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WORLD> Africa
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Congo rebel backs UN peace plan, fighting persists
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-17 10:58 Rocket and Mortar Battle UN military spokesman Lt-Col Jean-Paul Dietrich said: "The army is firing rockets. The CNDP is using mortars. It's not a good sign if they continue to fight while the special envoy is holding talks".
Nkunda played down the latest fighting, saying it was "not a problem" and he had contacted the government to try to end it. The United Nations could not say who had started the clashes. At least six government soldiers had been wounded. The roots of the North Kivu conflict stem from Rwanda's 1994 genocide, when extremist Hutu militias killed about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus before fleeing into Congo. That led to two wars and a humanitarian crisis that killed more than five million people, mostly from hunger and disease. In 2004, Nkunda rejected peace deals that ended the last war. He accuses Kabila of arming and using a Rwandan Hutu rebel group, the FDLR, which includes perpetrators of the 1994 genocide, to fight with the weak and chaotic Congolese army. The Congolese president accuses Rwanda of supporting Nkunda's rebellion. Nkunda spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa blamed the government for Sunday's fighting but said it would not derail the peace talks. The Congolese army was not available for comment. Nkunda initially took up arms saying he was fighting to defend fellow Tutsis in Congo from attack by the Rwandan Hutu FDLR. But, after marching to the gates of Goma last month, he is now calling for unconditional direct talks with the president. Kabila has so far rejected negotiations. |
