Rebel call for defiance slammed
2008-10-03 20:22
Kinshasa - The co-ordinator of the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday condemned a rebel call on the Congolese people for a campaign of open defiance against the government.
In a BBC interview on Thursday, Laurent Nkunda had called on all Congolese people to "stand up" to the national government and said his rebel group would "fight until the people are liberated".
The co-ordinator of the Amani programme for peace, brokered by the UN's MONUC peacekeeping mission, said he was disappointed by Nkunda's statements.
"I deplore Nkunda's comments, who is distancing himself from engagement just when all the other groups have committed themselves" to a peace process that would protect refugees and displaced people, Apollinaire Malu Malu told AFP.
"Nkunda has always caused nuisance, but it's a suicidal path," said Malu Malu, who called on MONUC to "redouble its efforts to dissuade" the renegade general.
Renewed fighting broke out August 28 in eastern DRC, with government troops and Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) violating the ceasefire reached under the Goma peace accord in January.
The latest fighting has forced more than 100 000 people to flee their homes over the past month alone, according to the Red Cross.
- SAPA