GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (AFP) — A UN convoy took desperately needed aid Monday to a rebel-held town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as the government rejected the rebel leader's demand for talks.
Laurent Nkunda, who has wrested control of several strategic towns, threatened in a meeting with reporters on Sunday to launch a campaign to overthrow the government if his offer was turned down.
The UN convoy of about a dozen vehicles left Goma, capital of Nord-Kivu province, for Rutshuru, about 75 kilometers (45 miles) to the north, escorted by around 50 UN peacekeepers.
Thousands of people lined the road from Goma to Rutshuru during the journey.
Tens of thousands of people live in camps around Rutshuru and many fled into nearby villages and jungle after the new fighting between Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and government forces.
The aid convoy had a small amount of water and medical supplies, but UN officials were to size up the possibility of sending bigger convoys through rebel territory, UN humanitarian official Gloria Fernandez said.
"At the moment, we are sending a team to see if it is possible to bring things to Rutshuru in the coming days," said Theo Kapuku, national programme officer for the UN World Food Programme.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the British medical aid charity Merlin also had representatives on the convoy.
The rebels declared a ceasefire last week after surrounding Goma where more than one million people have been displaced by fighting.
Nkunda threatened at a meeting with reporters on Sunday, at his Nord-Kivu stronghold of Kichangna, to oust the government in Kinshasa unless it holds "direct" talks on his demands.
"We say we have to fight until we are going to get resolution of our problems through negotiations or if they ignore (that call), we are going to force them, to liberate Congo," Nkunda said.
"For us, Congo is under occupation. An occupation of negative forces protected by our government. And our government has betrayed his people."
Nkunda said his troops were at the gates of Goma and had infiltrated Goma airport. He said he had ordered his troops to halt their advance because he saw the suffering of people in Goma, and declared the ceasefire.
While Nkunda's rebels have sought to reassure local people that they would be safe, western governments have warned of a looming humanitarian disaster in the central African nation.
"More than 1.6 million internally displaced are trapped in the crisis" and cannot be easily reached, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Sunday in the Tanzanian city of Dar Es Salaam.
"They are without food, water and other necessities."
Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner met Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, chairman of the African Union, following talks with DR Congo President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan leader Paul Kagame.
Kinshasa has accused Rwanda's Tutsi-dominated regime of backing Nkunda, who says he is protecting local ethnic Tutsis.
Kigali denies the charge, but analysts say Rwanda -- frustrated by the DR Congo's failure to disarm a Rwandan Hutu rebel group that is harbouring perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against Tutsis -- is helping Nkunda.
Uruguayan military commander Jorge Rosales, overseeing UN peacekeeping troops in the DR Congo , said Friday the rebel forces were being backed by tanks and artillery from Rwanda.
Kikwete said he was involved in diplomatic efforts ahead of a summit in Nairobi next week, where the leaders of Rwanda and Congo have agreed to discuss the crisis.
The top US diplomat for African affairs, Jendayi Frazer, has also held talks with Kabila and Kagame.
Miliband and Kouchner were to present a joint report on the crisis Monday at an informal meeting of European Union foreign ministers in the French city of Marseille.
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