09/09/13 Associated Press: Congo president vows to keep country united
In a rare 25-minute speech,
President Joseph Kabila said that the Congolese army would defend the country
and criticized those "who seek all means to destabilize it."
His comments came at a
conference he organized to promote national unity, though several opposition
parties boycotted the event that comes just days before government negotiators
are to return to the Ugandan capital of Kampala
for renewed talks with the M23 rebels.
"No effort will be spared
so that the talks in Kampala
succeed in restoring peace and state authority across the vast nation.
Otherwise our forces will again take up their duties," said Kabila, who
received wide applause to the statement.
Peace talks between the
Congolese government and M23 fighters have repeatedly stalled since the rebels
launched their rebellion against the government last year. M23 is widely
believed to be backed by the government of Rwanda, heightening tensions
between the two neighbors along the border. Rwanda's government denies that it
is aiding the rebels.
The addition of a
strengthened brigade within the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo has allowed U.N. forces to bolster
Congolese efforts to fight the rebels in recent weeks amid an upsurge in violence
around the eastern city of Goma,
home to nearly 1 million people. A tentative cease-fire is now in place, after
fighting in which more than a dozen civilians were killed.
Crispus Kiyonga, a Ugandan
government minister who mediates the peace talks, said Saturday that
negotiations would resume Monday after both camps gave confirmation.
Martin Kobler, the U.N.
secretary-general's special representative to Congo and new mission chief, said
Saturday he hoped the upcoming talks would be a success.
"I believe that after
the military success there should now be political success and I hope that a
solution will be found," he said.