16 07 13 BBC – DR Congo M23 rebels battle army troops near Goma city

 

The UN said it was
prepared to use "lethal force" to protect civilians if the M23
advanced towards Goma.

The fighting comes as its
new 3,000-strong intervention brigade to neutralise and disarm the rebels is
approaching full strength.

Last year the rebels
pulled out of Goma after briefly seizing the city. Peace talks between the two
sides in Uganda
have since stalled.

Meanwhile, aid agencies
say more than 70,000 Congolese refugees have now fled into Uganda
following separate clashes in eastern DR Congo near the border on Thursday.

A Uganda rebel group
based in DR Congo – the Allied Democratic Forces – raided the town of Kamango,
which has been since been retaken by the Congolese army.

The BBC's international
development correspondent Mark Doyle says the widespread fighting illustrates
how difficult the task of the new UN offensive force will be.

'Waiting to negotiate'

UN peacekeepers are on
"maximum alert" to protect Goma as battles continue near the
strategic city, the capital of North Kivu
province.

The frontline is in
Mutaho, about 7km (four miles) north of Goma.

Both sides accused the
other of starting the fighting. The army said it began on Sunday at 15:00
(13:00 GMT) and continued for five hours, resuming again on Monday morning.

The M23 says their
positions were bombarded all night until 03:00.

Government spokesperson
Lambert Mende told the BBC Focus on Africa
radio programme that army troops had killed at least 100 rebels.

The M23 and its main
sponsor, Rwanda,
had launched the offensive to sabotage the deployment of the UN brigade, he
said.

The brigade was
approaching its full strength, with 70% of troops deployed, Mr Mende added.

Rebel spokesman Amani
Kabasha said the army had attacked their positions first, with other rebel
groups fighting alongside them. He refused to comment on whether there had been
any casualties.

"What's important is
to go back to Kampala
to negotiate. We have been there for six months waiting for [President Joseph]
Kabila but he refuses to talk to us," he said.

The M23 rebels, who like Rwanda's
leaders are mainly from the Tutsi ethnic group, mutinied and deserted from the
Congolese army in April 2012, forcing an estimated 800,000 people from their
homes in the ensuing unrest in the mineral-rich region.

A UN report leaked
earlier this month says Rwanda is now only providing "limited"
support to the M23 rebels and Uganda none at all. Both countries had denied
allegations in an earlier UN report that they were arming the group.

The BBC's Catherine
Byaruhanga in Bundibudgyo, on the Ugandan border with the DR Congo, says many
refugees fleeing the ADF attack are staying with Ugandan relatives.

A new camp was set up on
Sunday, about 8km from Bundibudgyo, for those some of those who have been
forced to sleep out in the open without shelter and food, she says.

According to the UN, the
ADF has recently expanded its military capacity and established links with Somalia's
al-Shabab Islamist militants.