NAIROBI (AFP) — Washington's top diplomat for Africa on Tuesday urged rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to halt their march to the strategic town of Goma and return to previous agreements.
Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Congolese renegade general Laurent Nkunda and his National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) will be held accountable for actions in Goma.
"I should say, they should not go into Goma, they will be held accountable for actions taking place (there). They should return to a political process," Frazer told a press conference in Nairobi.
"I am also going to the Congo tomorrow and then onwards to Rwanda to discuss the situation taking place in eastern Congo, specifically to urge a return to the Goma agreement to resolve the internal crisis in Congo with general Nkunda's CNDP forces.
"We certainly call on those forces to stop the attacks that have displaced many individuals, so many Congolese people," Frazer added.
In January, rebels operating in the eastern DRC signed an accord with the government that involved a ceasefire, demobilisation of troops and an amnesty.
"We do not need a new agreement, we need agreements that are currently on the table to be implemented," Frazer said.
The US diplomat rejected claims by Nkunda that his forces were fighting to protect minority Tutsi tribesmen in the troubled central African nation.
"The CNDP cannot protect the Tutsi population, that excuse to continue to attack innocent civilians and displace innocent civilians is not acceptable," she said.
The rebels late Wednesday declared a unilateral ceasefire even though the collapse of government resistance left UN peacekeeping forces -- which earlier used helicopter gunships to stall the rebel advance -- as the only obstacle to a complete takeover of Goma, the capital of Nord-Kivu province.
The rebel advance left government forces, residents and tens of thousands of refugees scrambling to leave Goma, officials said.
Combat between Nkunda's men and government forces has escalated since the weekend, despite a plea from United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for an end to the fighting.
The government in Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of actively supporting Nkunda.
"We have no evidence that Rwanda is fighting directly in eastern Congo, but we do believe that Rwandan territory has been used to provide support to CNDP. It is a very, very easy border to cross, supplies can go back and forth easily," Frazer said.
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