Six Congolese soldiers suspected of extorting money from travellers at roadblocks have been arrested in eastern DRC, where two others have been convicted of killing two children, sources said on Tuesday.

"The military administrator of Rutshuru territory had been receiving complaints from users of the Rutshuru-Goma road for some time," said Lieutenant-Colonel Muhindo Lwanzo, the administrator's chief of staff.

Six soldiers were arrested on Sunday, and an investigation is under way to identify possible accomplices, he said.

In addition, two soldiers were sentenced to death this weekend for murder and attempted rape, said Aime Umba, military auditor of the garrison at Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu.

They are accused of killing two Pygmy children from the same family in Sake, northwest of Goma, during a dispute with a prostitute.

The children, aged eight and four, were hit by stray bullets and died instantly, said their father, Profit Elisha.

North Kivu is currently under emergency measures, with civilian authorities replaced by military and police governors, in a bid to restore order to the conflict-ridden zone.

11 civilians killed in CAR army firefight with rebels
Bangui, Central African Republic (AFP) Nov 16, 2021 –

Eleven civilians have been killed in northwestern Central African Republic during fighting between rebels and soldiers, despite a ceasefire in the country, the local prefect said on Tuesday.

Rebels "infiltrated the weekly market at around 10 am on Sunday" near Mann, a town about 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwest of Bangui, Dieudonne Yougaina, prefect of Ouham-Pende, told AFP.

"Central African forces intervened… and the exchange of fire left 11 civilians dead, nine men and two women, as well as eight wounded," he said.

Yougaina blamed elements of the 3R (Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation) rebels. The 3R, which is mainly composed of fighters from the Fulani ethnic group, is one of the most powerful armed groups in the country.

At the end of December, they joined in the rebel coalition that sought to overthrow President Faustin Archange Touadera and prevent his re-election.

Touadera declared a unilateral ceasefire on October 15 in the fight against the rebels to facilitate the opening of a national dialogue.

The main armed groups had said that they would respect the truce.

On November 9, several opposition parties had denounced a ceasefire violation by 3R members after an attack on a village in the northwest that left two soldiers and a civilian dead.

Ranked the second least developed country in the world by the United Nations, the Central African Republic was plunged into a bloody civil war after a coup in 2013.

The conflict has calmed considerably over the past three years, although large swathes of territory remain outside central government control.

A week before the December 27, 2020 presidential election, six of the most powerful armed groups that together held most of the country at the time formed the Coalition of Patriots for Change and launched an offensive to prevent Touadera's re-election.

Government forces have retaken the towns and much of the two-thirds of the country that the rebels had controlled, mainly thanks to Rwandan soldiers and the presence of hundreds of Russian mercenaries fighting alongside them.