Grace Matsiko
13 November 2007
Kampala — UPDF troops have clashed with Congolese renegade General Gen. Laurent Nkunda's forces who had made an incursion into Uganda's western district of Kisoro.
The fighting that took place on Sunday between the UPDF's 17th battalion border patrol unit and a small force of Nkunda's men happened at 8:30am at Kanombe, South of Bunagana border point. This is two and a half kilometers inside Uganda, military sources said yesterday.
Gen. Nkunda alias Laurent Nkunda at ware is a former general in the Armed Forces of the DRC and is the leader of a rebel faction operating in the province of North-Kivu, sympathetic to Congolese Tutsis.
He was indicted for war crimes in September 2005 by the International Criminal Court.
According to military sources, Gen. Nkunda's forces that control the vast swathe of land along the DRC common border with Uganda make occasional incursions into Kisoro which end up in killings and looting.
The army's 2nd Division spokesman, Lt. Tabaro Kiconco confirmed the fighting and said one man was killed, one Sub-Machine Gun (SMG), a hand grenade and 27 rounds of ammunition were recovered.
"It is suspected they (Nkunda fighters) had crossed in their usual characteristic style either to kill or rob civilians, our troops closed in to arrest them but they resisted, they fired several shots at our troops," Lt. Kiconco said.
"Our fire response resulted into the death of one of them. Those who survived went back to DRC with gunshot wounds according to the trail of blood,"Lt. Kiconco said.
He said the combat intelligence operatives are perusing reports to get to know the details of the incursion.
"The security committees in Kisoro especially Miramba and Busanza are urged to be vigilant and the UPDF troops along the border have maintained highest level of vigilance and the alertness," he said.
But Lt. Kiconco ruled out possibilities of the clash erupting into a full-scale war between the UPDF and Gen. Nkunda forces estimated to be close to 8,000 men and women.
As early as yesterday afternoon, Congolese refugees continued to trickle into Uganda from Rutshuru region to avoid being caught in the crossfire. However, the numbers of the Congolese refugees crossing into Uganda is not known.
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