France, UK in desperate bid to prevent Congo disaster
Bernard Kouchner and David Miliband met Kabila for 90 minutes before travelling to rebel-besieged Goma, and then on to Kigali to see President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, which has been accused of aiding the Tutsi rebel assault.
“We had a good meeting... The key theme of our discussion has been the need to implement the agreements that have already been made,” said Miliband after he and his French counterpart conferred with Kabila.
“Around the world, people are seeing the makings of a humanitarian crisis and it’s vital that politics is used to reverse a further round of deaths and killings,” he said.
Referring to the Goma peace accord reached in January this year, Kouchner said: “We do not have to redefine the peace protocol... That has already been done.”
Under the peace agreement, which has not been implemented, a ceasefire would be enforced and all armed groups in the region disarmed.
With rebel forces surrounding Goma, and tens of thousands fleeing the chaos, Kabila and Kagame have agreed to an emergency summit under the aegis of the United Nations and the African Union, EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said on Friday.
Michel said both leaders were sincere about “opting for dialogue and putting an end to the reasons that are undermining the east” of Congo.
“Some elements of the army are looting and committing atrocities of all kinds, leaving the people to suffer,” he said. “The rebels are accused as well of behaving the same way.”
In Goma, tension remained high amid a fragile ceasefire as Tutsi rebel troops led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda laid siege to the doorstep of the capital of Nord-Kivu province.
Government forces abandoned Goma on Wednesday as the rebels advanced on the city, leaving just 850 United Nations peacekeepers between Nkunda’s forces and Goma.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it had credible reports that rebels had looted and burned camps for displaced people.
“We are extremely concerned about the fate of some 50,000 displaced people living in these camps, which include the UNHCR-administered sites of Dumez, Nyongera and Kasasa,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said.
Before leaving Paris, Kouchner lamented the violence.
“This is a massacre such as Africa has probably never seen, which is taking place virtually before our eyes,” he told the Europe 1 radio station.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said Congo’s routed government forces had gone on a rampage of looting, killing and rape over the past few days in Goma.
“What happened in Goma should not have happened, as most violations were committed by looting soldiers belonging to the government forces,” she said.
Some 220,000 people have been displaced since fighting broke out in August.—AFP