A rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) gained ground yesterday, as Kinshasa accused Rwandan troops of invading its territory to support the insurgency.
A government spokesman, Mr Didier Mumengi, said Kinshasa was preparing a 'vigorous riposte' after 400 Rwandan troops entered Goma in the east where they seized an airplane and flew it to Kitona military base in the south-west.
Fighting was reported in Kisangani, the country's third-biggest city, as well as in Bukavu and other areas along the border with Rwanda, and Uvira on Lake Tan- ganyika, across from Burundi.
An army rebellion broke out in the eastern DRC on Sunday, as well as in the capital Kinshasa, after President Laurent Kabila last week asked Rwandan soldiers who had helped him seize power last year - to go home.
The army rebels used a state radio station to accuse Mr Kabila of "nepotism, corruption and bad government" and to say that "we, the DRC army, have decided to seize power from President Kabila."
Banyamulenge soldiers - ethnic Tutsis originally from Rwanda - said told an AFP journalist Tuesday yesterday that they held Bukavu, its airport and the surrounding areas but denied involvement of Rwandan troops.
"Some Congolese soldiers have joined us to fight against Kabila because he is the new Mobutu. Nothing has changed in the last year," said one soldier from the bridge of the Rusizi river, which separates DR Congo from Rwanda.
He was referring to Mobutu Sese Seko who was ousted from power by Mr Kabila's predominantly Tutsi forces in May 1997. DRC officials reported armed Rwandan troops crossing the border in the Goma and Bukavu areas.
Mr Mumengi said 400 had crossed and seized the Boeing 737 aircraft - which seats a maximum of 199 passengers - that was flown to Kitona.
"Blood was spilled in Kitona," said a government statement broadcast on radio and television, pledging that Kinshasa "will use all means to end Rwanda's aggression."
It urged a "general mobilisation" of the population to support President Kabila.
The DRC Justice Minister, Mr Mwenze Kongolo, earlier accused Rwanda of having invaded his country by sending heavily armed troops in support of the rebellion.
The Rwandan soldiers were fighting troops loyal to Mr Kabila on the ground in Bukavu, he held. He did not say how many Rwandan soldiers were involved or what kind of heavy weaponry they were using.
The Rwandan army denied the allegation, but a UN source in Kinshasa said that battalions apparently coming from Rwanda entered Goma yesterday morning.
Mr Benjamin Serukiza, the vice-governor of the Kivu region in which Bukavu and Uvira are located, said told AFP that the rebels now controlled a "large part" of the area. Mr Serukiza said he had joined the rebel side.
Around Uvira, to the south, heavy weapons fire was reported throughout Tuesday yesterday afternoon, Burundi border police said.
The fighting forced the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to suspend the repatriation of Congolese refugees from neighbouring Tanzania, a spokesperson at the UNHCR office in Geneva said.
Zambia yesterday closed its border on the north copper-belt region with the DRC after Congolese soldiers fought with Banyamulenge Tutsi rebels at Mokambo before fleeing into Zambia, national television in Zambia said.
A second Hutu rebel leader, Lieut-Col Doctuer Mugemana was killed overnight in a military operation in northern Rwanda, military sources said yesterday.
Col Mugemana was the aide de camp of Rwanda's late Hutu president , Mr Juvenal Habyarimana, whose death sparked the 1994 genocide in the country.
Another rebel leader, Lieut-Col Leonard Nkundiye, was killed on July 23rd. He was Mr Habyarimana's aide de camp from 1978-1988 before commanding the presidential guard.