Congo

Just an update of the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), what's in a name.

I don't know what reaches the press abroad, but here we get daily updates of the situation in east DRC bordering Rwanda.

It has always been bad in eastern DRC since the war in 1994. The two provinces bordering Rwanda are south and north Kivu. South Kivu borders also Burundi and North Kivu also borders Uganda. In South Kivu there are rebels that are closely linked with Burundian rebels, this is a problem but seems to be at a stable level, and also Rwanda doesn't seem to intervene or have an problems because of it. In North Kivu the main rebel group is that of Nkunda a tutsi ex army lieutenant or general (I don't even know the difference). He says he is fighting for the tutsi's in DRC who are still suffering oppression. Rumours are that Rwanda is aiding him in all sorts of ways, but this is hard to prove.

Recently the conflict between Nkunda and the DRC army has escalated, it looks like most of the area is in control of Nkunda, except Goma the province capital. In Goma is a high presence of UN (MONUC) and are a lot of NGO's (red cross, doctors without borders...) situated. Goma is right next to the border, at the other side of the border in Rwanda is Gisenyi, both at the shores of lake Kivu.

The latest reports are that the DRC army was looting in Goma, even killing some people. Many Congolese flee over the border to spend the night in Gisenyi. A lot of NGO's decided to withdraw from DRC and move to Gisenyi. The UK and Dutch embassies have advised not to go to Gisenyi and hotels are not accepting reservations.

The international community is worried about the situation, more so because nobody seems to know an answer to the problems. However nobody seems to be worried that the problems will spread towards the rest of Rwanda. Rwanda is very cautious not to intervere, because of international pressure, and Nkunda has nothing to gain by going into Rwanda.

Nkunda offered an aid corridor, this looks kind, but this is most likely because he depends on the people for his own food supply.

In short, we are not worried, but we avoid going to the north-west of Rwanda.