Congo Rebels Attack Army Troops in Violation of Peace Accord 

By Franz Wild

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern North Kivu province attacked government troops in the second breach of a peace accord in nine days, Major Abdul Sharma, a United Nations' spokesman, said.

Tutsi rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda opened fire on the government troops, Sharma, the regional military spokesman for the UN Mission in Congo, or Monuc, said today. The clashes in Katsiru, northwest of North Kivu's capital, Goma, were ``petering out'' by 3.20 p.m. local time, Sharma said by phone from the city.

Congo's government in January signed a peace agreement with Nkunda's National Council for the Defense of the People, as well as other militias, in a bid to end the worst fighting in the region since the end of civil war in 2003. About a million civilians remain displaced in the province, according to the UN.

Congo's army started the battle, CNDP spokesman Rene Abandi said.

``They are not well informed,'' Abandi said of Monuc, the world's largest peacekeeping mission.

General Vainqueur Mayala and Colonel Delphin Kahimbi, the army's senior officers in the region, had their mobile phones switched off when Bloomberg News called seeking comment.

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