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| Africa Subsaharan |
| U.N.: Around 11 Deaths in DR Congo Fighting |
| 2013-04-02 |
| [An Nahar] Around 11 people were killed after fresh fighting between government forces and a militia in the 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... , the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... said Monday. U.N. front man Eduardo del Buey said the APCLS militia suffered the reported fatalities, while a soldier from the DR Congo army was injured during the skirmishes in Kitchanga, in North Kivu province. The situation in the area was reported as calm on Monday, but approximately 1,500 civilians remained under the protection of MONUSCO, the U.N.'s peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, which has a base in Kitchanga. The APCLS is an gang of the ethnic majority Hunde under the command of Janvier Buingo Karairi. The latest fighting comes after lethal festivities between DR Congo soldiers and the militia in February and March which left 80 people dead and forced thousands of civilians to flee. Del Buey said the U.N. was still awaiting official notification from Kinshasa of actions to be taken against two army battalions accused of carrying out at least 126 rapes as government forces retreated during an assault by M23 rebels in the region last November. |
| Posted by:Fred |