RUTSHURU, DR Congo (AFP) — A UN convoy brought desperately needed humanitarian assistance to this rebel-held town on Monday as aid agencies began tracking down more than a million people trapped by fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
It was the first time aid agencies had been able to reach Rutshuru since the UN said last week that 50,000 people had gone missing after "credible reports" that rebels had looted and burned camps around the town.
Escorted by around 50 UN peacekeepers, the convoy of about a dozen vehicles arrived without incident after making a 75-kilometre (45 mile) journey through rebel-held territory from Goma, the capital of Nord-Kivu province.
Rutshuru is one of several key towns taken since August by Tutsi rebels led by Laurent Nkunda in an offensive which has displaced 1.6 million people and brought them to the threshold of Goma before declaring a ceasefire last week.
Fresh from a weekend visit to the region, Britain's Foreign Minister David Miliband said as EU foreign ministers gathered in Marseilles, France, that the bloc had not ruled out sending a military humanitarian mission to DR Congo.
"We're talking about the work of the 17,000 UN peacekeepers there at the moment and the role of the European Union in supporting that politically, diplomatically, and no-one's ruling out a military role," he said.
Miliband said that no decision would be taken until after the United Nations Security Council had met on the issue.
UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon has sent his deputy in charge of peacekeeping to the DRC to investigate and report on an upsurge in violence.
"It will be for the United Nations including EU countries in the UN to listen to that report," Miliband said.
Miliband said on Sunday in the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam that "more than 1.6 million" were internally displaced by the crisis and were without "food, water and other necessities".
Last week, Miliband's French counterpart Bernard Kouchner suggested mobilising an EU battle group of up to 1,500 troops to provide humanitarian assistance for refugees displaced by fighting around the city of Goma.
"The world's political leaders are determined to make sure there's no repeat of the murderous activities of the 1990s," Miliband added, referring to the genocide in Rwanda and civil war in eastern Congo which claimed millions of lives.
Miliband said Europe wanted to work to support the African Union in seeking a political solution to the crisis.
Speaking to reporters at his Nord-Kivu stronghold of Kichangna, Nkunda threatened 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.
Given the precariousness of the security situation, Monday's convoy to Rutshuru carried only a small amount of water and medical supplies in what was largely a test run, officials 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.
Thousands of people displaced by the recent rebel offensive were seen lining the roads as the convoy made its way north through rebel territory.
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.
Miliband and Kouchner met Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, chairman of the African Union, following talks with DR Congo President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan leader Paul Kagame, in a weekend fact-finding tour of the region.
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.
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.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
