Threat of all-out war in Congo

NAIROBI // Clashes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week between government forces and a rebel militia threatened to plunge the region back into all-out war. The violence also threatened vulnerable wildlife including the rare mountain gorilla. Fighting erupted yesterday when rebels from the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) clashed with the Congolese army near the Ugandan border. The two sides exchanged machine gun and mortar fire. At least 18 rebel soldiers were wounded while 50 government troops were injured, news agencies reported. The fighting is the worst since a peace deal was signed in January in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. The deal was supposed to have disarmed the more than two dozen militia groups in the region, but periodic outbursts of violence have continued. During a lull in the fighting last month, human rights groups and diplomats warned that rebels were rearming for a protracted fight. The CNDP, a rebel group controlled by Gen Laurent Nkunda, has refused to disarm. Mr Nkunda, who normally grants audiences to journalists, was unavailable last month and cancelled meetings with aid organisations, fuelling speculation that he was preparing his troops for battle. Recently disarmed child soldiers who fought for CNDP also said that Mr Nkunda was planning attacks. The UN mission in Congo, or Monuc, which has 17,000 peacekeepers in the region and has been trying to broker a peace deal, denounced the recent fighting. "Monuc calls on the parties to contain themselves, return to their initial position and avoid any action that might lead to another escalation of violence," said a UN statement. "In addition, Monuc reminds that all military actions by the signatories of the Actes d'Engagement, including counter-attacks, are a violation of the ceasefire." UN peacekeepers were dispatched to the troubled area north of Goma to quell the violence. They said this week the situation was calm but tense. "We have sent out patrols to determine what has actually happened, and we have combat helicopters on standby," said Jean-Paul Dietrich, a Monuc military spokesman. "There is too much tension in the air." The attacks displaced more of the war-fatigued Congolese people, who have endured a decade of armed conflict. More than 100,000 have fled their homes already this year and are living in huts in squalid camps. At least 5.4 million people have died in the 10-year war making it the deadliest conflict since the Second World War. The recent fighting is taking place near the Virunga National Park, an 800,000 hectare forest preserve on the slopes of DR Congo's volcanoes. The park is one of the only remaining habitats for the 700 mountain gorillas left in the world. The rebels control the gorilla sector of the park, and conservationists said the recent clashes threatened the gorillas. "This latest escalation of the conflict undermines our efforts to resume our work in the gorilla sector," said Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park for the Congolese Wildlife Authority. "It is almost one year to the day since this conflict started, but we are as determined as ever to get back in. It is critical that we know the status of the mountain gorillas." Elephants in the park are also at risk from the renewed violence. A Virunga park statement last week said that 10 per cent of the park's elephants have been killed since the beginning of the year. Government wildlife rangers have been unable to access the park because of the presence of armed rebels. Rebels have killed 24 elephants this year for their ivory, according to Traffic, a group that monitors wildlife trade. DR Congo on Saturday closed its border with Uganda in an attempt to isolate the rebels. The CNDP operates close to the borders with Uganda and Rwanda and is thought to be supplied by both countries. "The government has closed this border in order to cut off the rebellion of Laurent Nkunda from its supply source," Claude Kamanga Mutond, a foreign ministry spokesman, told the Associated Press. "We want to stop Nkunda from being able to supply himself to continue this war." Mr Nkunda, a Tutsi, has close ties with the Tutsi-led government in Rwanda. He claims to be protecting Congolese Tutsis from the Hutu perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Hutu fugitives fled into DR Congo after the genocide and have attacked Congolese Tutsi. mbrown@thenational.ae