CONGO: Renegade Congolese soldiers wrenched control of Bukavu yesterday morning, sparking a major crisis within the transitional government and buffeting the vast country's brittle peace process.
Over 2,000 dissident troops swept past United Nations peacekeepers to seize control of the lakeside city on Congo's eastern border, following a week of sporadic fighting.
Government forces defending Bukavu appeared to have "fled for the hills" according to a UN spokesman in Bukavu. Congo's President Joseph Kabila last night accused Rwandan troops of helping renegade soldiers seizing Bukavu, and vowed to retake it from them.
"I've been in charge of Bukavu since 11 o'clock this morning," said Brig Gen Laurent Nkunda, one of two renegade commanders, at the governor's mansion in the city centre. Elsewhere in the city, UN troops tried to halt looting by Gen Nkunda's troops.
A 1,080-strong UN contingent based around Bukavu failed to stop the rebel advance, despite setting up a buffer zone north of the city, sparking furious demonstrations across the country.
Riot police in the capital, Kinshasa, struggled to push back protesters outside the UN headquarters as black plumes rose from a burning vehicle.
"We have about 600 protesters rioting outside our headquarters here and damaging \ vehicles," said Mr Clive Mantell, chief of staff of the UN mission.
In the second city, Kisangani, angry crowds stoned UN peacekeepers, burned a vehicle, and forced UN troops back to barracks.
The surge in fighting is a disaster for the Democratic Republic of Congo's fragile peace process, which only last June appeared to have been successful. Then, President Kabila and various rebel factions signed a power-sharing agreement that promised to end five years of war which had claimed 3.5 million lives and caused widespread rape and destruction.
The fall of Bukavu threatens to derail the transitional government and raises fears of a fresh war, Congo's third since 1996.
Both Brig Gen Nkunda and a second renegade commander, Col Jules Mutebutsi, are former officers with the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) rebels, whose leaders are now part of the transitional government.
Brig Gen Nkunda refused to join the newly integrated Congolese army last year, and yesterday said he had rebelled against his superiors to prevent a "genocide" of his fellow Banyamulenge tribesmen in Bukavu.
Officials dismissed the genocide claims as spurious, saying the offensive may be a ploy to leverage Gen Nkunda's position within the national army.
"There have been some attacks on Banyamulenge civilians since the fighting started but nothing like a genocide," said one UN official in Bukavu.
The two renegade commanders now hold the only Congolese town outside government control, and pose a serious threat to stability elsewhere in the lawless east. The UN estimates that Brig Gen Nkunda commands between 2,000 and 4,000 soldiers, while Col Mutebutsi has several hundred under his command.
President Kabila scrambled to deflate the crisis, recalling a team of high-level mediators - including former RCD leader Azarias Ruberwa - from the eastern capital Goma to Kinshasa for urgent consultations.
Last night a tense calm settled over Bukavu as Brig Gen Nkunda's soldiers patrolled the streets on foot and in jeeps. Wary civilians started to venture into the mostly deserted streets.
UN spokesman Sebastien Lapierre said it appeared that the government troops had "retreated to the highlands". There were no immediate reports of casualties from yesterday's offensive, but an eight-year-old boy and his father, suffering gunshot wounds to their feet and arms, were brought into the UN compound.
UN and local Red Cross officials say 65 people have died since fighting erupted when Col Mutebutsi's troops attempted to seize Bukavu eight days ago. At least another 80 people have been wounded. "Most of the casualties our staff are treating are coming in with injuries from stray bullets hitting them because they cannot get clear of the danger," said a Red Cross official.