Gunmen take control of Congo town

BUKAVU, Congo -- Renegade commanders captured this strategic Congolese town Wednesday, setting off a crisis that threatened the fragile transitional government and a peace process that ended five years of war.

Congo President Joseph Kabila accused neighbor and rival Rwanda in the takeover, and went on national television to declare he had begun implementation of a state of emergency across Congo. Rwanda denied any involvement.

The loss of Bukavu, a trading center on the border with Rwanda, would be the biggest setback to the U.N.-backed government since it was set up a year ago to end the civil war.

That war drew in the armies of six African nations, split resource-rich Congo and killed an estimated 3.5 million people through violence, famine and disease.

On Wednesday, between 2,000 and 3,600 people caught in the conflict around Bukavu fled across the nearby border into Rwanda.

Complaining of mistreatment by the region's military commanders, the renegades behind the capture of Bukavu said they were prepared to negotiate, but were also ready to fight.

"I've been in charge of Bukavu militarily since 11 o'clock this morning," renegade Brig. Gen. Laurent Nkunda told reporters at the governor's mansion.

At least 10 people were wounded in the fighting Wednesday, said Lucia Alberghini, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Bukavu.

Amid the chaos, civilians looted two barges loaded with 300 tons of food aid, the U.N. World Food Program said, adding that unconfirmed reports indicated a WFP warehouse containing 1,000 tons of food also was looted.

"There was heavy looting this morning, mostly by civilians," said Ndeley Agbaw, head of WFP's office in Bukavu. "Now most people are locked in their houses."

The forces that captured Bukavu are loyal to Nkunda and Col. Jules Mutebutsi, former rebels who joined the army after the civil war.

Mutebutsi told The Associated Press the government's military commander in the region, Brig. Gen. Mbuza Mabe, had fled.

"Many of his troops have joined us, others have shed their uniforms and are staying at their homes, and a few have fled with Mabe," Mutebutsi said by telephone.

The fighting subsided by midday Wednesday, and Nkunda's forces patrolled streets on foot and in jeeps. Others lounged around the city, which is surrounded by hills and the shores of Lake Kivu.

Mutebutsi's troops first clashed with government forces in Bukavu a week ago, sparking three days of fighting in which at least 39 people were killed and 105 were wounded, Alberghini said.

U.N. officials estimate Nkunda has between 2,000 and 4,000 troops, while Mutebutsi controls several hundred fighters.

Both men were members of the Congolese Rally for Democracy, a former rebel group that controlled large swathes of eastern and northeastern Congo and was backed by Rwanda before it joined the government. The two are also members of the Congolese Tutsi, or Banyamulenge, one of the many tribes in the region.

Nkunda said the Banyamulenge had been mistreated by army officers in the region.

There are some 10,800 U.N. troops in Congo, mostly in the east and northeast where they have a mandate to use force to protect civilians. The 800 U.N. troops in Bukavu did not intervene to stem the fighting.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the capture of the eastern Congo city and called on the region's warring parties to abide by an earlier cease-fire. The United Nations defended its troops' inaction against the factions that took Bukavu, saying the mandate of its 10,800-strong Congo force did not extend to battles.

Col. Clive Mantel, commander of the U.N. force in Kinshasa, said U.N. reinforcements would be sent to the region.

"Regarding our mandate, we can intervene to protect civilians, but we don't have a mandate to fight against armies. We have no artillery, no warplanes," Mantel said.

Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for the U.N. mission in Congo, said U.N. officials were trying to resolve the crisis.

Kabila accused his country's archrival in the five-year war. "The city of Bukavu is in the hands of the Rwandan national army," Kabila said in the broadcast. "Rwanda has imposed itself of us."

Kabila said he had initiated a process that would bring a state of emergency across the Western Europe-sized country.

Kabila called on the U.N. Security Council to act against Rwanda, whose military actively supported Congo's rebels throughout Congo's war.

Rwanda denied any involvement Wednesday. "What is happening in Bukavu is Congo's internal problem and we have nothing to do with it," Rwandan army spokesman Col. Patrick Karegeya said.

Hundreds of people rioted outside U.N. headquarters in Kinshasa and in the main northeast city of Kisangani, blaming U.N. forces for failing to stop Bukavu's fall. The crowds in Kinshasa threw stones at U.N. headquarters and set vehicles afire, while protesters in Kisangani burned U.N. vehicles and a U.N. office.