... as UN forces battle tribal rebels: UN

KINSHASA — A UN soldier from Ghana was killed Sunday at the airport in Mbandaka in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo where government forces exchanged fire with tribal insurgents, officials said.

The gun battle in Mbandaka, the main town in Equateur province, erupted after security personnel found the rebels in a boat from the capital Kinshasa. "We confirm that the airport in Mbandaka has been attacked by insurgents who arrived by boat. A UN peacekeeper has been killed while he was travelling towards the airport," said Madnodje Mounoubai, a spokesman for MONUC, the UN mission in DR Congo.

"He was in a vehicle and was hit by shrapnel," he added. "There are pockets of fighting in Mbandaka but the city is not controlled by the assailants," Mounoubai said, adding that the UN had reports that about 30 insurgents were found in the boat.

Earlier the provincial interior minister Guy Inenge said some 100 insurgents were discovered during a search and that "there was a clash with the security forces and then they fled" and dispersed in the town, he said.

"Our forces pursued them but the situation is now relatively calm," Inenge said, adding that the rebels were "well organised."

However, later Sunday the UN spokesman said the situation in Mbandaka was unclear with reports of fighting around the airport.

Fighting first began in the area in October between the Lobala (or Enyele) tribe and the Monzaya people over disputed fishing rights in nearby lakes. Thousands of people left the region and the UN and the Congolese army sent reinforcements to the area, eventually restoring state control in December. At least 270 people have been killed in the fighting and 187,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, according to government figures.