Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Congo's Education Minister Survives Rebel Attack

Reports indicate that The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister of University and Higher Education escaped an attack by Rwandan rebels that left two people dead. Rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda opened fire on a vehicle carrying Leonard Mashako Mamba near the town of Rutshuru in Congo’s eastern North Kivu province on May the 7th, killing his driver and a bodyguard,Government spokesperson Lambert Mende is quoted in “Bloomberg” as having said.

United Nations-backed military operations by Congo’s army against the rebel group in the east have helped reduce its numbers by at least 60 percent to 2,500 since 2009, according to the UN. Last year, a UN-run program demobilized 1,881 FDLR rebels, while 444 rebels surrendered to the UN between January and March of this year, according to the UN. Mende said the army will pursue its operations against the rebels to force them to disarm and return to Rwanda or be resettled within Congo.

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