By Meryl White
Impunity Watch Reporter for Western and Central Africa

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo – In the east part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese army has killed thirteen of Colonel Laurent Nkundas’s men today. The killing came as retaliation for an attack on government positions in Ntamugenga. The clash occurred 60 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Goma.

A few days ago, a UN field officer confirmed that 17 rebels and two FARDC soldiers had died in the skirmish. “There are people wounded on both sides,” said the source.

Colonel Antoine Mushimbu, leader of the army’s Sixth Brigae, reported that the troops pushed the rebels into the Bukima. After the latest conflict, the country has experienced a slight period of calm.

Presently, the Democratic Republic of Congo has deployed almost 25,000 troops in North Kivu to fight 4,000 rebels loyal to Nkunda. Most of the men claim to be protecting fellow ethnic Tutsis in eastern DRC.

Villagers suffer from the extreme violence in the region. Presently, 800,000 civilian victims are displaced by the conflict. According to Anneke Van Woudenberg, of Human Rights Watch, the government and rebel groups are responsible for the most inhumane excesses against civilians.  “Every time these belligerents fight each other, they have killed, raped and looted civilians,” said Wouedenberg.

A report by Doctors without borders details that victims of the conflict are suffering from outbreaks of Cholera in the makeshift towns. Moreover, victims’ clean water supplies are dwindling down.

For more information, please see:

News 24 South Africa –  DR Congo- 13 Rebels Killed  –    20 December 2007

The Guardian – Mission Impossible – 20 December 2007

AFP-  DR Congo troops push back insurgents; 19 dead  – 19 December 2007