LUOFU, Congo - Rebels steadily advanced in eastern Congo on Tuesday, and fleeing government soldiers even fought with their allies as army control in the region broke down, witnesses said.
The Mai Mai militia normally support the government, but they appeared to be taking advantage of the army's retreat to steal the soldiers' weapons, witnesses said.
"They (Mai Mai) are seeing soldiers fleeing and they want them to leave their arms with them," Bahati Maene, 19, told The Associated Press after fleeing his home Monday night.
The fighting Tuesday took place around Kanyabayonga, about 130 kilometres north of the regional capital, Goma. Clashes between fighters loyal to rebel leader Laurent Nkunda on one side and the army and its allied spear-wielding militias on the other exploded in August and has displaced at least 250,000 people.
Nkunda told UN envoy Olusegun Obasanjo on Sunday that he was committed to a cease-fire and UN efforts to end the fighting, but his troops have been carving out an even greater territory in the remote hills north of Goma.
Congolese army Lt. Jean-Pierre Lumisa said the fighting with the Mai Mai was an "isolated case."
"They are not our enemies," he said. "They are just difficult to control and coordinate with."
The army's disarray is so dire that Congolese President Joseph Kabila has sacked his army chief.
Didier Etumba, a high ranking officer, was promoted to the rank of general on Monday. Etumba was named chief of the army "due to the necessity and the urgency of the situation," according to a presidential decree read on state-run television.
Congo has the world's largest UN peacekeeping mission, with 17,000 troops, but the peacekeepers have been unable to either stop the fighting or protect civilians. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the top UN envoy in Congo, Alan Doss, have been urging the Security Council to send strengthen the peacekeeping force in Congo.
A draft Security Council resolution, obtained by The Associated Press on Monday, proposed temporarily adding about 3,100 troops and police to the peacekeeping force in Congo.
It condemns the resurgence of violence in eastern Congo and demands all parties immediately respect a cease-fire. It also expresses "extreme concern" over reported attacks targeting civilians, rapes, the recruitment of child soldiers and summary executions.
Nkunda declared a unilateral cease-fire in late October as his fighters swarmed toward Goma, which serves as regional headquarters for the provincial government, the UN and aid groups.
Since then, rebels have consolidated their positions, appointing their own local administrators and forcibly recruiting young men and boys to join their ranks, aid workers say.
Although the rebels halted outside Goma, they have advanced farther north. Today they control the entire road from Goma to the doorstep of Kanyabayonga.
The dilapidated route winds through Virunga National Park, where elephants roam and troops of baboons can be seen scurrying through the road. Several park ranger stations and gates are abandoned, littered with boots and discarded uniforms.
