October 15, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 15, 1429

NAIROBI: The Democratic Republic of Congo’s powder keg east is being bled dry as Kinshasa and Kigali refuse to bury the hatchet and marauding militias plunder its bountiful mineral wealth, analysts say.

The traditional suspicion and hostility between the two neighbours – who accuse each other of propping up anti-government rebel outfits – is fuelling a long-dragging conflict despite truce accords and talks between the two sides.

“The two capitals are not serious about a rapprochement,” said Arthur Kepel, a researcher with the International Crisis Group (ICG).

African Union chief Jean Ping visited Kinshasa over the weekend and pledged more continental intervention to end fighting in the restive Great Lakes region – one of Africa’s most persistent and bloody flashpoints.

“The African Union intends to become more involved in finding a solution to the crisis that is taking place now” in Nord-Kivu, where fighting resumed on August 28 shattering a January truce accord. More than 100,000 people have been displaced since, according to estimates.

Ping, who met Congolese President Joseph Kabila, top lawmakers, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission and Western diplomats, staged the visit after Kabila called for a new offensive against rebel leader Laurent Nkunda.

Nkunda launched hostilities in 2004, claiming that he was trying to prevent the “genocide” of the Banyamulenge, or ethnic Tutsis resident in eastern DR Congo, and has denied being propped by Kigali.

Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of sending troops to fight alongside renegade former general Nkunda’s National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), violating a ceasefire reached under the Goma peace accord in January.

Kigali meanwhile accuses Kinshasa of turning a blind eye to the Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel group, active in Kivu. Some within its ranks have been implicated in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.—AFP