:
Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire)
September 18, 2007: Rebel
general Laurent Nkunda continues to operate with relative freedom in the Congo's
North Kivu province. The original deal between Nkunda and the Congolese
government has failed completely. Nkunda's "mixed brigades" were supposed to
operate as part of the Congolese Army (with integration into the Congolese Army
the ultimate goal). Nkunda's predominantly Congolese Tutsi militia was to fight
Rwandan Hutu militiamen who were based in the eastern Congo. Many of the
militiamen were involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. However, Nkunda's troops
began conducting what amounted to a "scorched earth" operation against villages
in North Kivu. At the end of August and in early September the Congolese Army
and Nkunda's militias fought a series of battles near the town of Sake. The UN
managed to negotiate a ceasefire in the area. However, refugees continue to
flee the zone Nkunda controls. Though the Congolese government has appealed to
Nkunda to end the fighting, it appears the Nkunda has successfully established
himself as a "border region warlord." Removing him looks increasingly like a
job for UN peacekeepers.
September 16, 2007: MONUC
(UN Mission in the Congo) is once again
prepared to fight Ugandan rebel groups (the
LRA) in the eastern Congo. Though
peace talks between the Ugandan government and the LRA continue, Uganda has
complained to the Congolese government that armed LRA factions continue to move
in and out of the Congo's Garamba National Park (northeastern Congo).
September 14, 2007: UN officials found three mass graves in the eastern Congo, near
the town of Goma.
September 11, 2007:
Congolese and Ugandan leaders (Museveni and
Kabila) , in a meeting held on September 6-7 discussed oil exploration
on Lake Albert and marking the border around Rukwanzi Island. Uganda complained
about three Ugandan rebel groups that are still operating from bases in the
Congo: Allied Democratic Front (ADF), People's Redemption Army (PRA) and the
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Congo claimed that rebel Congolese militias are
recruiting militiamen from refugee camps in Uganda. The rebel groups are a huge problem for both
countries. Congo and Uganda also need to resolve the oil exploration
disagreement. Oil pumped from the eastern Congo would logically go by pipeline
through Uganda to an Indian Ocean port.