Fresh violence in Congo's Bunia as militia fire
By Dino Mahtani
KINSHASA, 12 July (Reuters) - Militiamen in the Congolese town of Bunia, where a French-led multinational force has deployed, caused panic on Saturday by unleashing heavy firing from the bush.
"We could hear the firing from all corners of the town. We have reports of at least two people being killed at the main roundabout in town," U.N. spokesman Leocadio Salmeron said from the town in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Fighting between ethnic Hema and Lendu militia has claimed hundreds of lives since May, and adds to the 50,000 death count in the surrounding region of Ituri since 1998.
The fighting comes a day after the French-led force attacked a camp belonging to the UPC, the main ethnic Hema group, killing at least three militia.
French military sources say that at least one UPC fighter was killed by the multinational force in Saturday's clash.
The UPC had controlled the town after chasing their Lendu rivals out in May. But the multinational force has recently imposed a weapons ban in the town.
The UPC appears to be unhappy with demands they cut their leader's bodyguard unit from 30 men to five whenever they are in public.
The first contingent of Bangladeshi soldiers under U.N. command are expected in Bunia early next week, as part of a deployment to prepare for a French withdrawal expected by September.
A new transitional government in the Congo aiming to end the country's wider war is expected to be installed next week.
07/12/03 19:28 ET
