Fighting stops but situation remains "tense" in Butembo

Fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) town of Butembo had stopped on Monday, but the situation remained "tense", according to Hamadoun Toure, spokesman of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, known as MONUC. "Firing has stopped but the situation remains tense," Toure told IRIN. "We learned that fighting resumed this morning opposing RCD-K/ML [Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation] troops and unidentified armed groups - maybe Mayi-Mayi elements." Fighting with heavy weaponry between a Mayi-Mayi militia and the RCD-K/ML, a rebel group allied to Kinshasa, first erupted on Thursday. RCD-K/ML authorities said that it was simply a matter of certain elements resisting a disarmament operation being conducted, and that the town remained fully under their control. Other reports said, however, that the Mayi-Mayi militia had taken control of Butembo. At least 35 corpses lined the streets of Butembo over the weekend, according to one source. "I counted 35 corpses strewn in the streets of the town, including those of a couple whose house had been destroyed by a rocket. There were nine dead from the Armee du peuple congolais [the armed forces of RCD-K/ML], about 15 Mayi-Mayi, and the rest were civilians," Rubain Lukambaka, a reporter for Radio Graben Butembo, told IRIN on Monday from the embattled town. He added that fighting resumed on Monday morning after a quiet Sunday, with new victims not yet accounted for. Although the majority of Butembo's residents remained in their homes, some residents took advantage of the lull on Sunday to flee toward Isale. Meanwhile, business and schools have remained closed since Thursday. The local Red Cross said it did not yet have accurate casualty figures, as fighting had prevented access to the town, but that some of its representatives had been able to visit parts of Butembo. "For Friday alone, we counted 18 dead, of whom five were civilians," local Red Cross representative Innocent Kahehero told IRIN. He added that he hoped to have more accurate figures if fighting subsided. Kahehero said the Red Cross was worried about many thousands of people in the area who had fled fighting between ethnic militias in Bunia, located some 200 km northeast of Butembo. "250,000 people who fled recent fighting in Bunia are living here in camps built by the Red Cross. Fortunately the belligerents have thus far respected the Red Cross flags we have raised there," Kahehero said.