22-man U.N. military observer unit.

MESSAGE BOARD Congo peace

Fighting between Rwanda and Uganda stopped late Sunday after a week of ferocious artillery fire that killed and wounded hundreds of people.

Rwandan and Ugandan troops are both in Congo because of their involvement in Congo's 22-month civil war. The two were nominally allies -- they each back a rebel faction fighting to oust Congo President Laurent Kabila -- but they have been clashing in Kisangani off and on for months. Kabila receives support from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

More than 1,100 Congolese injured

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that more than 1,100 people -- most of them Congolese civilians -- have been injured in six days of heavy fighting.

Juan Martinez, press officer at the ICRC at its Geneva headquarters, said the figure was reached after an assessment of health centers in Kisangani.

Kisangani lies on the Congo River in northeastern Congo. With two airports, a port for river traffic and key roads leading from it, the city is considered an important logistics base by rival rebel groups and the armies that back them. Kisangani is also a center for diamonds.

Uganda said it pulled back the bulk of its troops to about seven miles north of Kisangani. Rwanda, which was left in control of the city, said it would withdraw its troops if and when the U.N. sends a full peacekeeping force there.

Under the terms of a peace accord signed last year, the U.N. observers here are supposed to be reinforced by a 5,537-strong force to keep the peace. So far, only 100 U.N. personnel have been deployed.

Working out the details of withdrawal

The Rwandan government said Monday it would work out the details of its withdrawal from Kisangani in a meeting to be held Monday in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, with the commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Congo.

A senior Rwandan government spokesman, Major Emmanuel Ndahiro, told CNN that despite earlier reports, Rwanda had not arranged a meeting with the U.N. and Ugandan army commanders in Uganda. Rwanda's discussions with Uganda would be separate when they are held, he said.

In Uganda, army spokesman Major Phinahas Katirima said Rwanda had communicated that its army chief of staff, Brigadier Nyamwasa Kayumba, had to reschedule a Monday meeting with Uganda's army commander.

A Ugandan-backed Congolese rebel leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, said some of his troops were based at a town about 60 miles from Kisangani and were watching Rwanda's movements in Kisangani "very carefully."

Civilians emerge from hiding

The lull -- the first since fighting broke out last week -- could give both armies enough time to withdraw and spare the city's 200,000 Congolese civilians further death and destruction.

Residents of Kisangani left their homes to take advantage of the unusual calm. People fetched water from the Congo River. Water and electricity remained cut off.

On Monday, thousands of frightened residents continued to return on foot from surrounding forests and other parts of town where they had taken refuge during the fighting.

Neighborhood streets were littered with the debris of war -- crates of ammunition, unused rockets, shell casings, boots and helmets. The corpses of dozens of Ugandan soldiers were sprawled all over the city.

Nairobi Bureau Chief Catherine Bond, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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