16 09 13 AP online: Congo accuses Rwanda of 'kidnapping' soldier

Sgt.
Munanga Kafakana was detained Sunday while trying to visit family in
the eastern Congo city of Goma, army spokesman Col. Olivier Hamuli
said. A Rwandan immigration official said Kafakana had crossed into
Rwandan territory, but Hamuli insisted he had not.

"He
had not crossed the border, but he was found in a neutral zone when
the Rwandan soldiers kidnapped him," Hamuli said. "We are
trying to calm the tension here at the border, because the population
that alerted us to this arrest wants to go look for him on the other
side of the border."

Congo's
army engaged in heavy fighting late last month with the M23
rebel group, which observers accuse Rwanda of backing despite
consistent denials from Rwanda's government. As the fighting
escalated, a convoy of military vehicles was seen leaving the Rwandan
capital, Kigali, for the Congolese border, heightening fears the two
nations, which have gone to war twice before, might be heading for
another confrontation.

A
Rwandan immigration official in the border town of Gisenyi, who spoke
on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to brief the
media, said Kafakana crossed into Rwanda at around 1 p.m. but was
unable to produce documentation. The official said Kafakana had a
machine gun and armor.

"Immigration
officials requested police to intervene and he was arrested,"
the Rwandan official said.

Congolese
government spokesman Lambert Mende said the arrest of the soldier was
"pure provocation."

"It's
clear that we cannot tolerate the Rwandan army kidnapping a Congolese
soldier found in the neutral zone," Mende said. "We demand
that he be set free immediately and without condition."

Witnesses
said a border post had been closed as a result of the incident,
though Hamuli said there had been no official decision to close any
posts along the border.