HUNDREDS of Zairean government troops went on a rampage of looting and raping in the northeastern city of Kisangani as victorious rebels said they were advancing towards the city from the south and east.
The rebels said on Tuesday night they had captured the town of Kindu, on the way to Kisangani, but residents said yesterday that the town remained in government hands.
They said Kindu, 400 km south of Kisangani, was a virtual military fortress with large numbers of Zairean soldiers in town. The soldiers, unpaid for months and short of food, had done some limited looting there, they added.
Kisangani residents said Zairean authorities tried to control up to 600 soldiers on the rampage after retreating from rebel held areas along the eastern borders of the country.
On the border between Uganda and Zaire, hundreds of kilometres east of Kisangani, heavy fighting raged yesterday between the Ugandan army and Ugandan rebels based in Zaire, Ugandan officers in Kampala said.
On Tuesday night a Zairean rebel officer, Mr Jean Kabongo, said in Goma that the rebels had added Kindu to the list of towns they have taken since the rebellion broke out on the Rwandan border in October. But even without Kindu, the rebels hold a front 550 km long, running north south parallel to the border.
Earlier this week the rebels said they had entered parts of Kisangani, but Mr Kabongo back tracked from this on Tuesday.
"Kisangani is surrounded, but we haven't moved in yet. When we do, we will be in a position to travel down the river to Kinshasa. This fighting has been hard for our troops, but they are used to it, they are from here," he said.
The rebels say their ultimate aim is to overthrow the President of Zaire, Mr Mobutu Sese Seko, who is in the south of France recovering from surgery for prostate cancer.
The rebel leader, Mr Laurent Kabila, has written to Mr Mobutu blaming him for Zaire's many ills and asking him to resign, according to a summary of the letter made available yesterday.
Mr Kabongo said the rebels, known as the Alliance of Democratic Force for the Liberation of Congo Zaire, would leave mining concessions untouched in the areas they control, provided the mining companies pay taxes to the rebel administration.
The rebels will try to open up new areas to mining, especially in the central region of Kasai, he added.
"All diamond mines and operations, like De Beers, in MbujiMayi, will remain in the hands of the companies who have been running them and operating the franchises up until now.
"This is their job. We will change the taxation system in as much as legitimate taxes and permission money are given to us rather than the Zairean government. We will not interfere as long as they continue to respect our regulations," he said.
The rebels say that on their southern front they have captured the mining centre of Kamituga, where they say the South Africa based Anglo American Corp has been operating.
In Johannesburg, Anglo American Corp and De Beers denied yesterday they were operating any mines in Zaire.