DR Congo/North Kivu: Weekend fighting spreads South
The fighting continued over the weekend
in the eastern North Kivu province, spreading toward the border with South
Kivu, between the Congolese army and rebel forces of the so-called general
Laurent Nkunda, by many merely considered a 'warlord'. United Nations sources
reported hours of fighting at Ngungu, around 60km west of North Kivu's
capital Goma. According to a MONUC (UN mission in the Democratic Republic
of Congo) spokesman, heavy fighting took place yesterday also north of
the city of Rutshuru, among the epicentres of the new wave of violence.
The crisis is DR-Congo was the focus of an emergency summit of the SADC
(Southern African Development Community) held in Johannesburg and attended
by Congolese President Joseph Kabila. At the opening of the works, South
African President Kgalema Motlanthe called on the sides in conflict for
an immediate end to hostilities. "The current mandate" of the
MONUC peacekeepers "limits their ability to become real peacemakers
and provide for a lasting solution", he added. "The SADC will
not stand by and witness any destructive acts of violence by any armed
groups", said Tomaz Salom=E3o, secretary general of the community, not
excluding a possible intervention by peacekeeping forces alongside the
Congolese army. [BO]