700 Hutus killed in violent clashes
The dead are Rwandan Hutu militiamen who have been operating in the east of the DRC since fleeing their home country in 1994. Their attempts to return - and evade disarmament in the DRC - are being met in northwestern Rwanda by the military using anti-aircraft guns.
The Rwandan army says its "counter-insurgency operation" is aimed at preventing armed interahamwe - Congolese-backed militias who carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda - from returning to the country.
Rwanda says it is ready to repulse attacks in the northwest and in the southwest, where it also has a border with the DRC. At the same time, Congolese rebels backed by the Rwandan government this week refused to leave Kisangani, in eastern DRC.
* Independent News Service.
- Alex Duval Smith
