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UN chief visits Congo to help end the misery of war
Ed Harris04.11.08
THE UN secretary-general will visit East Africa to add his weight to efforts to end the crisis gripping the DR Congo.
Ban Ki-moon, who has warned of the "catastrophic consequences" of the conflict along the Rwandan-Congolese border, will fly into the troubled eastern part of the country this weekend to hold talks with Congolese president Joseph Kabila and Rwandan president Paul Kagame in a bid to bring to an end the vicious fighting between government and rebel forces that has forced up to 250,000 people from their homes.
Mr Ban said: "The conflict along the Rwanda and Congolese border has gone on too long and [with] catastrophic consequences."
International development secretary Douglas Alexander announced that the Government will fly out 90 tonnes of emergency supplies to help the thousands of refugees. Aid workers with the first UN convoy carrying medical supplies found refugee camps that had previously held tens of thousands were virtually empty. Many people are believed to have fled into the forests around the camps fearing further violence.
While as many as 50,000 displaced people have reached the regional capital of Goma, many others have tried to return to their homes on foot without safe shelter, food or water.
Rebels who routed the army in the eastern North Kivu province last week now control large swathes of land around Goma. But a spokesman for the rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda, said the Congolese government was "waging war" by refusing to hold direct negotiations.
Although Rwanda has twice invaded its much larger neighbour in recent years, it has repeatedly denied accusations its forces were actively supporting Gen Nkunda. In 1994, 800,000 people died in Rwanda's genocide, which is seen as the origin of the current conflict.
