Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda on Saturday slammed the planned deployment of extra UN troops in Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), saying they could not usher in peace as he held his first rally in an eastern town he seized last month.
About 1,500 people gathered at an overgrown stadium at Rutshuru, about 80km north of Goma — the main city in Nord-Kivu Province — to see the cashiered general, a persistent thorn in the side of DR Congo President Joseph Kabila.
Nkunda arrived in style in a four-wheel-drive vehicle with tinted glasses, flanked by bodyguards and armed fighters and wielding his trademark cane, topped with an eagle’s head, and sporting gold rimmed sunglasses.
He launched a strong warning to locals not to accept the additional 3,000 peacekeepers from the UN mission in DR Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC.
“They are sending another 3,000 blue helmets and you are applauding. You are mistaken!” said the rangy Pentecostal Christian who sometimes sports badges saying “Rebels for Christ” in a speech peppered with Biblical references.
“We will not accept outsiders coming in to provide security for us here,” he thundered. “Either you help us in the revolution or you keep quiet with MONUC. But if you wait for MONUC to bring you peace, you can wait forever.”
“We must unite to work to ensure our security. Every day you ask for something more but how long will you go on begging?” Nkunda asked.
There are now 17,000 troops from 18 nations, including 4,000 from India, in MONUC — the biggest UN peacekeeping operation in the world. About 5,000 of them are in Nord-Kivu.
Nkunda also urged the region’s disparate ethnic groups to “cohabit” peacefully.
“There is only one solution, that we coexist peacefully,” he said. “There is enough place for even foreigners.”
In a display of unabashed showmanship, Nkunda danced with young women and assiduously wooed the crowd, which was entertained with French songs and an energetic jig performed by barefooted pygmy dancers.
However, locals said many people shunned the event out of fear, adding that they had suffered rape, looting and other violence.
A young student said he was heartened by Nkunda’s appeal to the different ethnic groups to live in harmony, but added: “He said we can move freely but we cannot.”
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