Displaced Congolese fleeing violence, north of Goma Monday.(Karel Prinsloo/The Associated Press)
Commander Of UN Peacekeepers In Congo Resigns -- International Herald Tribune
UNITED NATIONS, New York: Amid worsening violence in eastern Congo, the commander of the UN peacekeeping force in the country resigned after just seven weeks in the job, the United Nations said Monday.
The announcement came as peacekeepers used helicopter gunships to attack rebels trying to take a Congolese village, Kibumba. The rebels are in control of several major towns and the headquarters of a national park where endangered mountain gorillas live in the middle of a shrinking ring of safety.
A UN spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said Monday that Lieutenant General Vicente Diaz de Villegas of Spain, commander of the UN peacekeepers in Congo, "has indicated that for personal reasons he will not be able to continue with his assignment as planned." His appointment was announced Sept. 9.
Jaya Murthy, a spokesman for Unicef in the eastern Congo city of Goma, said heavy fighting was raging in several areas between government troops and rebel forces under the command of Laurent Nkunda, a renegade general who says he is protecting ethnic Tutsis.
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My Comment: Typical of the U.N. .... an organization that is completely disorganized, corrupt, and only concerned with their own well being.