Congo (Democratic Republic of the)

UN

The UN is sending envoys into Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kigali in Rwanda, since the two are currently at odds at one another over boundary discrepancies. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, released a statement that this extreme violence was creating a humanitarian crisis of “catastrophic dimensions".

Since the genocides that took place in 1994, there have been high tensions between the two nations. However, this situation is no longer focuses just on ethnic differences but the countries feuding interests over the area’s mineral wealth is fueling the conflict just as much. There has been a cease fire this week in the fighting and the UN diplomats are using this brief break of violence to try and solve the situation peacefully. Since the fighting is causing so many civilian casualties and forcing people of both nations to flee. The EU foreign policy Chief Javier Solana has spoken to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel has met Congolese President Joseph Kabila in an attempt to bring the two leaders together. Clearly the two nations are in desperate need of an intervention of a higher international “authority.” In such a grim situation it is a positive sign that the two nations are actually complying somewhat with the EU to try and solve this dilemma with diplomacy rather then violence. However, without an enforced peace settlement there is little hope to stop the fighting completely.

Liberal

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/africa/article01//indexn2_html?pdate=291008&ptitle=Govt,%20UN%20forces%20retreat%20as%20rebels%20advance%20in%20Congo

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7700897.stm

October 30, 2008 at 11:33 pm