Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides)- In recent weeks some 30,000 more people have fled violence in north Kivu in the east of D.R. Congo. This was denounced by the UN High Commission for Refugees UNHCR. “This latest explosion of violence in north Kivu province has put thousands to flight in the direction of Goma in the south and across the border into Uganda. This is the third such move of people since August” says UNHCR in a statement sent to Fides which says that the number of displaced persons in north Kivu which has risen since December 2006to 370,000, continues to grow.
This fresh outbreak of violence is connected with conflict between the army and militiamen of Laurent Nkunda (see Fides 18 and 25 September 2007), leader of a rebel faction who first agreed to integrate his men into the regular army and then resumed the rebellion against the Kinshasa government . Nkunda says he is defending the Banyamulenge people, similar to Tutsi, but many observers say his interests are personal. Nkunda is said to have made a concilitory gesture sending 500 of his men to an army integration centre, but the gesture has yet to be confirmed by independent sources.
On the eve of a visit to the United States by DR Congo president Joseph Kabila, US president George W. Bush extended sanctions against several prominent political and economic figures implicated in the conflict in east DR Congo, including Nkunda and others involved in arms trafficking in the areas such as the notorious Viktor Anatolijevitch Bout.
Sanctions introduced in 2006 include freezing of assets in the United States. The presidential act is directed against any political or military leader, Congolese or other, operating in DR Congo, to prevent disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, and reintegration of combatants. Particular emphasis is laid on stopping those who recruit child soldiers.
“We strongly support efforts by the government of President Kabila to eliminate the threat of negative forces operating in Congo and to offer Congolese people economic opportunities ” said an anonymous White House source.
The United States supports a Three Party Fusion Cell TFC, charged with organising a data bank on armed gangs in the Great Lakes region (see Fides 28/5/2007). Violence against civilians is committed by irregular and regular troops, as denounced in a report by an international humanitarian association. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/10/2007 righe 36 parole 460)
