Residents flee fighting in DRC border town

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By Finbarr O'Reilly and Arthur Asiimwe

Kinshasa - Hundreds of people fled into Rwanda on Friday to escape fighting between rival factions of the Democratic Republic of Congo army in the border town of Bukavu, United Nations and local officials said.

"There's continuing sporadic fighting with some heavy weapons and small arms. It's not as sustained as yesterday (Thursday) but has been going off and on since 6am (05h00 GMT)," said Sebastien Lapierre, spokesperson for the UN mission in Bukavu.

Just across the border in Rwanda, hundreds of residents sought shelter near Cyangugu, which faces Bukavu across the southern end of Lake Kivu.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1085740202370B252&set_id=1

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1. UN chopper fires on DRC town

Kigali - A UN helicopter opened fire on Friday on dissident soldiers in the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Bukavu and the UN mission there said it had ordered the soldiers to return to barracks by Saturday morning or face arrest.

The soldiers have been fighting regular troops since Wednesday in Bukavu, where at least 14 people are reported to have died in the clashes.

"The helicopter opened fire on a position held by Colonel (Jules) Mutebusi, where his men were threatening civilians," Sebastian Lapierre, a spokesperson for Monuc, the UN military mission in DRC, told AFP by phone from Bukavu.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1534480,00.html