Hundreds of government soldiers rampaged through several villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), raping women and pillaging homes as they pulled back ahead of a feared rebel advance, the UN reported.
Meanwhile, neighboring Angola said it was mobilizing troops to send to DR Congo, though Angolan Deputy Foreign Minister Georges Chicoty did not specify how many or what their mission will be.
Southern African regional leaders meeting at a summit on Sunday had discussed sending troops to reinforce the scattered Congolese army near Goma.
The provincial capital has been besieged by rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda since he reached the outskirts.
The rebels have promised to fight any African troops that aid the Congolese army.
Chicoty made the announcement on Angolan national radio after attending a meeting in Brussels with European foreign ministers on Tuesday. He said the troops were going to DR Congo under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community and the EU.
Reporters have already seen in the country Portuguese-speaking black soldiers wearing green berets with pins in the shape of a map of Angola. But the UN has said it did not have direct independent confirmation that Angolan troops were already in DR Congo.
The presence of Angolans in the volatile region could be seen as a provocation by neighboring Rwanda, raising tensions and fears that the fighting could spill beyond DR Congo’s borders.
UN peacekeeping spokesman Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich said the Congolese army troops had reportedly raped civilians near the town of Kanyabayonga in violent attacks that began overnight and lasted into Tuesday morning.
Kanyabayonga is 100km north of Goma.
Dietrich said 700 to 800 Congolese soldiers then fled Kanyabayonga and went on a rampage through several villages to the north.
“They looted vehicles, they looted some houses,” Dietrich said by telephone from Kinshasa, the national capital.
A rare nighttime gunbattle erupted late on Tuesday between rebels and the army just north of Goma, and the UN said it was trying to get the warring sides to move further apart.
Mortars were also used during the nearly one-hour fight near Kibati, Dietrich said.
Kibati is 10km north of Goma and home to 75,000 people who have been repeatedly forced to flee fighting.
“There is a big tension because there are so many people there and it’s so close to Goma,” he said.
In New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire so aid workers could help “at least 100,000 refugees” cut off in rebel-held areas north of Goma.
The UN chief also said he was “very concerned by reports of targeted killings of civilians, looting and rape.”
Ban said about 3,000 more UN peacekeeping soldiers and police were urgently needed to bolster the 17,000-strong UN force in DR Congo that has been unable to stop the fighting or halt the rebel advance.
The UN Security Council met on Tuesday to take up Ban’s request.
Diplomats said the council is close to approving 3,000 more peacekeeping troops.
After a two-hour closed-door meeting on Tuesday, members of the 15-nation UN Security Council and the Congolese ambassador said broad agreement exists for beefing up the 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in DR Congo, known as MONUC.
Aid workers were trying to gain access to the towns of Rutshuru and Kiwanja, both 16km south of Kanyabayonga in rebel-held territory, where they expected the need for food was urgent.
In normal times, the two towns have a combined population of more than 150,000. But aid workers said they have no idea how many people are there now.
At least 250,000 people have been displaced by 10 weeks of fighting between army troops and rebels led by Nkunda.
A rebel spokesman said any aid workers who wanted to help civilians trapped on rebel-held territory would be safe.
DR Congo’s armed forces are notoriously ill-disciplined soldiers, historically better at looting than standing their ground. In recent days, some have been seen manning checkpoints drunk.
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