DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda threatens to take his eastern guerrilla war to the capital Kinshasa

Record ID: 789119

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda threatens to take his eastern guerrilla war to the capital Kinshasa
  • Date: 5th November 2008
  • Summary: (W2) KIROLIRWE, NOTHERN KIVU, EASTERN DR CONGO (NOVEMBER 4, 2008) (REUTERS) CONGOLESE REBEL LEADER LAURENT NKUNDA WALKING WITH EBONY CANE AND GOLD HANDLE CNDP REBELS WALKING NKUNDA WALKING REBELS WITH MACHINE GUN AND RPG WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) REBEL LEADER LAURENT NKUNDA SAYING: "If they refuse to negotiate, it will mean they will be ready to only fight and we will fight them because we have to fight for our freedom." REBELS WITH RPG WALKING IN FIELD (SOUNDBITE) (English) REBEL LEADER LAURENT NKUNDA SAYING: ''Between Kabila and Kagame, they have to talk, but it's not a solution for Congo's international problems. There is an internal problem, we need an internal solution.'' VARIOUS OF REBELS WALKING IN FIELD NKUNDA AND REBEL SOLDIERS ENTERING CNDP HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF ARMED NKUNDA SECURITY SOLDIERS (SOUNDBITE) (French) REBEL LEADER LAURENT NKUNDA SAYING: "I know that good governance is at the basis of development for this country, and we have that in our plan of action. And apart from this, the security, because you talk about the economy and other issues, but without security there's nothing. These are the two key words: good governance and security." NKUNDA'S HAND ON A STICK (SOUNDBITE) (French) REBEL LEADER LAURENT NKUNDA SAYING: "I'm not from Rwanda and I claim nothing for Rwanda -- I think the difference is obvious." VARIOUS OF CNDP REBELS WITH MACHINE GUNS AND RPGS PATROLLING
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2008 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA8WX36UEEIOFHIP5KYENE6Z9WT
  • Story Text: Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda threatened on Tuesday (November 4) to take his eastern guerrilla war westwards to the capital Kinshasa unless the government agreed to talks on the country's future.
    Defiant in the face of international moves to end the conflict in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nkunda rejected complaints by human rights groups against him, saying he "didn't give a damn"
    about the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    "If they refuse to negotiate, it will mean they will be ready to only fight and we will fight them because we have to fight for our freedom," the rebel chief said in an interview at his hilltop headquarters in North Kivu province.
    Nkunda, who belongs to and defends Congo's Tutsi minority but also demands a better government for the whole country, last week suspended a major advance towards North Kivu's provincial capital Goma that displaced tens of thousands of civilians.
    The United Nations and foreign aid groups are now scrambling to address a humanitarian emergency described as "catastrophic" by relief workers in a country where more than 5 million people have died in a decade from conflict, hunger and disease.
    Wearing a green beret and beige camouflage uniform and carrying a cane topped with a silver eagle's head, Nkunda said that if his offer of talks was not accepted by President Joseph Kabila, he would end a ceasefire in North Kivu.
    Congo's government has refused to talk with Nkunda since his latest offensive, and accuses neighbouring Rwanda -- also a former Belgian colony -- of backing him, a charge denied by Kigali.

    "Between Kabila and Kagame, they have to talk, but it's not a solution for Congo's international problems. There is an internal problem, we need an internal solution," Nkunda said.

    "I'm not from Rwanda and I claim nothing for Rwanda," added the leader, who led his rebel cabinet in a prayer before a meeting.
    The atmosphere at the hilltop was peaceful, in sharp contrast to the anguish and suffering of refugees packed into camps around Goma, who are clamouring for food and protection from violence.
    But 50KM (35 miles) to the northeast of Kiwanja, Nkunda's men fought a gun battle with the Pareco Mai-Mai militia, some of whose fighters backed Kabila during the war but which, like Nkunda, had signed a peace deal for North Kivu earlier in January.
    U.N. peacekeepers at a mobile operations base were caught in the crossfire but none were injured, a U.N. spokesman said.
    Nkunda, a former army general who commands a 4,000-strong guerrilla force, said his next offensive would not stop at Goma, where U.N. peacekeepers have reinforced positions, but aim for Congo's capital Kinshasa, over 1,500KM (950 miles) to the west.
    U.N. peacekeepers say their 17,000-strong force, the world's largest peace mission, is badly stretched across a country the size of Western Europe, where violent armed groups abound, often profiting from its rich reserves of copper, cobalt and gold.
    In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked the Security Council to approve sending more than extra 3,000 soldiers and police to eastern Congo. But there was no sign it would discuss the request any time soon.
    International efforts are under way to hold a peace summit between Congo and Rwanda and tackle the humanitarian emergency.
    Since the 2006 elections that returned Kabila to power, hopes rose that the vast central African nation had finally left behind the 1998-2003 war that left its economy in ruins.
    Investor interest in Congo's mineral treasure trove has risen in the last two years. But Central Bank Governor Jean-Claude Masangu said on Tuesday that weak demand for metals in the global financial crisis will push economic growth below 10 percent next year and force a scaling back of mining projects.
    Masangu listed the humanitarian crisis in the east, and the pressures of military spending, as economic risks.
    Rebel chief Nkunda said the negotiations he sought with the government should focus on "good governance and security".

    "I know that good governance is at the basis of development for this country, and we have that in our plan of action. And apart from this, the security, because you talk about the economy and other issues, but without security there's nothing. These are the two key words: good governance and security," Nkunda said, adding that it is not his ambition to become head of state.
    Rights groups accuse his men of recruiting child soldiers and the ICC has issued a warrant for one of his commanders. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Tuesday crimes like rape and mass displacements in the Kivus would not go unpunished.
    Nkunda backed the idea of a peace summit between Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, but called for an "internal solution" for east Congo's conflict, which nevertheless traces its origins back to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
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