Congo fighting displaces more civilians

Clashes broke out Saturday between rebels and a pro-government militia in eastern Congo, forcing people to flee their homes, a U.N. official said.

The fighting in two villages in North Kivu province pitted rebels loyal to former army general Laurent Nkunda against Mai Mai militiamen, said Maj. Prem Kumar Tiwari, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo.

Tiwari did not know how many people had fled the fighting, which took place about 60 miles north of the regional capital, Goma.

Thousands have fled their homes in the region in the past week because of renewed outbreaks of violence, according to the chief U.N. peacekeeping spokesman, Kemal Saiki.

Saturday's clashes came two days after President Joseph Kabila said during a visit to Goma that the army had the "green-light" to begin forcibly disarming Nkunda's fighters if they ignore calls to integrate into the national army.

The army said Thursday it had killed more than 100 rebels in five days of fighting. Nkunda then called for a cease-fire to avoid civilian casualties.

Defense Minister Chikez Nieumu said about 150 of Nkunda's fighters had fled the rebel ranks.

Nkunda left the army and formed his own militia soon after Congo's war ended in 2002, claiming he needed to protect his minority Tutsi ethnic group from Rwandan Hutu rebels who took refuge in eastern Congo following Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Congo's government has struggled with little success to establish authority over the lawless eastern regions of the country, which are thousands of miles from Kinshasa, the capital.

Since January, between 400,000 and 500,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Congo's North Kivu province, according to the United Nations.

U.N. peacekeepers helped end the 1998-2002 civil war in Congo, which drew in the armies of six neighboring countries. The nearly 18,000-strong mission in Congo is the largest U.N. peacekeeping operation.