Both sides blamed in Congo deaths

KIWANJA, Congo — Villagers who fled fighting in this rebel-held town trickled home Thursday to find the bodies of more than a dozen men in civilian clothes in and around mud huts — and accused rebel leader Laurent Nkunda's forces of the slayings.

But New York-based Human Rights Watch accused a pro-government militia called the Mai Mai as well as the rebels of deliberately killing civilians in Kiwanja and said U.N. peacekeepers nearby had been unable to protect them.

Nkunda's men wrested control of Kiwanja Wednesday following heavy fighting with the Mai Mai, one of many signs that the conflict is spreading in eastern Congo and a fragile cease-fire is close to unraveling.

The villagers said rebels had killed unarmed civilians suspected of supporting the Mai Mai, but the rebels said the dead were militia fighters who had been armed.

A U.N. official said Kiwanja was in fact subjected to two rounds of terror: First the Mai Mai arrived and killed those they accused of supporting Nkunda's rebels, then Nkunda's rebels stormed in, killing men they charged were loyal to the Mai Mai.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.

Human Rights Watch said at least 20 people were killed and another 33 wounded during the battle for the town.

"The U.N. should not leave these defenseless people to be slaughtered by fighters on both sides," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a senior Africa researcher for the rights group.

North of Kiwanja, rebels captured an army base in Nyanzale Thursday after fighting with the army, the U.N. said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate cease-fire and urged the armed groups involved to find a political solution.

Ban was flying to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to attend an African Union summit today aimed at bringing peace to the region. Congo President Joseph Kabila is expected, along with Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who wields strong influence Nkunda's rebels.

Dozens of militia groups operate in the remote terraced valleys and hills of eastern Congo, a lawless region that the government and a 17,000-strong peacekeeping mission have struggled to bring under control for years.

Among the armed groups are the Mai Mai and ethnic Hutu insurgents from Rwanda who fled to Congo after helping carry out Rwanda's 1994 bloody genocide.