[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Some 113 rebels died in festivities on Thursday between the M23 rebel group and Democratic Republic of the Congo...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or
Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
troops, the regional governor said, as violence flared days after the UN and US imposed sanctions on the group's leader.
The fighting early Thursday near the eastern city of Goma came a day after the UN said gangs in the region slaughtered over 200 people including scores of children between April and September.
Julien Paluku, governor of the resource-rich North Kivu province whose capital is Goma, added that "a few" members of the DR Congo government forces (FARDC) were maimed in the festivities, along with the 113 rebels killed, up sharply from a previous toll.
Government front man Lambert Mende had said earlier that "51 bodies (of rebels) wearing Rwandan army uniforms have been collected".