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Renewed fighting kills at least 19

Fighting broke out in eastern Congo on Wednesday between government troops and forces loyal to a dissident general, killing at least 19 people, a U.N. official said. The clashes broke out before dawn around the village of Jomba, about five miles north of the regional capital of Goma, said Lt. Col. Didier Rancher, spokesman for the U.N. force in the sprawling Central African country. The fighting started when general-turned-warlord Laurent Nkunda's forces attacked army positions in the area, he said. Rancher said at least 18 Nkunda fighters and one civilian were killed and five government soldiers were wounded.

U.N. says advisers will deploy soon

The first group of more than 175 United Nations advisers and staff supporting African Union peacekeepers in Darfur will deploy within days, the U.N. and AU said Wednesday. The Sudanese government confirmed it was permitting the first U.N. experts to head to Darfur. But the numbers it gave were lower than those mentioned by the U.N. statement. The discrepancy could not be immediately explained. The reinforcements are a compromise after the United Nations Security Council advocated replacing the 7,000 AU peacekeepers in Darfur with a larger, better-equipped and better-funded U.N. force - an idea Sudan has rejected.

[Last modified December 28, 2006, 01:54:28]