Tracking - Rebels Advance in Eastern Congo, Thousands Flee

by Michael Kleinman

Published November 17, 2008 @ 09:22PM PST

[Condition:Critical - Voices from the war in eastern Congo; produced by Medecins Sans Frontieres]

Fighting in eastern Congo has caused over 250,000 civilians to flee their homes since August, including 100,000 people in the last two weeks.

In late October, rebel forces under Laurent Nkunda overran the Congolese Army and advanced to the edge of Goma, the largest city in North Kivu province, at which point Nkunda declared a ceasefire.

Aid workers are struggling to reach hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced by the fighting.   For a map of the region, see here.

Developments over the last two days:

Sometimes, even irony fails.  Over the weekend, rebel leader Laurent Nkunda met with UN special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo and promised to participate in UN-led peace talks, respect the current ceasefire, and establish a humanitarian corridor to allow aid to reach civilians trapped behind rebel lines.

According to Nkunda: "We are behind [Obasanjo] and we are going to do our part so we can get on with this peace."

He went on to say: "Today is a great day for us because we were losing many men and now we have a message of peace. We should work with this mission."

Of course, it's possible that Nkunda has his own interpretation of what a "message of peace" entails.  Which would explain why the rebels attacked the Congolese army outside of Rwindi on Sunday, overrunning the town the next day.

For more information on the humanitarian situation, see below:

The Associated Press offered a glimpse of the retreating Congolese Army:

"One soldier in flip-flops, Jerome Roger, said government troops had fled Rwindi on the orders of their unit commander. He said he did not know his army's plans or strategy -- he and his colleagues had no radios to communicate with other units.

'We retreated from Rwindi; maybe we'll retreat from here,' Roger said, shrugging his shoulders and smiling wildly as marijuana smoke wafted through the air."

Fighting was also reported around the villages of Kabasha and Ndeko.

Rwindi, Kabasha and Ndeko all lay near Kanyabayonga, 80 miles north of Goma.  According to AFP: "Kanyabayonga is strategic because it is the meeting point of main roads in Nord-Kivu, and thus a point of control over the north of the conflict-stricken province."

To make matters worse, retreating Congolese soldiers already rampaged through Kanyabayonga last week.

Meanwhile, the fighting has forced thousands more to flee their homes.  The Associated Press reports that "the entire population" of Kanyabayonga has fled, and that another neighboring town is "virtually deserted".

The article goes on to describe "handfuls of people still fleeing with everything they owned. Women carried babies and plastic yellow Jerry cans and rolled mattresses on their backs. Children, doubled over under heavy loads, trekked behind."

In both Rwindi and Kanyabayonga, terrified civilians have sought refuge near UN bases, hoping that the presence of peacekeeper would offer some modicum of security.

To learn more about how the fighting has affected humanitarian operations in the region, see here.

Random quote: "Death closes all: but something ere the end / Some work of noble note, may yet be done / Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods / The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep / Moans roand with many voices.  Come, my friends / Tis never too late to seek a newer world / Push off, and sitting well in order to smite / The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds / To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths / Of all the western stars, until I die." (Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ulysses)