Congo's Kabila says will look into rebels' grievances

Earlier, foreign ministers from the Great Lakes region urged African countries to contribute troops to an international force to eliminate armed rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo's turbulent east, a Ugandan government spokesman said.
   
"The meeting called on the African Union's Peace and Security Council to mandate the neutral international force and seek the support of the United Nations Security Council to deploy the neutral force," said spokesman Fred Opolot.
   
The Congolese and Rwandan presidents, Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagame, met on Wednesday in Kampala to try to bring an end to the conflict in eastern Congo. The rebels took control of the eastern city of Goma on Tuesday and said they planned to "liberate" the vast central African country.

Rebels in eastern Congo on Wednesday took control of the town of Sake, a day after capturing the city of Goma on the Rwandan border, the head of a local rights group said.
   
"The (rebels) arrived an hour ago. Luckily there was no force used. Now they're pretty much everywhere ... The army had already left," Christian Bigebika, executive secretary of an association of local rights groups, told Reuters by telephone from the town, between Goma and Bukavu.
   
The M23 rebels, widely believed to be backed by Rwanda, captured Goma on Tuesday and said they planned to "liberate" all of the Democratic Republic of Congo.


REUTERS