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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990218_feat3.html
Congo Rebels Attack Kabila Forces On Four Fronts
February 18, 1999
Kampala - Fierce fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo continued throughout yesterday on four fronts but the rebels conceded that the offensive they launched Tuesday has met stiff resistance on all fronts. A Kabila spokesman said in Kinshasa most attacks were repulsed.
He warned of bloodshed if the attack continues. Following the escalation of the fighting in Congo, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba yesterday flew to Cape Town to meet President Nelson Mandela. Sources in Kampala and among Congolese rebels said fighting at the government-held northwestern town of Businga raged on yesterday.
It involved Jean-Pierre Bemba's Congolese Liberation Movement (CLM) who attacked from the north and east. The rebels at this front are targeting the strategically important Gbadolite international airport with a 3.3km long airstrip. Gbadolite is the home town of late President Mobutu Sese Seko.
Bemba told the BBC Tuesday his troops had captured Businga. But other sources said Kabila troops backed by Chadians, Rwandese Interahamwe militias, Sudanese and some Ugandan rebels, were still defending the town.
Kabila Tuesday flew to Khartoum to meet Sudanese leader Lt. Gen. Omar Bashir. Sudan has often denied sending troops and equipment to back Kabila.
Kabila and his allies recaptured Businga, Gemena and Libenge early January following intensive bombing of rebel positions by Sudanese fighter planes. The second front-line is in Ikela and Opala, about 500 miles southwest of rebel headquarters of Kisangani, Congo's third largest city.
Sources said rebels backed with tanks and artillery shelled government army positions yesterday. "The capture of these areas could open the way to Boende and perhaps reach Mbandaka. We are not taking chances," said a rebel officer contacted on a satellite-link. He said he works in the office of Prof. Earnest Wamba Dia Wamba, leader of Rally for Congolese Democracy.