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GISENYI, Rwanda – When gunfire broke out in her home area in eastern Congo, AnnieKabeja joined a wave of thousands fleeing the area and walked fortwo days with her two children toward neighboring Rwanda. "We heard gunshots and blasts. We had no option but to flee," the34-year-old Kabeja said after arriving in Rwanda. "We couldn'tsleep. Bullets were flying all over the place." Violence in eastern Congo has surged after dozens of soldiersmutinied on Monday and created a new group in a largely lawlessarea of Africa where numerous rebel armies have taken root. The new group created by the mutinous soldiers calls itself March23, the date of the 2009 peace accord signed by rebel groups andthe Congolese government. It is purportedly led by a colonel whowas formerly under Bosco Ntaganda, a former warlord who wasintegrated into the Congolese army under the peace deal despitebeing wanted by the International Criminal Court. Congolese army spokesman Col. Sylvain Ekenge called the new group a"farce" but clashes between it and Congo's army continued for daysin the Masisi region of North Kivu. Kabeja, her youngest child strapped on her back, waited withthousands of others in a long, snaking line at Nkamira Transit Campto receive food rations and other basic necessities. Rwandanormally uses the facility in Rwanda's mountainous, rainy and coldNorthern Province to temporarily welcome repatriated refugees fromthe jungles of Congo. Straton Kamanzi, the manager of the U.N.-supported camp, said it'sdesigned to hold 4,000, but currently houses 7,000. Women, girlsand infants sleep crammed together under the temporary shelters. "For (the men) it is OK. We sleep outside and let women andchildren who are more vulnerable to sleep in the tents," said HerveMunyentwari, a 22-year-old university student. "My worry is that mystudies have been interrupted but hopefully we will return home." Richard Ndaula, who is with the U.N.'s refugee agency, said 250 to300 people are showing up at the camp near the Congo border eachday. "We are not sure when the situation in Congo will calm down, but weanticipate more people will be coming in," he said. Other refugees were arriving in the nearby town of Rubavu.Officials tried to sort out who was Congolese and who was Rwandan.Many Rwandans fled into Congo after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda,and stayed there. Many of the refugees are Rwandan but Congoleseare among them. "We cannot identify who is Rwandese and who is not, but at the endof the day we have to let them all in," said a Rwandese official. Over the weekend, the governor of Congo's North Kivu Province,Julien Kahongya Paluku, visited the camp inside Rwanda, givingassurances that peace would return. Ekenge called on the mutinous soldiers to reintegrate into theCongolese army and for military leaders to create favorableconditions for those wanting to return. Ntaganda is accused of using child soldiers for fighting innortheastern Congo from 2002 to 2003. He was first indicted on warcrimes charges in 2006 by the Netherlands-based InternationalCriminal Court. Congo President Joseph Kabila said last month thatNtaganda should be arrested and face a military tribunal in Congo. In the past, Kabila had refused calls to hand over Ntaganda,arguing his cooperation was essential to keeping the peace in thetroubled east of the country. Ntaganda was integrated into the Congolese army along with unknownhundreds of troops under a peace deal ending a 2009 rebellion thatwas negotiated as the rebels were about to take the provincialcapital of Goma. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Die Casting Molds Manufacturer , China Overmolding Injection Molding for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits High Temperature Molding.
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