Fourteen people have been killed in two recent attacks in the east of the wartorn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rebels told AFP Wednesday.
Norbert Katintima Basengezi, the governor of Sud Kivu province, which is rebel-held territory, said six people had been killed in an ambush Monday as they were coming home to the town of Uvira, near the border with Burundi.
He told AFP that Burundian Hutu rebels and Rwandan Hutu Mai-Mai militias were behind the ambush, carried out on group of around 100 villagers coming home from Minembwe market, 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Uvira.
In a separate attack near Walungu, also in Sud Kivu, eight people were killed, rebel sources claimed.
Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda have been fighting the government of DRC President Laurent Kabila since August 1998. Kabila has backing from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.
All belligerents but one rebel party recently agreed to pull back their troops from the frontline in line with a cease-fire agreement signed last year but repeatedly violated since -- KIGALI (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
