DR Congo rebel ‘ready for peace’

The rebel general fighting government forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo says he is ready for a political solution to the conflict.

General Laurent Nkunda was speaking to the BBC in his first interview since his troops recaptured territory lost in a government offensive last week. He said the Congolese government must first disarm the Rwandan Hutu rebels he claims are attacking ethnic Tutsis.Government forces had taken the town of Mushake, claiming a ‘major victory’.With Mushake and the surrounding hills back in his possession, General Nkunda said it was time for ‘Congolese to live in peace’.”We said for a long time that the war cannot finish a political problem,” he told the BBC’s Arnaud Zajtman.”Political problems asked for political solutions.”Gen Nkunda said his forces were protecting DR Congo’s Tutsi population from Rwandan Hutu rebels – both Interahamwe militia and former Rwandan armed forces – who have lived in eastern DR Congo since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.He said it was too dangerous for people displaced from their homes by the recent fighting to go to government camps because Rwandan Hutu rebels would have easy access to them.”The problem is that on the government sites there are Hutu rebels who are armed and their ideology is to kill only Tutsi, so they cannot live on the sites of the government if the government is working with those negative forces.”Last week’s government offensive was intended to show the people that it could protect the ethnic Tutsi population, but the campaign now seems to be in disarray.Mushake is mostly inhabited by Tutsis, says our correspondent, who make a living herding cattle.BBCHe said the Congolese government must first disarm the Rwandan Hutu rebels he claims are attacking ethnic Tutsis.Government forces had taken the town of Mushake, claiming a ‘major victory’.With Mushake and the surrounding hills back in his possession, General Nkunda said it was time for ‘Congolese to live in peace’.”We said for a long time that the war cannot finish a political problem,” he told the BBC’s Arnaud Zajtman.”Political problems asked for political solutions.”Gen Nkunda said his forces were protecting DR Congo’s Tutsi population from Rwandan Hutu rebels – both Interahamwe militia and former Rwandan armed forces – who have lived in eastern DR Congo since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.He said it was too dangerous for people displaced from their homes by the recent fighting to go to government camps because Rwandan Hutu rebels would have easy access to them.”The problem is that on the government sites there are Hutu rebels who are armed and their ideology is to kill only Tutsi, so they cannot live on the sites of the government if the government is working with those negative forces.”Last week’s government offensive was intended to show the people that it could protect the ethnic Tutsi population, but the campaign now seems to be in disarray.Mushake is mostly inhabited by Tutsis, says our correspondent, who make a living herding cattle.BBC