UN Envoy in Congo for Peace Talks amid Renewed Fighting

By Dahee Nam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

GOMA, DR Congo – While fighting has been renewed in eastern Congo on Saturday, a U.N. special envoy flew to eastern Congo for emergency peace talks with the rebels. 

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo arrived in the eastern city of Goma on Saturday, one day after meeting Congolese President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa, the capital city of Congo.   Obasanjo said President Kabila had not laid down any conditions for holding talks with the rebel leader Nkunda.   

Obasanjo said Nkunda called him asking for a meeting three days ago.  However, "nobody can say for certain what he wants.  . . .  but I will get authentically from him what he wants," AFP quotes Obasanjo.

While Obsanjo provided no details, Bertrand Bisimwa, Nkunda’s spokesman, told AP that the meeting would likely to be held on Sunday in one of the rebel-controlled towns of Rutshuru, Goma, or Bunagana, on the Ugandan border.  Since more than two weeks ago, Nkunda's troops have surrounded Goma, forcing UN peacekeepers to be reinforced to protect the city and its civilian population. 

Meanwhile, a new firefight between the army and the rebels broke out on Saturday in Kabasha, 70 miles north of Goma, a UN official reported.  Government forces told AFP that the battle had been for an hour, but UN official Jean-Paul Dietrich reported that the firing lasted only about 10 minutes.  Dietrich added that it was not clear which side started it.   

Without confirming the fighting, the rebel spokesman Bisimwa said, “There is a big movement of the government army from Kanyabayonga (15 kilometers to the west of Kabasha) toward our positions.  . . .  They have tanks, helicopters, many things.  They want to attack us."

The fighting displaced more than 250,000 people adding to around 800,000 people who had been forced to leave their homes by previous violence, UN reports.

For more information, please see:

AFP - UN Envoy in Congo Peace Bid - November 15, 2008

AP - UN Envoy in Congo for Talks amid New Fighting - November 15, 2008

BBC (UK) - UN Envoy to Meet DR Congo Rebels - November 15, 2008

CNN - U.N. Envoy in Congo for Peace Talks - November 15, 2008