afrol News, 4 November - Congolese rebels have condemned Democratic Republic of Congo government for rejecting negotiations with militias in eastern DRC, whose attacks have forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

General Laurent Nkunda, leader of National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), had demanded direct talks with government as his militia was advancing to town of Goma in east DRC.

Last week, CNDP routed government forces around the provincial capital of Goma, provoking a mass exodus of civilians.

Goma, provincial capital of North Kivu, was placed under an overnight curfew on Tuesday with CNDP maintaining unilateral ceasefire it called last week.

Rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa said Kinshasa government has confirmed its militarist position by refusing parliament's recommendation of direct dialogue with the CNDP, which has announced a ceasefire since last week Wednesday.

"It is an act of sabotage. The government has just launched the war on its people," Mr Bisimwa said.

The government, which has accused Rwanda of backing Mr Nkunda, has refused to hold direct talks with CNDP, saying it wanted dialogue with all armed groups in Kivu region and not just CNDP.

"There are no small and large armed groups," government spokesman Lambert Mende said. "The act of creating a humanitarian disaster does not give special rights."

Meanwhile, General Nkunda's rebels in eastern DRC vowed to continue attacks on an ethnic Hutu militia.

Although CNDP has declared ceasefire, it said it doesn't apply to Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, Mr Bisimwa said.

"We don't have a cease-fire with the FDLR," Mr Bisimwa said from Mushake, 30 kilometers west of Goma, capital of North Kivu province. "It's only normal that we should continue and take areas where FDLR are," he also said.

Mr Bisimwa said CNDP controls territory from 10 kilometers north of Goma to town of Rutshuru, which is 70 kilometers to the north. The FDLR remain in areas to the northwest and northeast of Rutshuru, according to reports.

FDLR militia is led by Rwandan Hutus who fled into neighboring Congo after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

United Nations Children's Fund estimates that around 250,000 people are now believed to have been displaced in the last two months, bringing the total number of internally displaced to around one million.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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