adminBan’s brief visit to the mineral-rich troublespot comes a day after he and the World Bank chief made a fresh push for peace and development in the region.
The latest bout of fighting near Goma, which was briefly seized by the M23 rebel group in an armed uprising last year despite the presence of a large UN peacekeeping force, has sent thousands of people fleeing.
But the Congolese army and rebel forces said the situation on the ground yesterday was calm. Both Kinshasa and the M23 have accused each other of launching hostilities and trying to scupper peace efforts in the restive east.
The rebels said they were ready for “an immediate cessation of hostilities” to enable Ban’s visit to go ahead.
The government said on Tuesday that 19 people had been killed in the fresh surge of fighting, while the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO reported that a rocket launched from a rebel position on Wednesday had killed one person.
The unrest was unleashed barely a week after the first troops from a new UN “offensive” brigade arrived in the east, an area rich in minerals including gold and coltan, which is used in cell phones and other electronic equipment.— AFP.
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