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| Africa Subsaharan |
| DR Congo Rebels Demand Ceasefire before New Talks |
| 2013-05-03 |
| [An Nahar] The M23 rebel movement active in the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... said Thursday it would only resume peace talks if the government signs up to a ceasefire. M23 political leader Bertrand Bisimwa told Agence La Belle France Presse that DR Congo government forces and the Hutu rebel group the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) were advancing on two fronts "and we don't know what their intentions are." "Our delegation will return to Kampala if -- and only if -- the government agrees to sign a ceasefire with us immediately, " he said. The M23, which has been fighting the army in the volatile east since May last year, triggered a new crisis in November when it occupied the key town of Goma for more than a week before withdrawing under regional mediation. The group's ultimatum Thursday came shortly after a visit by the new U.N. special envoy for Africa's Great Lakes region, former Irish president Mary Robinson. Robinson, who is on a regional tour leading political efforts to bring an end to more than two decades of conflict in the mineral-rich region, on Tuesday voiced "shock" over the scale of human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... abuses there. The United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aim of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... brokered a February peace accord signed by 11 African states and the following month the Security Council approved the creation of a new brigade to help the U.N. mission in DR Congo. Under the accord, the 11 states vowed not to interfere in the affairs of their neighbors, and DR Congo President Joseph Kabila promised democratic advances and improved security. The M23, which Kinshasa and a panel of U.N. experts say was created as a Rwandan proxy, is accused of a number of rights abuses and has been slapped with U.N. sanctions. |
| Posted by:Fred |