Fighting rages into night in Congo's diamond city
Rwanda and Uganda fought in Kisangani for a week in the summer of 2000, trading artillery fire from rear positions and shooting e in town. The ICRC said at least 518 people died and 1,668 were wounded. It was the third time the former allies fought in Congo in less than a year. My good friend, AP correspondent Hrvoje Hranjski, was shot in the chest in Kisangani during previous fighting there on Aug. 18, 1999.
June 7, 2000
By Todd Pitman
KISANGANI, Congo, June 8 (Reuters) - Rockets lit the sky over the Congolese city of Kisangani on Wednesday night as Rwandan and Ugandan troops traded fire in a third day of battles during which more than 50 civilians have died.
Explosions rocked the city centre as dozens of rockets traced red lines across the sky, silhouetted by palm trees, and the clatter of small arms fire sent residents running for cover or kept them crouching in their homes.
"We had a ceasefire tonight - for 15 minutes," said Colonel Karenze Karake, operational commander of the Rwandan army.
Listen to Ugandan artillery shells whistle overhead and explode, and Rwanda fire back from a position on a bank of the Congo River.
Rwanda, Uganda and a Congo trampled underfoot
The Hospital
08Jun2000 CONGO: War-wounded crowd Congo hospital in chaotic scenes. 19:30 GMT
By Todd Pitman
KISANGANI, Congo, June 8 (Reuters) - Women and children, some screaming and crying, sprint barefoot up the steps of the hospital as gunbattles erupt and a black plume of smoke rises from a fresh mortar impact just 100 (yards) meters away.
Inside the university hospital's crumbling pink halls, fresh pools of blood stain floors littered with abandoned syringes.
Running for Cover
09Jun2000 CONGO: Congo city desolate after Rwanda, Uganda clashes. 19:45 GMT
By Todd Pitman
KISANGANI, Congo, June 9 (Reuters) - Small groups of frightened residents dashed through empty streets in the Congolese diamond city of Kisangani on Friday as Rwandan and Ugandan troops traded fierce artillery and machinegun fire for a fifth day.
The few residents in the city centre - including several Lebanese diamond dealers - who ventured out into the chaos sprinted across deserted intersections, taking temporary cover against crumbling concrete walls as they ran in search of food and crucially, water.
Listen to more incoming Ugandan rockets fly overhead and explode.
The Aftermath
11Jun2000 CONGO: Bodies litter Congo city after Uganda-Rwanda clash. 16:02 GMT
By Todd Pitman
KISANGANI, Congo, June 11 (Reuters) - Blown-out apartment blocks, thousands of ammunition boxes and dozens of soldiers' bodies disfigured Kisangani on Sunday after a week of battles between Ugandan and Rwandan forces in the Congolese city.
The two armies, once the closest allies in the region, faced off for six days along a jagged front line that cut through the Tshopo residential district, waging fierce firefights from buildings and trenches carved into the streets.