Fresh fighting between renegade troops and government soldiers broke out near Congo's eastern town of Bukavu today, a commander for the dissident force said.
Colonel Jules Mutebutsi, a renegade commander whose forces seized Bukavu from the army along with another group of insurgents last week, said he had been attacked by government troops southwest of Bukavu .
"I was attacked this morning. (Army commander) General Mbuza Mabe's troops came from Walungu, southwest of Bukavu . They were many but they didn't get very far," Mutebutsi told Reuters by phone.
"I am in town and of course we will continue to defend ourselves," he said, adding the situation was now calm. UN spokesman Sebastien Lapierre in Bukavu confirmed that shooting was heard on the outskirts of town this morning, but said UN military observers who went there to investigate had seen no government troops.
Renegade soldiers loyal to General Laurent Nkunda left Bukavu yesterday under international pressure. But Mutebutsi's men, thought to number about 300, remained in the town.
The fighting in Bukavu has plunged eastern Congo into a fresh spiral of violence and is threatening to derail the country's fragile peace process.