Congolese Rebel Forces Seize New Territory Despite Ceasefire Promise

By Dahee Nam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

GOMA, DR Congo - Congolese rebel forces said on Monday that they had seized new territory.  This report comes only one day after renegade general Nkunda promised to ceasefire during talks with the UN special envoy Obasanjo.

"Our troops control all of the Rwindi zone," 125 kilometers north of Goma, in eastern Nord Kivu province, the AFP quotes Nkunda’s spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa as saying.  Bisimwa also told the AFP that government troops had been pushed back to Vitshumbi, north-east of Rwindi.  "We are going to... silence the government forces. We are going to impose a ceasefire on them," he added. 

UN reports that one Indian peacekeeper was wounded during the attacks and that the rebel groups have continued to advance further north.

In talks with Obasanjo on Sunday, Nkunda promised to support a peace process with the Congolese government and also to individuals to monitor a ceasefire, as long as no UN peacekeepers, whom he accuses of lacking neutrality, are included.

"This shows they're not respecting their own ceasefire they've declared," AP quoted Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, UN peacekeeping mission (MONUC) spokesman.  But rebel forces claims that they have respected the ceasefire they promised earlier in October and that any clashes have been in response to attacks by government forces.

Twenty rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urged the UN’s Human Rights Council on Monday to hold a special session on this crisis in order to prevent further deterioration of the situation.  Aid agencies are also expressing their concern of a worsening humanitarian crisis with an estimated 250,000 people forced from their homes by weeks of fighting between rebel forces and government troops.

Meanwhile, four government soldiers werw sentenced to life in prison on Monday by a military court in Goma for rape, deserting their posts, and looting, AFP reports. 

For more information, please see:

AFP - DR Congo Rebels Claim New Territorial Advance - 17 November 2008

AP - Congo Rebels Advance Despite Cease-fire - 17 November 2008

BBC (Africa) - Congo Rebel Advance Breaks Truce - 17 November 2008

Impunity Watch - UN Envoy in Congo for Peace Talks amid Renewed Fighting - 15 November 2008