DRC: Thousands Flee in Fresh Eastern DRC Clashes

Kinshasa---Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following fresh clashes that have ensued between government forces and mutineer soldiers led by General Bosco Ntaganda.

Fighting has rocked areas in and around the Virunga national park since Saturday where the mutineers are said to be holed up, leading in an outpour of natives fleeing from the clashes that has embroiled neighbouring populace.

On Saturday, government forces are said to have carried out air raids on Runyonyi town near the Rwandan border held by the renegade soldiers, followed by heavy ground gunfire on Sunday morning.Local sources have reported over 10,000 people have fled to neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda.

"There has been heavy weapon firing this morning in Runyonyi. People are fleeing the hills around Runyonyi and heading for Jomba and Tchengerero," a representative of a local civil society group told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

Gen Ntaganda and a band of senior officers from his formerly National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebel group mutinied from their national army units in north and south Kivu citing long complaining of a lack of pay, poor food and difficulties in winning promotions.

CNDP was integrated into the Congolese army (FARDC) among other rebel movements under the 2009 peace deal, marking the end of the country’s worst ever conflict that claimed over a million lives in fighting, displacing other millions.

Ntaganda, nicknamed the “Terminator” has been indicted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including conscription of child soldiers during his rebellion days

One of the mutinied group, the March 23 movement has reported “a massive” population displacement in the Bunagana region in fear of fighting, with some crossing to Uganda after what they claim that the government forces attacked the mutineers with tanks and fighter planes.

"We repelled government forces in Runyonyi, Bukima, Bikenge... Loyalist forces bombed places when we weren't even there, they bombed the local population," said Lieutenant Colonel Vianney Kazarana, a spokesman for the group, that is demanding full implementation of the 2009 accord.

The CNDP said on Sunday that it’s ready to broker talks with the Congolese government instead of “things getting worse and worse.”

This follows after the FARDC said it had launched a secret operation to hunt for Ntaganda who was said to be hiding in Virunga Park famed for its mountain gorillas.

Military officials said they have since welcomed back a tremendous number of mutineers who have returned back since the expiry of a five-day ultimatum issued last Saturday, requiring them to return back to their units.

The military chose clemency for the deserters said to be returning to the army after facing hardship in the park where they had been hiding out for over a week now, because they were forcibly led away or tricked by Ntaganda.

Defence ministers from both DRC and Rwanda met over the weekend in the border town of Gisenyi for security talks focusing on the ongoing clashes and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.

Kampala, Uganda

Uganda’s LRA Commander Arrested

The Ugandan army has captured a senior commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army, following an operation that has renewed hopes for capture of the elusive LRA leader Joseph Kony wanted for war crime charges.

Ceasar Achellam, a major general whom the Ugandan army says is a top military strategist in the rebel outfit was captured on Saturday after a struggle between the Ugandan troops and a group of about 30 rebel fighters along the banks of River Mbou in neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR).

The Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) said on Sunday that Achellam, whom they had been trailing for a month, was returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo, when he walked into the Ugandan soldiers’ trap. He was armed with just an AK-47 rifle and eight rounds of ammunition at the time of capture.

UPDF says his capture would encourage other fighters to abandon LRA, which recently gained worldwide attention after the Kony 2012: Invincible Children video on the group’s atrocities and pillaging made by a US charity the has gone viral on the internet.

"The arrest of Major General Caesar Achellam is big progress because he is a big fish. His capture is definitely going to cause an opinion shift within LRA," said Felix Kulaigye, a UPDF spokesman.

He was being held with his wife, a young daughter and a helper.

Following his arrest the LRA commander told reporters "The general of the division, Caesar Achellam, who has fought in the jungle since 1984, is from now on in the hands of the Ugandan Army."

The Army which has a special unit hunting for Kony, reinitiated their pursuit with aid from 100-strong US military advisors, for the warlord said to be hiding in remote border region of CAR, but other reports have claimed that he has moved to Sudan’s Darfur region controlled by rebels allied to Khartoum government.

Formed in 1987, the LRA under Joseph Kony has been seeking to establish a theocratic state based on Christianity and local Acholi traditions in Uganda, leading to greatest human rights violations in mainly northern Uganda and neighbouring DR Congo.

The International Criminal Court issued a warrant of arrest against Kony among the other top five LRA leaders wanted for rape, mutilation and murder of civilians, as well as conscription of children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves.

Driven out of Uganda in a US-supported military operation by Ugandan army in 2009, the LRA currently estimated at between 200 and 500 fighters, continues to rein terror on local communities in the border regions of DR Congo, South Sudan and CAR in trademarked attacks of mutilating victims’ ears and lips.