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Rebels Regain Control of Gemena
GEMENA, CONGO (August, 1999) - Gbadolite and Gemena are both under control of rebel forces, according to information received by Covenant News Service, with the expectation that rebel forces will soon control the remainder of Ubangi soon.
"We were hearing shooting and seeing tracer bullets in Zongo," one source reported. Zongo reportedly remains vacated, with an estimated 90 percent of the population still living in the forest and away from their homes in the villages," the source said. "We're not sure who is offering resistance - there was some shooting into the air," the observer noted.
Public reports estimated rebels were still several miles away, with eyewitness accounts noting several thousand soldiers have crossed over the river at various points and are being disarmed. "There has been pillaging everywhere that the fleeing government soldiers went," one observer said, adding, "everywhere, in every village where they showed up, they looted."
It is expected that rebels will eventually take complete control of the Ubangi-Mongala area where the Evangelical Covenant Church and the Evangelical Free Church work. "This is good news," one observer suggested, "because it offers the promise of stability and relative freedom of travel – something they have not had since before Christmas, when it all started."
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