Congo fighting clears teeming villages

KANYABAYONGA, Congo – Villages in the mountains of eastern Congo that once housed tens of thousands of people were nearly deserted Monday after Congo’s army clashed with rebels Sunday in some of the worst fighting in a week.

The battles north of the eastern provincial capital of Goma came even as rebel leader Laurent Nkunda promised a U.N. envoy he would support a cease-fire as well as U.N. efforts to end the fighting, which has displaced 250,000 people since August.

The few people remaining in Kanyabayonga were preparing to leave Monday, packing yellow jerry cans and bedrolls before setting off on foot. Congolese army soldiers also were seen fleeing the rebel advance.

The two sides battled Sunday night about 10 miles from here in Rwindi. About 150 people took refuge outside a U.N. peacekeeping base, huddling beside a shipping container as mortar shells and artillery fire rained down.

“These blue helmets would not let us inside, but it’s better than nothing,” said Clement Elias, 20, referring to the U.N. peacekeepers.

On Monday, Rwindi was quiet but rebels were seen walking freely, carrying generators and boxes of ammunition.

The Central African nation has the world’s largest U.N. peacekeeping mission, with some 17,000 troops, but the peacekeepers have been unable to either stop the fighting or protect civilians caught in the way.

On Sunday, the U.N. envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, met with Nkunda for the first time.