GOMA, Congo — Congo’s warring rivals traded accusations Tuesday that Angola, Zimbabwe and Rwanda are mobilizing forces to fight in Congo, as the prime minister flew into this besieged city to assess weeks of fighting that has displaced a quarter-million people.
The accusations of foreign involvement, reminiscent of a disastrous 1998-2002 war that drew in eight African nations, stoked fears of a wider conflict in this mineral-rich nation.
The fighting has forced tens of thousands of refugees to struggle through the countryside with what belongings they can carry. Tropical rainstorms, which drench eastern Congo every day, add to their misery.
“The people here don’t have food, and they are hungry,” said Rebecca Wynn of the humanitarian group Oxfam. “Some people are going into the banana fields around the camp, which is very dangerous because there are drunk soldiers around. They’re risking their lives, but they are hungry and desperate.”
Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito arrived in Goma before dusk Tuesday with half his Cabinet and met with U.N. envoy Alan Doss, U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy and local officials. He planned to meet with refugees today to assess the humanitarian crisis in the region.
Despite a week-old cease-fire, rebel leader Laurent Nkunda’s Rwandan-backed rebels vowed insurgents would march on the capital, Kinshasa, after the government refused Nkunda’s demand for direct talks.
Communications Minister Lambert Mende said President Joseph Kabila was “open for dialogue” but would not meet Nkunda’s group alone. The Congo government’s first priority is to “normalize our relations with all our neighbors, above all Rwanda,” Mende added.
Suggestions that other African nations are being drawn into the conflict have fueled fears of a wider war, adding urgency to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s attempts to bring Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame together for talks.
