(AFP) – Sep 28, 2008

GOMA, DRCongo (AFP) — Fresh fighting broke out Sunday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between the army and rebel militia, a spokesman for renegade officer Laurent Nkunda's group said.

"The FARDC (government troops) attacked our positions early this morning in Rugari," 45 kilometres (25 miles) north of Nord-Kivu provincial capital Goma, Bertrand Bisimwa told AFP by telephone.

"They attacked with heavy material. We had warned the UN mission to the DR Congo (MONUC) about it," added the senior official of Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).

The rebel group also reported fighting near the northeastern town of Kanobe.

Meanwhile the head of a refugee camp in Tongo, a town some 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Goma, said Sunday CNDP rebels fired shots from their positions in the hills two days after losing control of Tongo to the FARDC.

"Gun shots resumed. If fighting spreads to the town, we will withdraw to the MONUC camp for protection," Benjamin Seburu told AFP.

Residents in the town of Sake, 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Goma, also said they were beseiged by gun fire lasting three hours Saturday evening by rebels wanting to reclaim the town from the army.

The FARDC has not confirmed any of these attacks, while a press conference organised by the head of the army, General Dieudonne Kayembe, scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Goma, was postponed until Monday.

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