AFRICA/D. R. CONGO - East Congo: “A spark of hope for negotiations although fighting continues”

Thursday, 6 September 2007

Goma (Agenzia Fides)- "There is some hope for negotiations, according to local radio stations Nkunda has said he is ready to talk with the government" Fides was told by a missionary in North-Kivu, eastern Democratic Congo, where fighting between the army and rebels led by Laurent Nkunda started some days ago (see Fides 5 September 2007). As we spoke on the telephone in the background the noise of UN mission helicopters on their way to monitor the situation could be heard. “The roads are full of army trucks bearing heavy weapons directed towards the combat zones: the situation is still uncertain” the missionary said, asking again to remain unnamed for security reasons.
United Nations representatives in Congo have called for an immediate cease fire and a return to negotiations.
According to UN sources at least 100 rebel soldiers have deserted Nkunda's units and asked to join the regular army. UN humanitarian agencies estimate that already about 224,000 people had been forced to flee their homes because of the fighting in north Kivu, and in the past week they were followed by between 10,000 and 40,000 more.
Fighting broke out last week when Nkunda's troops attacked an army camp at Katale, 60km from the provincial capital Goma. Nkunda justified the attack accusing the Kinshasa government of protecting Rwandan Hutu militia who took refuge in Kivu in 1994. For years the presence of these militia, responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has been a source of tension between Democratic Congo and Rwanda. For some time the Great Lakes countries have been looking for a regional solution to put under control these “negative forces”, which threaten the fragile balances in the area. However so far divergent interests have prevented a definitive agreement from being reached. Behind ethnic tensions there are other interests connected with Congo's vast resources, timber, diamonds, gold, coltan and oil recently discovered under Lake Alberta on the border between Congo and Uganda.
The bishops of AMECEA (Association of Bishops Conferences of East Africa) at the end of a meeting of the standing committee in Nairobi 30 and 31 August expressed concern for the worsening of the situation in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa, and said they hoped the area would soon enjoy reconciliation in justice and peace.
AMECEA includes as members, the Catholic Bishops' conferences of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and as associates, the Bishops of Somalia and Djibouti. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 6/9/2007 righe 38 parole 462)


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