KINSHASA – Dozens of unidentified fighters have attacked a provincial capital in northern Democratic Republic of Congo in a battle that has so far left one UN peacekeeper dead, UN officials have said.
Thirty fighters crossed the Congo river by boat to Mbandaka, capital of Congo’s northern Equateur province, attacking the governor’s residence and taking control of the city’s airport in a surprise assault on Congolese and UN forces, UN and national army sources said.
“There is heavy fighting going on right now, especially around the airport,” Madnodje Mounoubai, spokesman for the UN mission Monuc, said. “There is one [peacekeeper] dead, Ghanaian.”
The attack is thought to be separate from fighting between UN- backed forces and rebels in Congo’s east and marks an escalation in a region where tribal violence first erupted late last year over fishing rights. – (Reuters)