Ugandan military on alert as showdown looms in Congo

Africa News

Oct 20, 2007, 12:21 GMT

Kampala - Uganda said Saturday that it has beefed up it forces on its south-western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in readiness for a spill-over of fighting as Congolese government troops prepare an offensive against renegade forces led by a dissenting military general. Army officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that hundreds of civilians, mostly traders, were stranded in the main south-western town of Bunagana on the Congolese border, 490 kilometres from Kampala. They fear being caught up in clashes between the Congolese army and forces of General Laurent Nkunda, an ethnic Tutsi who claims he is protecting his tribesmen from other groups and the rival Rwandan Hutu rebels in Congo's volatile North Kivu region, military sources said. The Congolese government had given Nkunda seven days to disarm and the deadline is due to expire soon. If Nkunda's forces cross into Uganda, this would be unacceptable and they would have to come unarmed and surrender to authorities, the regional military spokesman, Lieutenant Tabaro Kiconco told dpa. 'Our troops are deployed effectively and are vigilant along the border areas. We are talking of Kanungu and Kisoro border areas,' Kiconco said by telephone. General Nkunda, 40, was among commanders of rebel groups that overthrew the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in former Zaire in 1997. He has refused to integrate his forces in the national army and has been clashing with government and UN forces in eastern Congo since 2005. Fighting between government forces and his brigades resumed in September in the eastern Congolese districts of Goma, Masisi and Rutshuru, sending thousands of refugees into Uganda. A press statement issued by the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, at the weekend said that gunfire was heard in the Kelengera area in Goma on October 17 and that clashes had occurred between the pro- government Mayi Mayi militias and Nkunda's forces in the Rutshuru and Masisi areas. Aid agencies are struggling to distribute food and other relief items to over 300,000 internally war-displaced people there. A top Ugandan military officer told© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Who is behind these divisions and fighting?Oct 20th, 2007 - 16:55:50

The world powers, all those who have robbed the world of their resources and are continuing to do so, are behind all these wars and destruction of the innocent at the hands of agents of those criminal nations.

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Ugandan military on alert as showdown looms in Congo

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