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| Africa Subsaharan |
| UN helicopters pound DR Congo rebels to defend airport |
| 2012-11-19 |
| [Daily Nation (Kenya)] UN attack helicopters fired cannons and rockets at rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... on Sunday but could not stop an advance on the key city of Goma, a UN front man said. "The situation in Goma is extremely tense. There is a real threat that the city could fall into the M23's hands," UN peacekeeping front man Kieran Dwyer said. M23 rebels are now near Goma airport where UN forces and the DR Congo army are "defending," while tens of thousands of civilians have fled the conflict zone, Dwyer added. About 625 UN expatriate workers have been grouped at special protection points across the city, Dwyer said. UN peacekeepers in 17 "quick reaction units" have been deployed across Goma. Goma is the capital of Nord Kivu province where the M23 mutiny was launched in April. UN experts and the DR Congo government say the group has backing from neighbouring Rwanda, which denies the charge. According to UN sources in the region, many government soldiers and civilians have fled Goma, which is at the heart of a major mineral producing region. The UN peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, has been backing the army "to protect civilians and in self-defense, including carrying out sorties and firing from attack helicopter missions that have fired rockets and cannon rounds," Dwyer said. |
| Posted by:Fred |