WORLD> Africa
|
WORLD> Africa
|
|
Congo 'catastrophe' feared as Goma fears the worst
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-31 09:46 UN forces' commander Colonel Samba Tall said a ceasefire called by Nkunda on Wednesday was holding, and said his MONUC force was respecting its mandate, under which it could engage the rebels if necessary to protect civilians.
Nkunda told AFP in a telephone interview that he wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with the UN but would not shirk a fight. "We cannot engage them, but if they shoot at us, they are soldiers, we will have to defend ourselves," he said. In the capital Kinshasa, meanwhile, President Joseph Kabila came under pressure to open peace talks with the rebels. As the international community pondered its response, the UN was scrambling to bring in extra troops from other parts of eastern Congo. Roughly a third of the 17,000-strong MONUC force is deployed in Nord-Kivu to bolster weak government forces in their battle with disciplined Nkunda forces. The main US envoy for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, announced late Thursday during a visit to Kinshasa that the United States was sending a "rapid reaction team" to evaluate the humanitarian needs of people displaced by the fighting. Nkunda, meanwhile, was dismissive of the need for the European Union to send troops to bolster the UN peacekeeping mission. The rebel leader claims to be defending the inhabitants of Nord-Kivu against atrocities committed by Congolese forces and an allied Rwandan Hutu rebel group -- the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). "We have no need of them because the solution is not militarzy," he said. "If they come to bring peace, they are welcome. But if they are coming to make the FDLR presence permanent, we will be intractable," he said in an interview with Radio-Television Belge. |
