Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) headed a crisis team to the eastern town of Goma being besieged by Tutsi rebels, the government said on Tuesday.
The team, including several cabinet ministers, arrived in Goma to assess the humanitarian situation after days of fighting between the government and rebel forces. Tens of thousands of people were displaced to add to the 1 million refugees in North Kivu province.
Muzito, 51, was named premier by President Joseph Kabila early last month to replace Antoine Gizenga. His schedule in Goma includes talks with U.N. envoy Alan Doss and U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy in Goma before meeting with refugees.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende said here on Tuesday that Kabila's administration is ready for dialogue with all rebel and militia groups, instead of opening talks alone with the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), led by renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda.
The CNDP rebels had previously demanded direct talks with the government, threatening to resume fighting otherwise. The rebel declared a unilateral cease-fire on Oct. 29 amid worldwide calls for an end to clashes.
On a separate occasion, Communications Minister Lambert Mende on Tuesday stressed that the government will move to ensure normal ties with neighboring countries, especially Rwanda.
The DRC holds Rwanda's Tutsi-led government responsible for backing the CNDP in its latest advance on Goma, accusing Kigali of sending troops across the border in support of rebels. Rwanda denies the charges, blaming Kinshasa for failing to disarm the Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), in skirmishes with minority Tutsis in the east part of the DRC.
The FDLR consists of elements involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda before taking refuge in the DRC's eastern provinces. Tensions escalated between Kinshasa and Kigali afterward, sucking eight countries in the Great Lakes region into the 1996-2003 wars.
In another development, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to travel to the Kenyan capital Nairobi this week for an African Union summit that will include both Kabila and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, according to a UN official who declined to be identified.
Source:Xinhua
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