Fighting in DR Congo kills 7 refugees fleeing to Uganda, injures 17

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dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday December 6, 2006

Kampala- A bomb landed on a group of fleeing Congolese refugees Tuesday night during intense fighting between government forces and renegade troops, killing seven people and injuring 17 others, the Ugandan military said on Wednesday. The refugees were part of the thousands who were running from battles between forces loyal to the government in Kinshasa and the rebellious factional army led by general Laurent Nkunda when the bomb landed in their midst in a border village in south-western Uganda.

"It was a stray bomb but it is not clear whether it came from Nkunda's side or that of the government army. It landed in the middle of the road from the Congo side. Seven people died," the regional military spokesman, lieutenant Tabaro Kiconco told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Army officials also said the Congolese army on Tuesday night retook the two towns which had been occupied by renegade forces led by Nkunda.

General Nkunda has fought the Congolese government forces since he refused to join the out-going transitional government in Kinshasa, alleging that his Tutsi ethnic tribesmen, also known as Banyamulenge, were being marginalized.

Much of the eastern regions of the vast country have been embattled by ethnic conflicts, and a 1998-2003 war killed some 4 million people, mostly from hunger and disease. The Ugandan army was roped into that conflict.

By dawn Wednesday, nearly 20,000 refugees, mostly women and children, had fled toward Uganda's border areas with the DR Congo since the fighting between the Congolese army and Nkunda's forces intensified Tuesday.

The clashes came as Joseph Kabila was sworn in as president, the first elected ruler since the country's independence in 1960.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency