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                 DRC Army Chief Suspended Pending Investigation

   by VOA News

   Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has suspended the
   head of the army, after the general was accused of selling weapons to
   armed groups in the east.
   The suspension of Major General Gabriel Amisi came three days after
   rebel group M23 defeated Congolese forces and captured the eastern city
   of Goma.
   Government spokesman Lambert Mende said Amisi will be investigated.
   "The president has decided to suspend him with immediate effect," Mende
   said, "and release him of his functions for the purpose of an inquiry."
   A United Nations report released late Wednesday said Amisi runs an arms
   smuggling network that supplies Congo's many rebel and militia groups.

   ''Meanwhile, M23 and the Congolese army continue to fight over the town
   of Sake, west of Goma.  The government said the army re-took the town
   from the rebels on Thursday, but VOA correspondent Gabe Joselow reports
   M23 seized it back early Friday.
   He says displaced residents are piling up in camps on the road to Goma.
   The rebels have rejected a call from Kabila and the presidents of
   Rwanda and Uganda to withdraw from Goma and stop their offensive.
   The DRC has accused both Rwanda and Uganda of supporting M23 --
   something both countries strongly deny.
   On Wednesday, the top U.N. official in the DRC, Roger Meece, said the
   rebels are receiving weapons and supplies from an external source.  The
   U.N. Security Council passed a resolution this week calling for
   sanctions against M23 leaders and supporters.
   M23 takes its name from a March 23, 2009 peace deal that was meant to
   bring former rebels into the Congolese army.  The rebels left the army
   early this year after complaining of discrimination and poor treatment.
   The DRC government has tried for years with little success to pacify
   the east, where armed groups compete for control of the region's
   mineral
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/drc-army-chief-suspended-pending-inve
   stigation-/1551604.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/drc-army-chief-suspended-pending-investigation-/1551604.html