GOMA (DR Congo), Nov 13: Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo swept to the outskirts of a strategic crossroads town on Thursday where hundreds of government troops and UN peacekeepers stood in their way.

“We are at the entrance of Kanyabayonga”, said Bertrand Bisimwa, spokesman for the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) led by renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda.

Two independent sources said the rebels, as of Wednesday night, had advanced to about 10 kilometres south of the town, which is around 175 kilometres north of the Nord-Kivu capital Goma.

Peacekeepers with the UN Mission in the DR Congo (MONUC) and FARDC government forces had “reinforced their positions at Kanyabayonga,” MONUC’s military spokesman Jean-Paul Dietrich said.

“As far as the FARDC are concerned, we’re talking about several hundred men,” said Dietrich, adding that the government army was “consolidating its command structure”.

Government soldiers went on a looting rampage in Kanyaboyanga and surrounding towns earlier this week, apparently unhappy after being ordered to fall back from positions nearer the front line.

A government spokesman said soldiers responsible for looting and brutality against the local population would be punished.

Dietrich confirmed that FARDC forces had “begun to arrest looters” but said there “were still some problems yesterday (Wednesday).”The rebels said they had advanced on the town without a fight, as government troops had fled.

“The situation is calm,” Bisimwa said. “We can see that the adversary is still fleeing.” Kanyabayonga is strategic because it is the meeting point of main roads in Nord-Kivu, and thus a point of control over the north of the conflict-stricken province.

The rebels commanded by renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda — who for more than two weeks have been 15 kilometres outside Goma — already control Mirangi village, the last community on the way into Kanyabayonga, one of the independent sources said.

For the past two weeks, the rebels have been surrounding Goma, eastern DR Congo’s main city, forcing the UN peacekeepers to send reinforcements to protect the city and its population of an estimated half a million.

The United Nations meanwhile said that around 20,000 people currently living in the Kibati camp, just north of Goma, would be relocated “as soon as possible” for security reasons, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told said on Thursday.

“Kibati is a disaster. You can’t have people there, so close to the front line,” said David Nthengwe, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency in Goma.

“The military are always going through the camp, in and out, and knowing the behaviour of the army, anything can happen.”—AFP