At least five people have been killed in clashes between Democratic Republic of Congo's army and soldiers loyal to a renegade general wanted by the International Criminal court for war crimes, U.N. and military sources said on Monday.
The fighting in the Masisi region of North Kivu began late on Sunday and forced thousands of residents to flee their homes, some of them into neighbouring Rwanda, said aid groups.
General Bosco Ntaganda fought the government as a rebel before he was integrated into the army alongside other insurgents as part of a 2009 peace deal.
But clashes erupted again after President Joseph Kabila announced in mid April that he would try to arrest Ntaganda, a divise figure who has been at the heart of the region's instability, "because the whole country wants peace".
Meanwhile, in Mali, a countercoup seems to have failed.
Mali's junta said Tuesday the group still controls the state broadcaster, the airport and a military base after a countercoup attempt.
Soldiers loyal to coup leader Capt. Amadou Sanogo appeared on state television early Tuesday and said the important installations remained in their hands after Monday's attempt.
But heavy gunfire could still be heard in Bamako Tuesday, suggesting that the junta did not yet have total control over the capital.
Anti-junta forces on Monday took over the country's state broadcaster and attacked the airport and the junta's main military base.
And yet, following a military coup in Fiji, there seems to be real progress towards elections.
A Pacific delegation, including foreign ministers from Australia and New Zealand, on Tuesday reported Fiji's military regime was making "positive progress" towards holding elections in 2014.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr and his New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully, two of the harshest critics of Fiji's military dictatorship, travelled to Suva as part of a Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) delegation.
The regime, which seized power in a 2006 coup, reneged on a promise to hold elections in 2009 but the PIF group said there were signs it intended to honour its promise to hold a ballot in 2014.
"Ministers said they were encouraged by the steps taken by Fiji on election planning, as well as by information provided about Fiji's intentions," they said in a statement.
"These gave Ministers a sense that Fiji was a country in transition, moving to put in place processes required for elections."
By: Brant
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