False Alarm Prompts U.N. Protection
United Nations forces took Congo government officials under their protection after getting word that gunmen had surrounded the airport in the eastern city of Goma, but the reports turned out to be false.
U.N. radio reports had said fighters supporting Laurent Nkunda, a commander in the former rebel group that once controlled the city, surrounded the airport as Vice President Azarias Ruberwa was preparing to fly to another eastern Congolese town. Flights had been suspended, the reports said.
But U.N. spokeswoman Jacqueline Chenard said the situation was quiet and flights were operating normally.
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