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French troops attacked in Congo
(CNN) -- French troops sent to stop ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo have opened fire on local militias for the first time after they were attacked, according to a correspondent traveling with the troops. The U.N. estimates 500 people have died in clashes between the Hema minority and Lendu majority, who are fighting for control of the northeastern town of Bunia. The French troops are leading a multi-national force in the region, with a strong mandate to quell the fighting and reinforce U.N. peacekeepers. "We stopped and the fighting grew more intense," said Dino Mahtani, a correspondent for Reuters news agency. Mahtani told CNN the French troops were on a reconnaissance mission in the southern part of Bunia, controlled by the Lendu majority. The French convoy of about 15 armed vehicles and 70 troops, came across Hema fighters retreating from a battle with the Lendu, Mahtani said. "As they passed us, they were pointing behind them, saying 'it's over there,'" he said. The French troops immediately headed toward the fighting, Mahtani said. "Slowly, the sound of gunfire increased and the French started deploying onto the banks of long grass to respond to the fire," he said. The Lendu militia fired machine guns and mortar on the French troops, who responded with machine gun fire and light grenades. "A few minutes later, two French Mirage jets screamed over the area where the fighting was taking place and soon after that, the fighting dispersed," Mahtani said. The shooting lasted about 20 minutes and there were no French casualties, according to French army spokesman Colonel Gerard Dubois. It was not clear whether the assailants suffered any casualties.
About 400 French troops arrived in Bunia over the past week, the vanguard of a 1,400-strong international force with a U.N. mandate to shield civilians from fighting. The French-led force has made it quite clear that it would fire upon anyone who "as much as pointed a gun" in their direction, U.N. spokesman Mounoubayi Madnoje said. That statement came after an advance party of French troops, lacking troop and weapon strength, remained at Bunia's airport last weekend as Hema-Lendu fighting raged in the town's center. The U.N. force in Bunia is also composed of 700 Uruguayan peacekeepers and some unarmed observers, two of whom were killed and their bodies mutilated last month. A U.N. Security Council delegation discussed the ongoing violence last week with President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa. Years of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo have destabilized the country's central government and Kinshasa currently maintains limited control in Ituri. The head of the U.N. force in Bunia, Col. Daniel Vollot, also on Wednesday met representatives from six of the main armed groups in Ituri, in an attempt to disarm the militias and group them into identifiable camps. Although the meeting ended inconclusively, U.N. sources said they managed to convey a message to the militias to keep their fighters, which include many child soldiers, out of Bunia's town center, airport and suburbs. The Union of Congolese Patriots, or UPC, controls Bunia and is made up mostly of the minority Hema tribe. The UPC has been involved in clashes with rival Lendu tribe militias. Humanitarian workers say they cannot help the Congolese people in Bunia as long as armed militias are present in the town. A bitter hatred, combined with the desire to control the region's resources, are at the heart of the Hema-Lendu violence, in which civilians are the main targets. -- CNN Nairobi Bureau Chief Catherine Bond contributed to this report
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