Three soldiers were killed in eastern Congo when two army units opened fire on each other during a visit by one of the country's vice presidents to the troubled region, the United Nations said on Sunday. The shooting in Bukavu highlights the instability of Congo's east following an uprising by dissident army officers who seized the town in early June, before withdrawing to a lakeside base some 100 km to the north where they remain. Vice President Azarias Ruberwa, also head of the former Rwandan-backed rebel group the renegade soldiers belong to, is visiting the east to persuade rebel fighters and politicians to lay down arms and rejoin the transitional process. "There was shooting on Saturday afternoon between units of Congo's army based near the airport. Three people were killed and another is seriously injured," U.N. spokeswoman Iliane Nabaa said from Bukavu. Congo's transitional government has been struggling to integrate former rebels into a cohesive national army. "There have been tensions surrounding the security of vice president Ruberwa, but this clash followed arguments between two officers in the Congolese army," Nabaa said. Congolese security sources said that Ruberwa's bodyguards were upset about not being allowed to take full control of Bukavu airport to prepare for the vice president's visit and opened fire first. --More 2010 Local Time 1710 GMT
