Rwanda wants to stop rebels
2007-09-02 19:53
Kinshasa - Rwanda's top diplomat has arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo, calling for a joint effort to rein in Rwandan rebels operating in the east of the country.
Rwandan Hutu fighters have terrorised locals over the border in eastern Congo and more than 130 000 people have fled their homes amid escalating violence in Nord-Kivu since the beginning of the year.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Murigande said: "We must work together to disarm them, demobilise them and remove them from Congolese territory."
Unrest complicated by a stand-off
Relations between the two countries have been tainted by ethnic tensions in eastern Congo, home to a small Tutsi minority and where rebels from the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) operate.
The Rwandan government accuses some of the rebels of participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which the United Nations says resulted in about 800 000 deaths, with the victims mainly Tutsis.
The unrest in Nord-Kivu has been complicated of late by a tense stand-off between Congolese government forces and troops loyal to a renegade general called Laurent Nkunda.
He said: "We're ready to negotiate a peace plan, but the government doesn't want to. I'm not at war, but if the government attacks me again, I'm going to respond."
Several regular army troops have been killed in the recent clashes, described as "extremely heavy" by the UN Observer Mission in Congo, known as MONUC.
Nkunda, a powerful warlord, says he is protecting his own minority Tutsi population from the FDLR rebels.