Congo Accuses Uganda of Infiltration

KINSHASA, Congo — President Laurent Kabila’s government has accused Uganda of joining fellow neighbor Rwanda in sending troops into Congo to fight in a week-old Tutsi-led revolt.

Information Minister Didier Mumengi said at a news conference Sunday that two Ugandan army columns with tanks, armored cars and trucks had crossed the border near Lake Albert in the northeast of Congo, formerly called Zaire.

“These Ugandan soldiers are heading for Bunia,” he said referring to the northeastern town.

Earlier, Kabila’s administration accused Rwandan troops of joining the rebels in both the east, where the revolt began Aug. 2, and in the west in the strategic Congo River corridor linking the capital, Kinshasa, to the sea.

Rwanda’s Tutsi-led army and Congo’s ethnic Tutsi Banyamulenge minority, who launched the latest revolt in Goma, helped Kabila fight the seven-month bush war that toppled dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and brought Kabila to power.

Uganda also backed Kabila’s campaign to topple Mobutu.

Both countries have denied being involved this time.

Mumengi had said that government forces launched offensives Saturday in the Buvaku region in the east and near the oil town of Moanda and the garrison town of Kitona in the west.

Business sources in touch with the Moanda area confirmed that government forces had surrounded the town and naval base of Banana.

“The fact is government troops have surrounded the rebels in Moanda and Banana, but we’ve had no report of any exchange of fire,” one said.

A Nigerian pilot, Raymond Inyang, told the Mumengi news conference that rebels had commandeered three planes, which they were using to send supplies and men from their stronghold in Goma to the western front.

“I was on a routine flight from Kinshasa and Kisangani to Goma. On arrival, I was told I could not depart for security reasons, and I noticed many soldiers at the airport,” he said.

“We took the troops from Goma to Kitona,” he added. “The number of people on board should have been about 200. They have no heavy weapons aside from rifles and grenade launchers.”

Mumengi also said there had been fierce fighting since Saturday in Uvira near the eastern border with Burundi, but there was no confirmation.