Heavy Casualties in Eastern Congo Fighting

Fighting between the government army and

 M23 rebels raged overnight Saturday through

 Sunday at Mujoga, about 17 kilometers north of Goma.

Doctor Isaac Warwanamiza told VOA by phone

 he was at a field hospital with Tanzanian U.N. 

troops who are waiting to go up to the front line, 

and all around him were dead and wounded.  

He said he estimates the number of dead that

 he has seen at the hospital since Sunday morning

 at 82.

This is not the only transit center for casualties

 from the fighting between the army and the M23, 

so the doctor's figure is not a total for the day.

And he could not be sure of the figure. "I can not

 really count them, he says, because sometimes

 you think you have got one person, but then you

 find four arms, or five hands and you realize you

 are looking at a mixture of different people’s body 

parts," he said.
Warwanamiza said he had treated 54 wounded by

 midday Sunday.  He said he was treating government

 troops and rebels. "Here I am looking at M23 rebels," 

he said, "and government wounded as well.  If the rebels

 are badly wounded, he adds, we leave them."

The doctor said this had been the worst day since the

 fighting resumed on Wednesday and he was

 overwhelmed by what he has seen.

A chaplain at a military hospital in Goma, 

Leah Masika, confirmed there were heavy

 casualties Sunday.

It was not immediately possible to contact

 official army or M23 spokesmen to get their

 reaction to these figures.

The fighting Sunday appears to have been at 

close quarters, as little heavy weapons fire 

could be heard near the front line.  Since 

Wednesday the army and U.N. troops have 

been battling to dislodge the M23 from heights

 overlooking Goma.

Local sources estimate the army has advanced

 about two kilometers since Wednesday, but have

 yet to achieve their immediate objective.

Warwanamiza said the ground they have captured 

Sunday should be measured in meters, 

not kilometers, but the government troops have 

advanced.

M23 controls a narrow strip of territory along the 

Rwanda and Ugandan borders about 100 kilometers

 north to south and may have only about 2,000 fighters. 

 The United Nations has accused Rwanda of reinforcing

 the rebels.  Rwanda denies the accusation
.