Congo rebels make roadblock out of bodies

The pair on Wednesday blocked the main two-lane track running north from the regional capital, Goma -- one with a bullet in his forehead and a frozen fist grasping the air above.

The scene was meant as a warning to government troops just a few hundred yards down the road whom the rebels had battled the night before. And for the few fearful civilians trickling past the frontline, it was clear message that Congo's savage war is not easing amid fears it could draw in Angola and others in the region.

"We don't want any more of it," said 18-year-old John Biamungu, who pushed a wooden bicycle past the corpse-strewn checkpoint as rebels stood in a clutch of trees on both sides staring silently.

According to a resident of Goma, who asked to remain anonymous for his own safety, there are soldiers supporting the Congolese government in the town who are Angolans.

"We are seeing soldiers wearing Congolese army uniform here in town but they are not speaking the same language like us. They are unable to speak French, Swahili or Lingala - that is bizarre," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

"They are patrolling but unable to communicate with the population. These are speaking Portuguese," he said.

Experts say this evidence is not conclusive, since some Congolese troops, including a group known as the Katangan Tigers, fought in Angola during their civil war, and frequently converse in Portuguese.

Angola denies sending troops into DR Congo, although says it would support the government if called on to do so by the regional grouping, the Southern African Development Community.

During the last war, Congolese government forces supported by troops from Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia, were fighting rebels backed by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

Forces from Chad and Central African Republic were also involved in that conflict.