UN warns Congo crisis may engulf region,fighting flares
(Recasts with Ban Ki-moon, AU comment)
By David Clarke
NAIROBI, Nov 7 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Friday at a summit of African leaders that the crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo could engulf the region.
Speaking to seven African leaders meeting in Kenya, Ban said they must use their influence to make rebel leader Laurent Nkunda end his offensives in eastern Congo and curb any support that allows him to carry on fighting.
Fighting between Nkunda's Tutsi rebels and Congolese forces has spread along the hilly, mineral-producing border region with Rwanda, uprooting hundreds of thousands of people and creating international alarm.
"This crisis could engulf the broader sub-region," Ban told the leaders in Kenya.
"It is only at the political level, here in your region, that lasting solutions can be found. There can be no military solution to this crisis," he said.
Underlining the fragility of the situation, Nkunda's forces and government troops fought near a refugee camp in east Congo on Friday, forcing thousands of civilians to flee in panic.
Congolese and U.N. military officers said the two sides exchanged machinegun, mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire near Kibati in Congo's North Kivu province, where 250,000 people have fled recent fighting.
One of the key issues the leaders need to resolve for a lasting solution to the festering conflict is the presence in eastern Congo of Rwandan Hutu rebels, known as the FDLR, who took part in the 1994 genocide.
Over the past few years there have been various ceasefires and agreements to disarm all militant groups in the region, but little progress has been made on the ground and there have been frequent offensives by Nkunda.
"It is time the agreements and understandings about the FDLR being disarmed, demobilised and repatriated or relocated be implemented to the letter," said African Union Chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
NKUNDA REJECTS SUMMIT
Nkunda justifies his revolt as a legitimate one to protect ethnic Tutsis in Congo from the Hutu rebels. He told Reuters on Friday the summit would have no influence on him unless the leaders persuaded Congo's President Joseph Kabila to have talks.
"It's only a regional summit. It doesn't have any impact on our demands," Nkunda said by telephone from his hilltop headquarters in east Congo.
The region is rich in minerals, such as coltan, which is used in mobile phones, making control of the remote terrain, far from Congo's capital Kinshasa, lucrative.
EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said stopping the exploitation of mineral resources by armed groups was crucial to stem their funding.
Ban held bilateral meetings with Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame to encourage them "to find a path to peace". Ban said later he was encouraged by the frank exchange of views and engagement of the leaders.
Rwanda denies supporting Nkunda and accuses Congo's army of backing the Hutu rebels in the east.
While the leaders wrestle with their entrenched political differences, calls for more peacekeepers in the region and an end to the fighting are growing around the world to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
The number of people displaced by fighting in North Kivu province since September is now estimated at 250,000, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. This was in addition to 800,000 who had fled previous hostilities in the province bordering Rwanda.
Ban has asked the Security Council to approve a "surge" of 3,000 extra troops for the U.N. Congo mission, MONUC, which at 17,000 strong is already the largest in the world.
But the one thing that desperate refugees and aid agencies in North Kivu province are clamouring for -- more security and protection from attacks by marauding rebels and soldiers -- is unlikely to come quickly. (Additional reporting by Wangui Kanina in Nairobi, Pascal Fletcher in Dakar, Joe Bavier in Kinshasa, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Emmanuel Braun in Kibati; editing by xxx xxx)
By David Clarke
NAIROBI, Nov 7 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Friday at a summit of African leaders that the crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo could engulf the region.
Speaking to seven African leaders meeting in Kenya, Ban said they must use their influence to make rebel leader Laurent Nkunda end his offensives in eastern Congo and curb any support that allows him to carry on fighting.
Fighting between Nkunda's Tutsi rebels and Congolese forces has spread along the hilly, mineral-producing border region with Rwanda, uprooting hundreds of thousands of people and creating international alarm.
"This crisis could engulf the broader sub-region," Ban told the leaders in Kenya.
"It is only at the political level, here in your region, that lasting solutions can be found. There can be no military solution to this crisis," he said.
Underlining the fragility of the situation, Nkunda's forces and government troops fought near a refugee camp in east Congo on Friday, forcing thousands of civilians to flee in panic.
Congolese and U.N. military officers said the two sides exchanged machinegun, mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire near Kibati in Congo's North Kivu province, where 250,000 people have fled recent fighting.
One of the key issues the leaders need to resolve for a lasting solution to the festering conflict is the presence in eastern Congo of Rwandan Hutu rebels, known as the FDLR, who took part in the 1994 genocide.
Over the past few years there have been various ceasefires and agreements to disarm all militant groups in the region, but little progress has been made on the ground and there have been frequent offensives by Nkunda.
"It is time the agreements and understandings about the FDLR being disarmed, demobilised and repatriated or relocated be implemented to the letter," said African Union Chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.
NKUNDA REJECTS SUMMIT
Nkunda justifies his revolt as a legitimate one to protect ethnic Tutsis in Congo from the Hutu rebels. He told Reuters on Friday the summit would have no influence on him unless the leaders persuaded Congo's President Joseph Kabila to have talks.
"It's only a regional summit. It doesn't have any impact on our demands," Nkunda said by telephone from his hilltop headquarters in east Congo.
The region is rich in minerals, such as coltan, which is used in mobile phones, making control of the remote terrain, far from Congo's capital Kinshasa, lucrative.
EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said stopping the exploitation of mineral resources by armed groups was crucial to stem their funding.
Ban held bilateral meetings with Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame to encourage them "to find a path to peace". Ban said later he was encouraged by the frank exchange of views and engagement of the leaders.
Rwanda denies supporting Nkunda and accuses Congo's army of backing the Hutu rebels in the east.
While the leaders wrestle with their entrenched political differences, calls for more peacekeepers in the region and an end to the fighting are growing around the world to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
The number of people displaced by fighting in North Kivu province since September is now estimated at 250,000, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. This was in addition to 800,000 who had fled previous hostilities in the province bordering Rwanda.
Ban has asked the Security Council to approve a "surge" of 3,000 extra troops for the U.N. Congo mission, MONUC, which at 17,000 strong is already the largest in the world.
But the one thing that desperate refugees and aid agencies in North Kivu province are clamouring for -- more security and protection from attacks by marauding rebels and soldiers -- is unlikely to come quickly. (Additional reporting by Wangui Kanina in Nairobi, Pascal Fletcher in Dakar, Joe Bavier in Kinshasa, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Emmanuel Braun in Kibati; editing by xxx xxx)
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