A senior Congolese official said Tuesday his nation had been invaded by neighboring Rwanda, and U.N. officials said they were investigating claims of Rwandan forces clashing with militias in the east.
| Rwanda never seems to get enough, do they? |
"We are on a war footing," Cabinet minister Mbusa Nyamwisi said in the eastern city of Beni, which he said was near the fighting. "We are being attacked by the Rwandan troops." Nyamwisi claimed two brigades of Rwandan troops were fighting alongside Congolese rebel allies, but he gave no evidence.
| Just drag out a few corpses... |
A U.N. official said Rwandan forces reportedly were fighting ethnic militias loyal to Congo's government. His comments came as Rwanda's president said in a deliberately vague speech he already may have sent troops into neighboring Congo to disarm Hutu rebels, a day after credible reports that thousands of Rwandan forces had crossed the border. President Paul Kagame, whose government repeatedly has accused the Hutus of launching attacks from Congo, threatened to take matters into his own hands if Congo and the United Nations do not rein in the rebels, responsible for the 1994 genocide of a half-million minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda. "Anytime the United Nations ignores or fails to deal with the problem of (the rebels), we shall do it ourselves, and this will not take long, or, we might even be doing it now," Kagame told Rwandan lawmakers Tuesday in his capital, Kigali.
| Guess he got fed up with the UN as well. |
Neither the United Nations nor any other independent observer has verified alleged Rwandan incursions or fighting.
| Must have been having tea |
On Wednesday, the U.N. humanitarian agency will send a mission to a zone between Walikele and Lubero, north of Masisi, and near the Rwandan border, said the agency's director in Goma, Bernard Leflaive.
| "Lots of time! It's not like there aren't lots of blackfellows to replace any deaders, y'know!" |
Rwandan forces reportedly were fighting Congo government-allied Mai Mai ethnic militias in that area, Leflaive said. Rwanda has invaded Congo twice since 1996 on the grounds of flushing out the Hutu extremists. Rwanda's second invasion, in 1998, touched off a five-year war that drew in the armies of four other nations and split resource-rich Congo. An estimated 3.2 million people died, most through famine and disease. Lawless east Congo - scene of the worst fighting in the devastating 1998-2002 war - is home to numerous, vying militias, with frequent clashes in the remote bush there.
| The word "militia" traditionally implies some sort of discipline. "Roving bands of fascisti" would probably be a more accurate term... |
Congo's government still is struggling to secure the area, formerly controlled by Rwanda. Additionally, residents there frequently blame Rwandan troops for clashes involving Rwanda-allied rebels and other forces. On Tuesday, local officials, Congolese commanders, priests and other community leaders claimed Rwandan forces were in the area, in reports to both U.N. officials and to journalists. Villagers reaching Beni told authorities that communities north of Goma, near the Rwandan border, had been attacked, and at least three villages were burned, Nyamwisi said. The displaced also reported 15 people killed at the village of Ikobo, he said. Congolese "intelligence services" also reported Rwandan troops north of Goma, regional military commander Col. Etienne Bindu said. |
