Congolese Tutsi rebels fought for a second day in the east today against local Mai-Mai militia, the United Nations said, and a rebel spokesman accused the government side of breaking a week-old ceasefire.
A UN military spokesman said fighting which broke out yesterday at Kiwanja in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo resumed today between the rebels and Pareco Mai-Mai militiamen, whom the rebels say side with the government.
"The ceasefire has already been broken," Bertrand Bisimwa, a spokesman for the rebels loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda, told reporters.
He said the rebel side would respond to any attacks by the government launched from the North Kivu provincial capital Goma, which is some 70 km (45) miles south of where Wednesday's clashes were taking place. There was no immediate reaction from the government.
Mr Nkunda declared a ceasefire last week, halting a major advance towards Goma.
No details of casualties from the latest fighting were immediately available. It was not clear whether the Kiwanja clashes would lead to wider hostilities between Nkunda's rebels and government forces facing each other in North Kivu.
The combat took place near Rutshuru, where aid agencies are trying to reach tens of thousands of hungry, frightened civilians who have fled the fighting in North Kivu.
A unit of Indian and Uruguayan peacekeepers have a position at Rutshuru.
Reuters