Also see: U.N Tells Congo to Eat Soap
"Fears of regional war over Congo increasing; Border nations watched warily; Storms intensify plight of refugees" by Michelle Faul and Todd Pitman, Associated Press | November 5, 2008
A Congolese girl yesterday received boxes of high-nutrition cookies from international relief workers at the Kibati refugee camp. (Walter Astrada/ AFP/ Getty Images)
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo - Congo's warring rivals traded accusations yesterday that Angola, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda are mobilizing forces to fight in Congo, as the prime minister flew into this besieged city to assess weeks of fighting that has displaced a quarter million people.
WTF? MSM only started reporting last week?
The accusations of foreign involvement, reminiscent of a disastrous 1998-2002 war that drew in eight African nations, stoked fears of a wider conflict in this mineral-rich nation. The fighting has forced tens of thousands of refugees to struggle through the countryside with what belongings they can carry. Tropical rainstorms, which have drenched eastern Congo every day, add to their misery.
Good Lord!!! How much suffering must the Congolese endure?
On Tuesday, downpours sent refugees lucky enough to have shelter rushing to tents and huts made of woven banana leaves, while others huddled under plastic sheets as they trudged through the thick red mud.
Can you imagine, America? Oh, yeah, the hurricanes.
In Kibati, a camp for the displaced just north of Goma, aid workers from Los Angeles-based International Medical Corps gave water and high-energy biscuits to thousands of hungry children lined up in the searing heat.
Outside the distribution center, thousands of children who had not received the tokens needed to receive food shoved and pushed, holding their hands out in supplication, eyes wide with desperation. "The people here don't have food and they are hungry," said Oxfam's Rebecca Wynn. "Some people are going into the banana fields around the camp, which is very dangerous because there are drunk soldiers around. They're risking their lives, but they are hungry and desperate."
Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito arrived in Goma just before dusk yesterday with half his Cabinet and met with UN envoy Alan Doss and UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy as well as local officials. He planned to meet with refugees today to assess the humanitarian crisis in the region.
Despite a week-old cease-fire, rebel leader Laurent Nkunda's Rwandan-backed rebels vowed insurgents would march on the capital, Kinshasa, after the government refused Nkunda's demand for direct talks. "If they won't negotiate with us, then they leave us little choice," rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa said. "We will start fighting again and we will continue until we take Kinshasa."
Communications Minister Lambert Mende said President Joseph Kabila's administration was "open for dialogue" with all rebel and militia groups in the region - but would not meet Nkunda's group alone. The Congo government's first priority is to "normalize our relations with all our neighbors, above all Rwanda," Mende added.
NOT take CARE of YOUR PEOPLE, 'eh?
Suggestions that other African nations are being drawn into the conflict have fueled fears of a wider conflict, adding urgency to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's attempts to bring Kabila and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda together for talks. Kagame is believed to wield influence over the Tutsi-led rebels. A UN official said Ban was considering leaving today for an expected African Union summit meeting tomorrow on the Congo crisis in Nairobi.
The groundwork "is being laid for a generalized war in the region . . . foreign troops [are] preparing to make war against us," rebel spokesman Bisimwa said. Zimbabwe has strongly denied any military involvement, while Angola did not comment.
Ross Mountain, the UN humanitarian envoy to Congo, said the UN mission has pulled peacekeepers out of other trouble spots in Congo and has concentrated 92 percent of its 17,000-force in the east. But at only one peacekeeper for every 10,000 civilians, the force was vastly understaffed, he said, noting that the Kosovo mission had 46,000 UN troops for an area 200 times smaller. --more--"I'm having a hard time figuring out which sides are which (no thanks to the obfuscating Zionist MSM); however, one thing seems clear: they are excusing government troops and the U.N. and demonizing the rebels. That tells you something right there.
And who knows? With Israel's role in weapons-running hidden by the Zionist MSM (Where did the Somali pirates go, huh?), the West is probably playing both sides.
Here's why: Behind the Numbers Untold Suffering in the Congo
I post these stories because I am NO RACIST, and the plight of these BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE DEMANDS RECOGNITION -- even if it has to come from a racist organ of Jewish supremacism!
"Thousands in Congo flee fighting by rebels, militiamen; Elsewhere, wider cease-fire holds ahead of summit" by Anita Powell, Associated Press | November 6, 2008
Congolese people displaced by the latest fighting sought refuge near the UN base in the village of Kiwanja in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday. (Jerome Delay/Associated Press)
KIWANJA, Democratic Republic of Congo - Sporadic gunfire and explosions echoed yesterday around this town in eastern Congo, as rebels fought pro-government militiamen for a second day, forcing thousands of people to flee.
Speaking in an interview, warlord Laurent Nkunda accused Congo's army of firing mortars toward rebel positions from behind militia lines during Wednesday's battles. He also said ethnic Hutu Rwandan militias linked to Rwanda's 1994 genocide were fighting alongside the Mai Mai around Kiwanja. The army could not be reached for comment.
Nkunda claimed the army had also taken part in fighting Saturday in two other towns in the region: Mweso and Kashuga, breaking the cease-fire Nkunda unilaterally declared Oct. 29 three times. Associated Press journalists who visited Kiwanja at midday saw several thousand people on the roads, including mothers with babies on their backs, trying to find safety. As insurgents loyal to Nkunda searched houses, artillery fire boomed in the hills nearby, and rebels told the reporters to leave.
In nearby village of Mabenga, a Belgian journalist working for a German newspaper was kidnapped by the Mai Mai late Tuesday along with his assistant and three rebel fighters, according to local official Gilles Simpeze. He said the government was negotiating their release.
On the edge of Kiwanja, hundreds of people took shelter at a roofless, abandoned school beside a UN base manned by Indian peacekeepers. The soldiers, in blue helmets and flak jackets, crouched behind sandbags and a ring of concertina wire.
What good is the damn U.N.? They aren't helping!
"(The UN) should open up their gates to protect us," said Ntaganzwi Sinzahera, a 30-year-old refugee.
They would for elite globalists:
"As the senior US envoy for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, arrived yesterday along with Alan Doss, the top UN envoy in Congo.... the UN peacekeepers put on an unusual show of force, deploying at least four tanks around the city, putting armored cars on patrol, and sending UN troops with riot shields to patrol on foot"
But soon after, Sinzahera and everyone else at the school left, joining a large crowd of refugees streaming toward the adjacent rebel-controlled town of Rutshuru. "Tonight we don't know where we're going," said 21-year-old Omar Issa, who joined the crowds leaving Kiwanja. "I didn't bring anything. We don't have any food."
Few had time to gather up possessions. One man carried only his Bible. In Kiwanja, the streets were empty except for refugees. Ramshackle shops were shuttered, wooden doors were padlocked. A few residents peeked out of their homes and ducked back inside.
Fighting in Congo intensified in August and has since displaced around 250,000 people, forcing exhausted refugees to struggle through the countryside, lugging belongings, children, even goats. Tropical rainstorms, which drench eastern Congo every day, have added to their misery.
Then why are we only hearing about it now?
After forcing the army into a retreat and reaching the outskirts of Goma, Nkunda called a cease-fire Oct. 29. The rebel leader has warned, though, that war could resume if the government does not accept his demand for direct negotiations. The government says it will talk - but only with all rebel and militia groups, not just with Nkunda. --more--"
Just the way the Zionist press describes Nkunda leads me to believe they don't like him.
