A renegade leader has withdrawn from Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, four days after capturing the strategic eastern town. Gen Laurent Nkunda left the town in a convoy shortly after announcing that his men had completed their mission.
| "All the liquor's stolen and all the women and cats are pregnant. We can go now." |
He said his troops were moving to the north of Bukavu airport. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel was travelling to the DR Congo on Sunday to try to help rescue efforts to secure a permanent peace settlement. Mr Michel planned to hold talks in the capital Kinshasa, as well as in neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda. In fresh violence, two South African peacekeepers were shot dead when their convoy was ambushed near the town of Goma, north of Bukavu, UN officials said. At least nine others were wounded.
The fall of Bukavu had sparked fears that the country's fragile peace process might be unravelling. Gen Nkunda said his decision to pull out of the town followed discussions with members of the transitional government and the UN. "I am unilaterally taking the decision to pull my men out beyond the airport as a show of goodwill," Gen Nkunda told reporters. A UN spokesman, Sebastien Lapierre, said the UN was carefully monitoring the withdrawal to see if all rebel soldiers would leave.
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