About 1,000 soldiers considered dissidents by the army in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday moved close to the airport of a battle-scarred eastern town, a UN spokesman said.
"We can confirm that a column of troops is moving down towards Bukavu and is currently at Katana," about 10 kilometres (six miles) north of Bukavu airport, which lies 40 kilometres north of the town, Sebastien Lapierre told AFP.
The chief town of one of the most volatile regions of the DRC, Bukavu, was gripped last week by three days of fighting and looting.
At least 21 soldiers and six civilians were killed in the unrest, Bukavu hospital director Zachary Kashongwe told AFP.
All the bodies of those killed in fighting and which were recovered by the Red Cross were delivered to the Bukavu hospital, he said, adding that a further 62 had been treated for injuries, mainly bullet wounds.
The clashes pitted regular DRC troops against soldiers led by former rebel Colonel Jules Mutebesi and taken into the army under a peace pact to end a five-year war across the vast country.
UN observers on Sunday reported that "two or three battalions, that's to say around 1,000 men" were approaching from the north, Lapierre said. The column was believed to be led by General Laurent Nkunda, an ally of Mutebesi.
Within Bukavu, UN peacekeeping forces on Friday gave the renegade soldiers an ultimatum to return to their quarters or be disarmed by force and most had complied by Saturday night.
However, an AFP correspondent saw some of them still on the streets and many residents, particularly of the Nguba district close to the DRC's eastern border with Rwanda, said they were scared of more violence.
On Friday evening, a UN helicopter opened fire on renegade troops who were threatening civilians.
That night, a UN military observer was killed and another wounded in an attack by uniformed gunmen at Kalehe, to the north. The assailants have not been identified.
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