February 8, 2002
Hundreds of people have been reported killed and about 15,000 displaced in Ituri province near the Ugandan border since the beginning of the year, according to the United Nations and aid agencies working in the area.
''The situation in Ituri is unacceptable. The confrontations are preventing us from carrying out our mandate of restoring peace to Congo,'' Amos Ngongi, the U.N. special representative to the Central African country, told reporters. ''I told rebel leaders that the security of civilians was their responsibility and that civilians should not be held hostage by the political ambitions of foreigners,'' Ngongi added.
He was speaking in Kinshasa after a two-day trip to eastern Congo, where forces loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) have skirmished with Mbusa Nyamwisi's Kisangani-based wing of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD).
The two rebel factions are military rivals, even though they are both backed by Uganda. The north and east of the former Zaire have been carved into fiefdoms by opposing factions since Ugandan and Rwandan-backed rebels invaded Africa's third largest country in 1998.
A rebel movement that started out united against the central government in Kinshasa, which is backed by troops from Zimbabwe and Angola, has splintered into several rival groups. They are all competing fiercely for Congo's vast natural wealth, including diamonds, timber, gold and coltan, a rare mineral used in hi-tech equipment such as mobile phones and laptop computers.
Clashes between Hema and Lundu tribes escalated after rebel leaders exploited tribal differences, Ngongi said, adding that there was particular concern as the clashes were taking place in a power vacuum created when Uganda withdrew most of its troops from Congo last year. The warring parties are preparing to meet in South Africa this month to try to end a war that has killed over two million people, mostly from starvation and disease.
''The fighting is a worry because any such military action by the signatories of the peace accord is a violation of that agreement. Hopefully, this is just a pre-dialogue burst of energy and once we get into the conference rooms it will all quieten down,'' Ngongi told Reuters. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said he will play a more active role in quelling tension in eastern Congo, but stopped short of saying he would send more troops to the region.
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