Minerals deal with US won’t stop fighting in DR of Congo, says rebel leader

Rebel leader of group of Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) including M23, Corneille Nangaa, addresses a news conference in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Brian Inganga/AP)

The leader of the rebels who captured two key cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo says international sanctions and the planned minerals deal that the country has offered the US will not stop the fighting between their members and Congolese forces in the hard-hit region.

With such sanctions and a bounty placed on the rebel leaders by the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s government, “we will fight like people who got nothing to lose in order to secure the future of our country,” Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance (AFC) that includes the M23 rebel group, told The Associated Press.