Explosions and gunfire rocked a neighbourhood of the Congo Republic's capital on Wednesday as government security forces moved to dislodge former rebel fighters sheltering there, state radio said, according to Reuters. Witnesses saw local residents fleeing the fighting in Brazzaville's southern Bacongo district, where six people were killed last week in clashes between police and former rebel fighters known as Ninjas. The radio said an army operation was in progress to dislodge the Ninjas and it appealed to the population to remain calm, saying the military had the situation under control. State television, based in the Bacongo neighbourhood, stopped broadcasting and local businesses closed their doors. The renewed clashes followed the return from exile on Friday of former Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas, who has strong support in the Bacongo neighbourhood. Kolelas was ousted from the central African oil producer in 1997 after a civil war and condemned to death in his absence for war crimes. He was allowed back by the government to attend the burial of his wife who died after an illness. After the war, a peace deal was signed in 2003, but many ex-combatants have yet to lay down their guns and sporadic violence still plagues the Pool region west of the capital.
