08 January 2009
Diplomats are intensifying efforts to bring peace to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, but Congo's Tutsi rebels appear to have a growing division within their ranks.
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| Olusegun Obasanjo gives a press briefing in Nairobi, 10 Dec 2008 |
But a dissident ethnic Tutsi rebel commander, Bosco Ntaganda, reiterated the claim he had replaced General Laurent Nkunda at the head of the rebel National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). He also said he would help push peace forward.
Journalists said Ntaganda made the announcement Thursday from his farm in Kabati, eastern Congo, surrounded by other rebel commanders and dozens of fighters.
Nkunda's spokesman again denied there had been a change of leadership.
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| Rebel General Laurent Nkunda (C) walks in the courtyard of a house after speaking with the press in the town of Kitshoumba, 02 Nov 2008 |
Mr. Obasanjo is due in Rwanda Friday. Defense ministers from the DRC and Rwanda agreed last month that a Rwandan Hutu militia in eastern Congo, considered responsible for Rwanda's 1994 genocide, would be disarmed. That promise has been made before but never carried out.
The ethnic Tutsi rebels, who control parts of Congo's North Kivu province, say they are defending Tutsi communities against the Hutu militia, government soldiers and other armed groups.
Fighting has displaced an estimated quarter-million people in North Kivu since August.Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.