November 14, 2007 at 10:13:18

30,000 Flee Gunfire in DRC While Conservation Groups Salivate Over Satellite Photos

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By Georgianne Nienaber (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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UN peacekeeping forces have been deployed in the area to protect the refugees, but the situation remains critical.

"MONUC (the UN mission in DRC) has strengthened its forces in the Mugunga sector," where three camps housed displaced people in appalling conditions to the west of the provincial capital Goma, MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki said in Kinshasa.

In all, about 60 soldiers with armoured vehicles have been deployed in the battle zone and around the camps "to protect civilians" and their units were on maximum alert, Saiki told the press.

DR Congo army Colonel Delphin Kahimbi said "27 insurgents were killed" when the forces loyal to General Laurent Nkunda, "had the objective of massacring the displaced in Mugunga."

He also said a second force of Nkunda's fighters had moved against "Rusayo (further south) with Goma as the goal."

Nkunda denied being involved in the Mugunga attacks, blaming them on rebel Rwandan Hutus who have long lived on the DR Congo side of the border, the UN's radio Okapi reported.

For the United Nations, "what concerns us above all is the humanitarian situation," Saiki said. "Once again, civilians have been forced to flee in their thousands in deplorable conditions."

Nord-Kivu in eastern DR Congo has been the site of confrontations between the Congolese army and insurgents backing Nkunda in recent months.

In turn, Nkunda's troops also appear to have hardened their stance, a UN official said.

"There is now with Nkunda -- who is more and more isolated -- a will to sow terror, to destabilise, to attack civilians more openly," the official said.

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Georgianne Nienaber is an investigative environmental and political writer. She lives in rural northern Minnesota, New Orleans and South Florida. Her articles have appeared in The Society of Professional Journalists' Online (more...)

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