United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
19 February 2008
press release
Kinshasa — MONUC was informed that armed confrontations took place Sunday February 17, 2008, between ex-combatants of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), the political-military movement for Laurent Nkunda, and soldiers of the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC), all of which were in training in the Kamina base, located 600 km north-west of Lubumbashi, in Katanga province in south eastern DRC.
According to information available to MONUC, these confrontations started around 7pm local time, following a dispute between the soldiers present in this base for the brassage process, which later degenerated into a confrontation with light weapons.
The confrontation continued in a sporadic way during the night, and ended around 7am the following morning.
According to a first assessment, communicated by the Kamina base commander General FARDC Mbuja Mabe, these confrontations left 27 wounded, some seriously, including 16 CNDP ex-combatants, ten FARDC soldiers and a civilian, which were evacuated to the FARDC base hospital.
No deaths have been announced, although only a provisional assessment has been made.
An FARDC delegation of several officers from Kinshasa, led by the chief of staff of the ground forces, arrived at Kamina this morning to examine the situation.
After a briefing by the base commanders, MONUC's team of military observers based in Kamina, continue to closely follow the development of the situation.
MONUC deplores these violence which put lives in danger. The process of brassage should be safe from any incident which can block its good performance.
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