UN Enters Disputed DRC Town

By Emmy Allio THE United Nations has rushed to intervene in the disputed Congolese town of Kanyabayonga which is at the centre of the conflict between Uganda and Rwanda, sources said yesterday. The United Nations Observer Mission to Congo (MONUC) team flew from Kisangani on Monday to Kanyabayonga to establish who was in charge there after Rwanda and Uganda raised concern over its control. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Phinehas Katirima said yesterday MONUC was yet to release its findings. But the controversy on who controls the town continued Tuesday, with Rwanda denying it had troops in the town and accusing Uganda of amassing troops to attack its army. Rwanda said its army’s Chief of Operations confirmed that UPDF held positions marked out at the first Joint Military Commission’s meeting in Kampala on October 12, 1999. The Rwanda government-owned The New Times newspaper yesterday said the UPDF and Jean Pierre Bemba’s Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) forces were in control of the town. The paper said Rwanda had protested to MONUC, accusing Uganda of amassing troops at Kanyabayonga “for imminent attack against Rwandan troops’ positions”. But Katirima said, “Rwanda is lying. We have no troops in Kanyabayonga. We left that position in June.” Uganda’s defence minister Amama Mbabazi on Wednesday denied that Uganda was amassing troops to fight Rwanda. Meanwhile, the government yesterday ordered the total withdrawal of its remaining troops and equipment from the Congolese towns of Gbadolite and Buta to end its presence in that part of Congo. The UPDF will, however, remain in the northeastern Congolese town of Bunia where the battalion from Buta will be transferred, Katirima said. “The current situation does not allow us to keep the army in Congo. The government has decided to withdraw completely from the rear parts of Congo,” he added. A defence ministry official said funds were ready to fly home the soldiers and heavy equipment left by the army in Gbadolite. Uganda has said the Rwanda-backed People’s Redemption Army (PRA) led by renegade UPDF officers, colonels Anthony Kyakabale and Samson Mande were training in areas around Rutshuru, south of Kanyabayonga in the Rwanda-controlled part of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. On Monday, President Yoweri Museveni appointed Lt. Col. Samuel Segamwenge, who was one of the commanders in the Kisangani clash against the Rwandan army, to replace Col. Edson Muzoora in Bunia. Since August last year, the UPDF have withdrawn from Lisala, Kanyabayonga, Bafwasende, Butembo, Buta, Libenge, Gemena, Basankusu, Isiro and Gbadolite. Ends