Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
October 15, 2007

Eastern Congo Braces for More Fighting
--------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=19E1F0F:A6F02AD83191E16065A933BDB155E3D69574F7DCC14957C0 President Joseph
Kabila has given fighters loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda
until the end of Monday to lay down their weapons





Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila, 08 Sep 2007The
situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is reported to be
tense as a government deadline for rebel fighters to join the army
draws near.

President Joseph Kabila has given fighters loyal to renegade General
Laurent Nkunda until the end of Monday to lay down their weapons.
Rebels and foreign observers have said they expect the army to attack
soon after the deadline.

On Sunday, Nkunda told British radio that more talks are necessary
before his troops can be integrated into the army.

However, a U.N.-sponsored radio station, Radio Okapi, says at least
157 of Nkunda's fighters have come over to the government side.

President Kabila is in North Kivu province, where the army and
Nkunda's forces fought heavy gunbattles last week.

A spokesman says the president went to North Kivu on Sunday to assess
the military and humanitarian situation. Weeks of fighting has
displaced tens of thousands of people in the region.

The head of the U.N. mission in Congo, William Lacy Swing, traveled to
North Kivu today and is expected to meet with the Conglese president.

Congo's army has been fighting Nkunda's forces since 2004 as part of
efforts to assert control over the country's volatile east. Militias
and rebel groups remain active in the region, more than four years
after the end of Congo's brutal civil war.

Nkunda has said his forces are protecting Congo's minority Tutsi
population. He accuses the Conglese government of collaborating with
Hutu rebels who entered the area after Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.


.