Fighting in Congo leaves 21 dead

Tribal fighters battled for control of a north-eastern Congolese town yesterday in a conflict that has killed at least 21 people and forced thousands of families to flee for safety.

The clashes came as Uganda completed withdrawing more than 6,000 of its soldiers from Bunia, the capital of the north-eastern Ituri district, leaving the town in the hands of Lendu tribal fighters, a small Congolese police force and an even smaller contingent of Uruguayan soldiers serving with the UN mission to Congo, or Monuc.

The police, who are said to be members of the Congolese armed forces, or FAC, and Uruguayans have been ineffective in stemming the violence, and a civil administration set up to run Bunia after the Ugandan withdrawal has collapsed.

The town was in chaos yesterday, the second day of fighting. Hundreds of Lendu warriors armed with machetes, spears and firearms were patrolling the streets, townspeople said. About 2,000 sought refuge at the Monuc compound in Bunia yesterday, but they were turned away, said Honore Musoko, an official from Justice Plus, a local human rights group. Instead, the people gathered outside. Some of the people had forced their way into the UN building on Wednesday, but were removed yesterday morning.

The fighting began on Wednesday evening when militants from the Union of Congolese Patriots, a rebel group dominated by the Hema, the traditional rivals of the Lendu, attacked Bunia in an attempt to seize control of its airport. Lendu fighters repulsed the offensive, using arms they seized from the police sent by the Congolese President, Joseph Kabila, to maintain law once the Ugandans left.

The 21 deaths came on Wednesday, during the fighting for control of the airport and subsequent looting by the Lendu fighters.