Angola sends troops to Congo fighting

Tensions escalated in war-battered eastern Congo today after Angola announced it was sending troops to aid government forces.

The presence of Angolans in the volatile region could provoke retaliation by neighbouring Rwanda whose 1994 ethnic genocide sparked the violence that still rocks the region.

At least 500,000 Tutsis were killed in Rwanda in 1994 by Hutus, some of whom then escaped to Congo.

Congo rebel leader Laurent Nkunda claims he is fighting to protect minority Tutsis in eastern Congo from the Hutus immigrants.

Congolese officials sought Angolan help as Nkunda’s rebels were advancing toward Goma.

Nkunda called a unilateral cease-fire last week when his forces reached the outskirts of the city, but the truce has crumbled amid persistent reports of fighting.

The rebels have promised to fight any African troops that aid the Congolese army.

Angolan Deputy Foreign Minister Georges Chicoty announced the extra troops after attending a meeting in Brussels with European foreign ministers.

Southern African regional leaders meeting at a summit on Sunday in Kenya discussed sending troops to reinforce the scattered Congolese army near Goma, the provincial capital on the border with Rwanda.

At least 250,000 people have been displaced by fighting that the largest United Nations peacekeeping force struggled to contain. UN officials say both the rebels and government troops have committed crimes against civilians.

UN peacekeeping spokesman Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich said Congolese army troops had raped civilians near the town of Kanyabayonga, 60 miles north of Goma.

The army troops are notoriously ill-disciplined. In recent days, some have been seen manning checkpoints drunk.

In New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate cease-fire so aid workers could urgently help “at least 100,000 refugees” cut off in rebel-held areas north of Goma.

The UN chief also said he was “very concerned by reports of targeted killings of civilians, looting and rape.”

Ban said about 3,000 more UN peacekeeping soldiers and police were urgently needed to bolster the 17,000-strong UN force in Congo, which has been unable to stop the fighting or halt the rebel advance.