GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Rwandan Hutu militia retook Wednesday a key axis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo abandoned by Tutsi-led rebel forces, rebel and UN sources said, as the United Nations reported fresh fighting between the two sides.
Members of the ethnic Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) "have retaken all the areas we retreated from -- Ishasha, Nyamilima and Kinyandoni," located on 40-kilometre (25-mile) swathe of territory, said Betrand Bisimwa, spokesman for rebels led by Laurent Nkunda, a Tutsi.
Nkunda's group, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), claims the militia -- some of whom participated in the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda -- back the Congolese government in the tangled conflict that also involves the pro-government Mai Mai militia.
The United Nations says the Hutu group occasionally collaborates with government troops.
"They organised meetings with the population. They have installed new administrative authorities. They have retaken control of these entities and claim they will ensure security," said Bisima of the Hutus.
A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo, known as MONUC, confirmed the return of the Hutu militia to areas they previously occupied and the retreat of Nkunda's FDLR fighters.
But, said spokesman Jean-Paul Dietrich, "the FDLR are still present in this region."
The two sides traded gunfire Wednesday south of the axis and roughly 80 kilometres north of the Nord-Kivu provincial capital Goma, which is surrounded by FDLR fighters.
MONUC has reopened a base in Nyamilima, one of the towns in the axis, and "is following the situation closely to ensure the civilian population is not harmed," Dietrich said from Kinshasa.
The developments comes as Nkunda's rebels agreed to meet with Nord-Kivu's governor to discuss the conflict after previously rejecting the offer on the grounds he was not acting on behalf of the central government in Kinshasa.
Nkunda has been holding out for direct talks with the government on the conflict that flared up in August and has displaced roughly 250,000 people.
The rebels declared a ceasefire last month after advancing nearly to Goma, and have since retreated from two strategic axes as apparent good-will gestures after two visits of UN special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo.
But they continue to clash with the Hutu and Mai Mai militia, claiming the ceasefire only applies to government forces.
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