Congo rebels force army into chaotic retreat

A retreat by Congo government troops in the face of continued rebel attacks was in danger of turning into a rout today.

Tribal militias, normally loyal to the army, turned on soldiers as they fled through rebel-held territory north of Goma, the eastern capital.

The Mai Mai militiamen appeared to be taking advantage of the army’s retreat to steal soldiers’ weapons.

The fighting today around Kanyabayonga, about 80 miles north of Goma, suggests ever-deepening fissures within Congo’s fractured army.

Clashes between fighters loyal to rebel leader Laurent Nkunda on one side and the army and its allied militias on the other exploded in August and has displaced at least 250,000 people.

But that figure does not include remote towns like Kanyabayonga, whose entire population has fled, or Kayna, another town just to the north, which was also virtually deserted.

Although Nkunda promised the UN he was committed to a cease-fire, his troops have been carving out an even greater territory in the remote hills north of Goma.

Yesterday the rebels took control of Rwindi, the headquarters of Virunga National Park, after a night spent trading artillery and mortar fire with army forces.

Kanyabayonga itself was virtually deserted, except for handfuls of people still fleeing with everything they owned. Hundreds of soldiers could be seen in apparent retreat, walking down the same roads pushing wooden bikes laden with sacks, and carrying ammunition and bundles of belongings on their heads.

Congo has the world’s largest UN peacekeeping mission, with 17,000 troops, but they have been unable to either stop the fighting or protect civilians.