UN officials: Angolan troops fighting in Congo

Print By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer Michelle Faul, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 5 mins ago Play Video Reuters – Door to door killing in Congo
Slideshow: Democratic Republic of Congo Play Video Video: Congolese rebels make new gains BBC Play Video Video: Congo fighting prompts humanitarian crisis AFP AP – The body of Zawadi Katsuva, 49, is carried to a grave in the village of Kiwanja, 90 kilometers (56 miles) … GOMA, Congo – Angolan troops have joined Congolese soldiers battling rebels near the city of Goma, U.N. officials reported Friday, raising new fears the conflict will spread as African leaders struggled to find a way to stop it.

New clashes between army and rebels erupted just outside Goma near Kibati, where about 45,000 refugees from the rebellion in mineral-rich eastern Congo have taken refuge. Thousands fled toward the relative safety of Goma.

The French aid group Doctors Without Borders reported fighting in the towns of Rutshuru and Kiwanja, where the charity tried to send staff who had to turn back. The aid group said Rutshuru hospital was full of displaced civilians, and its staff had treated 43 wounded there during the last two days.

Congo asked Angola for political and military support on Oct. 29 as rebels led by Tutsi former general Laurent Nkunda advanced toward Goma, capital of North Kivu province near the border with Rwanda. Nkunda called a unilateral cease-fire last week when his forces reached the outskirts of the city, but the truce has crumbled.

A U.N. official and a Uruguayan peacekeeping officer said Friday that an unspecified number of Angolans troops arrived four days ago. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.

But in New York, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet denied Angolan troops had joined the fighting.

"We have no evidence of that, and MONUC has not been able to confirm any of that," Mulet said, referring to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo. "So for us it is not happening."

He said some people may have mistaken Congolese government troops who had trained in Angola, and who therefore spoke Portuguese, for Angolan troops.

The involvement of Angolans could spread the conflict beyond Congo's borders. Neighboring Rwanda likely will consider the Angolan troops a provocation. Rwanda's Tutsi-led government is accused of supporting the Congolese rebels.

Congo's 1998-2002 war drew in more than half a dozen African nations, including Angola and Rwanda, which profited from the vast country's wealth of diamonds and other minerals.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, holding a peace summit in Nairobi, Kenya, with Congolese President Joseph Kabila and six other African leaders, warned the "crisis could engulf the broader sub-region."

The Nairobi meeting was unlikely to achieve much without the presence of rebels, who were not invited. "We expect nothing" from it," said Rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa.

The government has refused direct talks with the rebels.

The conflict is fueled by ethnic hatred left over from the 1994 slaughter of a half-million Tutsis in Rwanda. Nkunda claims he is fighting to protect minority Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu rebels who participated in the genocide and fled to Congo afterward.

Violence in eastern Congo has driven 250,000 people from their homes since August. New York-based Human Rights Watch says at least 100 have died in the last two months.

The latest fighting broke out Friday near the town of Kibati, six miles (10 kilometers) north of Goma.

Distant machine-gun fire was audible in Goma. The road toward Goma was again lined with thousands of refugees.

Earlier Friday, an AP photographer saw about 200 army soldiers moving north of Kibati toward rebel lines, 2 kilometers (about a mile) to the north.

Further north near Kiwanja, scene of fierce fighting earlier this week between rebels and a pro-government militia, thousands of refugees gathered outside the fenced compound of U.N. peacekeepers. The refugees complained peacekeepers gave them no protection when their town was attacked.

The refugees, who are sleeping in the open amid daily tropical rainstorms, said they have not eaten since Tuesday and have received no food, water or other help from the peacekeepers.

A top African Union official criticized the U.N. peacekeeping force Friday for failing to protect civilians.

"MONUC has failed," said Eddie Kwizera, a top aide to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

U.N. spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg said the over-stretched and undermanned force has fewer than 300 peacekeepers in the area around Kiwanja and nearby Rutshuru, a small town near Kiwanja that rebels seized last week. Rutshuru is about 45 miles (75 kilometers) north of Goma.

Also Friday, a U.N. official said several journalists who were in the conflict zone, including four foreigners, are missing or held hostage. Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, the official said three or four journalists taken hostage by militiamen were handed over early Friday to Congolese army troops and U.N. peacekeepers are trying to reach them, the official said. Three other European reporters have been missing for 72 hours.

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Associated Press Writer Anita Powell and photographer Karel Prinsloo contributed to this report from Kiwanja, and photographer Jerome Delay from Kibumba. Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.