Congo talks in the works; rebels, soldiers clash in east

Renewed fighting broke out Saturday between rebels and soldiers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as a U.N. special envoy flew in for emergency talks and said President Joseph Kabila was ready to meet his main rival.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo met Kabila late Friday and said the Congolese leader “did not give anything that I would call conditions” for holding talks with rebel leader Laurent Nkunda. Obasanjo spoke in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, before flying to the eastern city of Goma.

Congo’s government has said it is willing to meet Nkunda, but only along with the myriad other militias operating in the region. Fighting erupted in August in the east, displacing more than 250,000 people and raising fear that the violence could spread through the region.

Nkunda says he is fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis from Hutu militias who fled to Congo after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. The mass slaughter left more than 800,000 dead, most of them Tutsis.

Obasanjo said Nkunda called him three days ago and asked to see him. “I am also looking forward to that, and from there we move on,” Obasanjo said.

In Goma, U.N. officials and local dignitaries greeted Obasanjo, who confirmed that he planned to meet Nkunda.

Nkunda spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa said the meeting probably would take place today in Rutshuru, north of Goma, or Bunagana, on the Ugandan border.

The army and rebels exchanged fire for about 10 minutes Saturday in the village of Kabasha, north of Goma, said Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich, a spokesman for the 17,000-member U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo. “We have launched patrols in the area,” Dietrich said.

The rebel spokesman could not confirm the fighting, but said it was tense around Kanyabayonga, near Kabasha.

“There is a big movement of the government army from Kanyabayonga toward our positions,” Bisimwa said. “They have tanks, helicopters, many things. They want to attack us.”