At least 18 people have been killed in fresh clashes between the army and rebels loyal to William Amuri Yakutumba, a renegade former general in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to military sources, the 18 include 14 rebels and four soldiers in Fizi, a region of South Kivu, a mineral-rich province prone to ethnic tensions.
The unrest set the army against rebels loyal to Yakutumba, who is opposed to Kabila. Several regional sources also claim that the militia is allied to rebels of the National Liberation Front based in neighboring Burundi.
In September of last year, the Yakutumba rebels attacked the town of Uvira on Lake Tanganyika opposite the Burundian capital Bujumbura but UN forces pushed them back with Congolese support.
Fizi region was the cradle of the rebellion by Laurent-Desire Kabila, father of the current president, who ousted Mobutu Sese Seko in May 1997.
Since 1960, Congo has not seen a peaceful transition of power.
Democratic Republic of the Congo is preparing for a much-delayed presidential election on December 23. If successfully conducted, it will be the first peaceful transition of power in the country since 1960.
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