15 December 2004
 The renegade soldiers have control of the dusty, deserted streets |
A BBC correspondent at the scene says government forces have been unable to retake the town from pro-Rwandan soldiers but clashes are continuing.
The Congolese war officially ended in 2002 after some three million deaths.
This fighting raises fears that the war, which drew in at least six other African armies, could reignite.
The DR Congo government insists it is fighting a "war" with Rwandan troops, while Rwanda says all combatants are Congolese.
The United Nations says it has repulsed an attempt by armed men to cross from Rwanda into DR Congo in three dug-out canoes, near Bukavu, to the south of Kanyabayonga.
A spokesman said the boats turned round after an exchange of fire.
Rwandan-speaking
Kanyabayonga's inhabitants have fled alongside the defeated forces of the Congolese government, reports the BBC's Arnaud Zajtman from the town.
He met one woman who returned to her house, to find all her property had been looted.
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This allows them to monitor the movement of government troops near the frontline, some 8km north.
Captain Kabakuli Kennedy, who is now in control of the town, says that he is a former Congolese rebel who received support from Rwanda during that years of war, but that he is now fighting without any external support.
He says that he is protecting the rights of the Congolese minority who speak Kinyarwanda, the language also spoken in neighbouring Rwanda.
He also accuses the government of working with the Interahamwe forces who carried out the genocide of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda, before fleeing to DR Congo.
But our correspondent says there have been no recent reports of attacks on Congolese Tutsis, the Banyamulenge.
Military and government officials said two Rwandan soldiers had been captured in the fighting in Kanyabayonga. Each side also allege they have killed at least a dozen enemy soldiers, but neither figure can be verified.
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A mission of UN peacekeepers is going to investigate the fighting.
Rwanda has denied there are any Rwandan forces in DR Congo.
However, confidential UN documents seen by the BBC and publicised on Friday said Rwanda retained a "Rwandan military structure of control" over parts of DR Congo through the use of proxy Congolese forces.
Long history
Under the power-sharing agreement set up to end the five-year war, North Kivu was awarded to the former RCD rebels backed by Rwanda, who are supposed to have been integrated into the national army.
Some reports suggest these soldiers mutinied and were fighting the regular Congolese army.
 Congo's new national army has incorporated many rival factions |
Rwanda has threatened to send troops into DR Congo to hunt down the ethnic Hutu rebels accused of carrying out the 1994 genocide.
DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila has said that 10,000 army reinforcements will be deployed to the east.
According to a recent survey, 1,000 people are dying each day in DR Congo as a result of the war, mainly because the fighting destroyed hospitals and other health infrastructure.
