Congo clashes flare up
Nov 09, 2008
Kinshasa<br><br>Fresh fighting broke out between rebels and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday, UN sources said, as Angola denied reports it had deployed troops in the country.
Kinshasa
Fresh fighting broke out between rebels and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday, UN sources said, as Angola denied reports it had deployed troops in the country.
The latest clashes involved government troops (FARDC) and the CNDP rebels led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, the spokesman for the UN mission in Congo (MONUC), Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, told AFP.
The leaders from the Great Lakes region on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire and the creation of humanitarian corridors in the DR Congo (DRC).
The leaders also urged the implementation of existing agreements on the disarmament of rebel groups in the region and the amendment of MONUC’s mandate to give it peace-making capacity.
“The Great Lakes region would not stand by to witness incessant destructive acts of violence by any armed groups against innocent people. If and when necessary, the Great Lakes region will send peacemaking forces into the Kivu Province of the DR Congo,†the communique issued at the end of the Kenya summit pointed out.
The leaders who attended the day-long summit in Nairobi on Friday were Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi), Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzanian) Joseph Kabila (DRC), Denis Sassou-Nguesso (Republic of Congo), UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.
Jendayi Fraser, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and Lord Malloch-Brown, the UK Minister for Africa, attended the summit.
Fighting was concentrated at Ngungu, some 60km west of Goma, the provincial capital of Nord-Kivu.
The fighting that has flared up since August, in violation of a January ceasefire, has so far been limited to Nord-Kivu.
In Johannesburg, a member of the Angolan team at a meeting of the Southern African Development Community denied reports that their troops had been sent to Congo.
On Saturday, a UN peacekeeping officer near the front line had told AFP that Angolan troops had been seen the previous day fighting beside government forces.
The war has sucked in the pro-government Mai Mai militia and a third force, the Hutu fighters including some who were implicated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
At least 250,000 people have fled their homes.
Meanwhile, the refugees who fled to Uganda through Ishasha border in Kihihi, Kanungu district were relocated to Nakivale refugee camp in Insingiro district on Saturday.
Kanungu RDC Ben Rullonga and district chairperson Josephine Kasya handed over 475 refugees to the UN refugee agency at Ishasha open market.
Rullonga said other refugees, out of the 524 who were registered on Friday, opted to return to Congo.
Innocent Muwanga, one of the refugees, said he started the trek two weeks back with his family, but his wife disappeared along the way with one of the children.
“I hope my wife and child were not killed because last week many people were murdered. They were using machetes, spears and guns to lynch civilians and the bodies were dumped in pit latrines,†Muwanga narrated.
The refugees included a Congo government soldier, Lt. Mustafa Mamwini attached to 63rd battalion in Ruchuru, who was shot in the thigh. He was taken to Kihihi health center for treatment. (Additional reporting by Caleb Bahikaho in Ishasha, Kanungu).
Fresh fighting broke out between rebels and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday, UN sources said, as Angola denied reports it had deployed troops in the country.
The latest clashes involved government troops (FARDC) and the CNDP rebels led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, the spokesman for the UN mission in Congo (MONUC), Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, told AFP.
The leaders from the Great Lakes region on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire and the creation of humanitarian corridors in the DR Congo (DRC).
The leaders also urged the implementation of existing agreements on the disarmament of rebel groups in the region and the amendment of MONUC’s mandate to give it peace-making capacity.
“The Great Lakes region would not stand by to witness incessant destructive acts of violence by any armed groups against innocent people. If and when necessary, the Great Lakes region will send peacemaking forces into the Kivu Province of the DR Congo,†the communique issued at the end of the Kenya summit pointed out.
The leaders who attended the day-long summit in Nairobi on Friday were Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi), Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzanian) Joseph Kabila (DRC), Denis Sassou-Nguesso (Republic of Congo), UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.
Jendayi Fraser, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and Lord Malloch-Brown, the UK Minister for Africa, attended the summit.
Fighting was concentrated at Ngungu, some 60km west of Goma, the provincial capital of Nord-Kivu.
The fighting that has flared up since August, in violation of a January ceasefire, has so far been limited to Nord-Kivu.
In Johannesburg, a member of the Angolan team at a meeting of the Southern African Development Community denied reports that their troops had been sent to Congo.
On Saturday, a UN peacekeeping officer near the front line had told AFP that Angolan troops had been seen the previous day fighting beside government forces.
The war has sucked in the pro-government Mai Mai militia and a third force, the Hutu fighters including some who were implicated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
At least 250,000 people have fled their homes.
Meanwhile, the refugees who fled to Uganda through Ishasha border in Kihihi, Kanungu district were relocated to Nakivale refugee camp in Insingiro district on Saturday.
Kanungu RDC Ben Rullonga and district chairperson Josephine Kasya handed over 475 refugees to the UN refugee agency at Ishasha open market.
Rullonga said other refugees, out of the 524 who were registered on Friday, opted to return to Congo.
Innocent Muwanga, one of the refugees, said he started the trek two weeks back with his family, but his wife disappeared along the way with one of the children.
“I hope my wife and child were not killed because last week many people were murdered. They were using machetes, spears and guns to lynch civilians and the bodies were dumped in pit latrines,†Muwanga narrated.
The refugees included a Congo government soldier, Lt. Mustafa Mamwini attached to 63rd battalion in Ruchuru, who was shot in the thigh. He was taken to Kihihi health center for treatment. (Additional reporting by Caleb Bahikaho in Ishasha, Kanungu).