DRC PM heads to Goma

2008-11-04 14:30

Goma - The prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo headed to Goma on Tuesday amid calls to beef up UN peacekeepers in the face of a rebel uprising.

The visit by Adolphe Muzito, who took office less than a month ago, is aimed at "comforting the population" of rebel-ringed Goma and other eastern towns, a source close to the prime minister said.

Rebels in eastern Congo have accused the government in Kinshasa of declaring "war on its people" by refusing to negotiate in a conflict that has driven more than one million people from their homes.

With the rebels at the gates of Goma, calls were growing to add muscle to the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUC) to protect civilians trapped in the fighting in Nord-Kivu province.

The head of the MONUC, Alan Doss, is to accompany Muzito to the region.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who toured Congo at the weekend and met regional leaders, said the 17 000-strong UN mission needs new soldiers and tougher rules of engagement.

'Militarist position'

"There are entire brigades that are unable to engage in defensive, let alone offensive, action, because their rules of engagement are insufficient or they are very restrictive," Kouchner said in France.

Last week, the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), led by renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda, routed government forces around Goma, provoking a mass exodus of civilians.

The flare-up disrupted humanitarian aid distribution. On Monday, the first UN aid convoy in a week reached Rutshuru, north of Goma.

In New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Nigeria's former president Olusegun Obasanjo as his special envoy to defuse the crisis.

Ban added on Monday that he was prepared to travel to the region as early as this weekend for talks with Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan leader Paul Kagame.

Rebel spokesperson Bertrand Bisimwa said the Kinshasa government "confirmed its militarist position" by refusing the parliament's recommendation of direct dialogue with the CNDP, which has held a unilateral ceasefire since Wednesday.

Nkunda says he is protecting fellow Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu rebels who infiltrated eastern Congo following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The government, which has accused Rwanda of backing Nkunda, has refused to hold direct talks with the CNDP, saying it wanted dialogue with all the armed groups in the Kivu region and not just the CNDP.

"There are no small and large armed groups," government spokesperson Lambert Mende said. "The act of creating a humanitarian disaster does not give special rights."

Last week's rebel offensive displaced 100 000 civilians, including 60 000 children, the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) said.

Plagued with conflicts

"Around 250 000 people are now believed to have been displaced in the last two months, bringing the total number of internally displaced to around one million, 20% of the entire Nord-Kivu population," Unicef said.

Muzito is also to visit Sud-Kivu and the Eastern Province where other armed groups operate.

Since the mid-1990s, the east of the huge central African nation, rich in natural resources and bordering nine countries, has been plagued with conflicts, some involving neighbouring nations.

Congolese Foreign Minister Alexis Tambwe Muamba called on the UN Security Council to "redefine" MONUC's mission to allow it to "lead more muscular operations" against the rebels.

- AFP