"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.
Georgianne Nienaber is a writer, author, and investigative journalist. She lives in the world. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, SCOOP New Zealand, Glide Magazine, Rwanda's New Times, India's TerraGreen, COA News, ZNET, OpEdNews, The Journal of the International Primate Protection League, Friends of the Congo, Africa Front, The United Nations Publication, A Civil Society Observer, and Zimbabwe's The Daily Mirror. Her fiction exposé of insurance fraud in the horse industry, Horse Sense, was re-released in early 2006. Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey was also released in 2006. Nienaber spent much of 2007 doing research in South Africa, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was in DRC as a MONUC-accredited journalist, and recently spent six weeks in Southern Louisiana investigating hurricane reconstruction. She is currently developing a documentary on the Gulf of Mexico DEAD ZONE.
Covering far more "important" stories, Georgianne, such as the O.J. saga, young white nymphs gone bad, and how all God's children must get together and pray for rain. What's a few million slaughtered African's, thousands of raped women, and an untold numbers of broken babies when we've got our own problems -- like trying to figure out how we'll pay to gas up our Hummers enroute to all of these fabulous pre-holiday bargains at the nearest mall. Obviously, not ALL life is precious.
by
Jan Baumgartner (47 articles, 135 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 221 comments)
on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 4:23:18 PM
They are not here in Southern Louisiana either and I could use you here. You will be amazed at the stories we hopefully will finish, including those of well-known and loved entertainers who feel like refugees in their own country. I cannot tell you how heartbreaking it is here...OPED NEWS is it for coverage.
You would think at least they would be here!
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Georgianne Nienaber (137 articles, 44 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 248 comments)
on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 4:28:07 PM
if I could have joined you, I would have in a heartbeat. As you know, airfares were prohibitive. That said, I look forward to any and all you've dug up down there knowing full well, we'll get the real story. Jan
by
Jan Baumgartner (47 articles, 135 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 221 comments)
on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 5:59:09 PM
