Displaced return to camps as Congo violence eases

GOMA, CONGO —  An uneasy calm returned Thursday to this battered Congolese city as a tenuous cease-fire halted clashes and nervous residents struggled to resume their regular lives.

Many of the thousands of panicked people who fled regional displacement camps a day earlier and stormed into Goma, a city in northeastern Congo, began traveling back to the nearby camps.

In contrast to Wednesday’s frightened stampede, when people feared rebels were in hot pursuit, the return trip was a somber procession, with weary people of all ages carrying mattresses, blankets and kindling toward an uncertain future.

Rather than food and security in the city, they found only more suffering. Congolese soldiers, who are notoriously ill-trained and underpaid, spent much of the night terrorizing Goma, looting shops, firing weapons, raping women and harassing displaced families.

At least 10 people were shot to death and seven were wounded, U.N. officials said.

“We found no help in the city and had to sleep outside on the ground,” said Ntibarikure Nzabandora, 22, a father of two who was leading his family back to a camp on the outskirts of Goma. “We might as well go back. At least maybe we will find some food.”

A doctor in Goma said several of the gunshot victims he had treated Thursday waited several hours before seeking help because they feared going out into the streets, where gunfire rang out past 2 a.m.

U.N. peacekeeping soldiers cannot promise to protect civilians in the region, said Kevin Kennedy, a New York-based spokesman for the U.N. operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 17,000-member peacekeeping force in the country is the U.N.’s largest.

He said the U.N. was transferring peacekeepers to the area from other parts of Congo, but that the 850 troops now patrolling Goma were no match for the chaos in the region this week, including Congolese soldiers “running amok.”

Soldiers knocked at the door of Jacques Kalisa in the middle of the night.

“Soldiers said they just wanted some food and rest, but once inside they changed their story and said they needed money,” the Goma resident said. When told the family had no money, Kalisa said, soldiers killed his brother and shot two other family members.

By daylight, the city struggled to return to normality after rebels declared a unilateral cease-fire Wednesday. Some soldiers continued their retreat out of Goma, while others remained in town. Most shops stayed closed but pedestrians clogged the streets.

U.N. officials said there were no reports of new fighting in the hills around Goma. Forces for rebel leader Gen. Laurent Nkunda remained outside.

“The cease-fire is holding,” said U.N. spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai.

A rebel spokesman called on the government and U.N. mission to formally embrace the cease-fire. Nkunda reiterated his demand for direct negotiations with the government.

“How long we keep the cease-fire is up to the Congolese government,” said rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa.

Political negotiations continued as Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for African affairs, arrived in Kinshasa to consult with government leaders. She was scheduled to visit Goma today. European Union and U.N. leaders debated whether to send additional troops and pressured Congo and Rwanda to resolve their differences.

Tutsi-led Rwanda is accused of supporting Nkunda, who says he is fighting to protect minority Tutsis in Congo, formerly known as Zaire. Rwanda accuses Congo of sheltering Hutu militias implicated in the 1994 genocide.

On Wednesday, each side accused the other of firing shots across the border.

Under one proposed compromise, Nkunda could be appointed as commander of armed forces in the region, a rebel official said.

Aid workers said Thursday that they were trying to resume their work, though several agencies, including Oxfam and Save the Children, evacuated some international staff. Most U.N. employees were restricted to their compounds.

“Our staff is trying to get back to work, but they can’t get to the camps,” said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency.

The World Food Program made a limited distribution Thursday to food centers and hospitals in Goma. It said trucks waiting at the Rwanda border could not make deliveries until security was restored.

Dunia Zeboi, 22, who fled the village of Kibumba when rebels attacked this week, said there have been no aid deliveries since he arrived in the Kibati camp. He said he was praying for a successful peace negotiation. “We just want there to be peace so we can go home.”

Others were pessimistic.

The rebels “are opportunists,” said George Palouk, 30, a farmer. “They will say what they need to get what they want. This truce will not last.”

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edmund.sanders@latimes.com

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Times staff writer Geraldine Baum in New York and special correspondent Josh Kron in Goma contributed to this report.

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More photos of the troubles in Congo are available online.