Rebel Congo gangs on revenge mission

CONGO, Monday

Just days after Rwandan troops left the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Hutu-extremist rebels there have conducted assaults on former territory.

The United Nations said today the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo were conducting “hit-and-run” attacks on former positions lost in the last month after a joint-military operation between Rwanda and Congo.

Genocide

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame simultaneously said that his country’s forces could again enter the central African country in search of the rebels, who committed genocide in Rwanda in 1994, but that future engagements would include the Kinshasa government.

Rwanda and Congo are expected to resume full diplomatic relations this month.

Rwandan troops began withdrawing last Wednesday - five weeks after they crossed the border to attack the FDLR.

In January, the government in Kinshasa allowed thousands of Rwandan soldiers to enter eastern DR Congo to fight the remnants of the Rwandan Hutu militia.

In a separate development, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, while on a visit to Rwanda, said achieving peace in the region depended on cooperation between Kinshasa and Kigali.

A new chapter

He said he welcomed a plan by Rwanda’s President Kagame for the establishment of full diplomatic relations with DR Congo, speaking of his hope for a “new chapter” in relations between the two neighbours.

In eastern Dr Congo, however, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission said on Sunday he had reports that the FDLR rebels had retaken several positions in the area.

Addition reports by BBC 0nline