Congo To Help Fight Rwanda Rebels Jenny Arvanaghi '10 *Issue date:* 11/20/08 *Section:* World <http://media.www.thecowl.com/news/2008/11/20/World/>
- Print<http://media.www.thecowl.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=0854c194-626f-4656-ad38-8deb6a803755> - Email<http://media.www.thecowl.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayEmailArticleForm&uStory_id=0854c194-626f-4656-ad38-8deb6a803755> - Article Tools<http://media.www.thecowl.com/media/storage/paper493/news/2008/11/20/World/Congo.To.Help.Fight.Rwanda.Rebels-3558282.shtml#cp_article_tools> - Page *1* of 1 Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have agreed to cooperate with forces along their common border, according to the BBC. Foreign ministers from both countries said Rwandan intelligence teams would go into the DRC to help eradicate them. The DRC has endured political and social turmoil since gaining independence from Belgium in 1960. The Hutu fighters have lived in eastern DRC since 1994 and have been a key factor in destabilizing the region. Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has made the disarmament of the Hutu forces a key demand in halting the rebellion. Around 250,000 people have fled violence that flared in August between General Nkunda's fighters and government forces. General Nkunda says that he is fighting to protect his Tutsi community from attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels who fled to the DRC after the genocide in the mid-1990s. On Sunday, Nov. 16, though, General Nkunda told U.N. peace envoy Olusegun Obasanjo that he will support a peace process with the government after meeting with him in the rebel-held town of Jomba. Although the Congolese government has often promised to stop Hutu forces from using its territory, it has not done so. Its forces have actually been accused of working with the rebels to exploit the region's rich mines. In last year's Nairobi agreement, the rebel forces, which are estimated to be more than 6,000, were meant to have been disarmed by the end of August. The deadline has passed and General Nkunda's forces continue fighting. Recently, the foreign ministers of Rwanda and the DRC committed themselves to a course of action that can hopefully better the events taking place in this region. They met at a news conference in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. They agreed to Rwandan intelligence officers going into the Congo, to work with the Congolese army and the international community to help end the presence of the Hutu militia who have operated from the region. The DRC's Foreign Minister Alexis Mwamba Thambwe spoke on the agreement, "We confirm our firm will bring a military plan, with man-power and material support from different countries, to enable us once and for all to put an end to the problem of the FDLR." At the same time, the U.N. says it will move 60,000 people from a camp north of Goma to a location west of the city in case of fighting. The people at Kibati camp are close to the front line separating government troops and rebels loyal to General Nkunda. The U.N. refugee agency is working on a new site called Mugunga III, where most people will have to make the 15 kilometer journey by foot. The women of the Congo are also affected by the fighting. On Friday, women gathered at a sports stadium in Goma housing thousands of people who fled the fighting. They held up signs stating their despair for those who were killed and the eagerness for the fighting to stop. One demonstrator told reporters, "Women are tired of this war. We are just the victims." A spokesman for the charity ActionAid told reporters that cases of rape and violence against women has even risen dramatically since the latest fighting broke out.
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