Rwandan insurgents attack Congolese soldiers

[dArKeR]

Bukavu - Hundreds of Rwandan insurgents attacked Congolese army positions in volatile eastern Congo, sparking a six-hour battle in which four rebels were killed, a Congolese official said on Monday.

Four Congolese soldiers were injured in the fighting, which took place on Sunday in South Kivu province, said Jean-Pierre Mazambi, the province's governor.

Joelle Sabella, a spokesperson for the United Nations mission in Congo, said the Congolese army had reported that there were clashes between Rwandan rebels and Congolese troops in south Kivu. But the UN mission was still trying to verify details of the violence, she said.

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw108539892180B236&set_id=1

Where's aWol?

[Zuni]

1. Which Rwandans are they?

Are they former Hutu power factions and genocidaires? Or are they former RPF?
The Hutu power sides committed some of the most horrific crimes in history, then managed to escape to Zaire (Congo), where the UN set up these Hutu militias in refugee camps that had better standards than the neighboring countries.
The war started with genocide in rwanda is still being fought in the Congo, where it has drawn in forces from all of the neighboring countries.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Rwandan Hutus spread terror in Congo

By Arthur Asiimwe
REUTERS
5:00 a.m. May 24, 2004


MISERABLE LIFE

The Hutu rebels ransacked Kingi's dispensary, stealing the meager supplies of medicine before embarking on a house-to-house looting spree, locals said.

"They found me in the house while I was sleeping with my wife," said Pastor Musafiri Byuma.

"They demanded money and when I hesitated, they hit me across my shoulders with a log and said if I had no money, then I should give them the church offertory."

The same rebels have attacked this small village seven times since 2000, residents say. The last attack was five months ago.

Locals are so fearful that they often abandon their flimsy thatched huts to sleep in the bush, hoping for safety in numbers.

Eating once every other day is considered a luxury and little is grown that is not pillaged by roaming militiamen.

"Whenever we do the farming, the rebels come and harvest," said Kihengu Kyahi, a local administrator. "We are living a miserable life."

more
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20040524-0500-congo-democratic-rebels.html


24/05/2004
UN peacekeeping chief urges reconciliation between DR Congo and Rwanda
AFP


KINSHASA, May 22 (AFP) - The onus on brokering reconciliation between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda lies with officials of the two neighbouring states and not the international community, the UN peacekeeping chief said here Saturday.

"It's not the international community that will broker national Congolese reconciliation or reconciliation between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda but rather the Congolese and the Rwandans," Jean-Marie Guehenno, UN under secretary general for peacekeeping, told DRC leaders.

Rwanda deployed troops in DRC in 1996 and 1998, justifying the move with the need to neutralise the security threat posed by Hutu rebels accused of carrying out much of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

The last Rwandan soldier left DRC in October 2002, under the terms of a peace pact which bound Kigali to pull out of its vast western neighbour and Kinshasa to disarm and repatriate former Rwandan Hutu rebels.

more
http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=2668

[demdave]

3. The U.N. investigates...Yep, they're dead. Let's go home

and write a report.