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Congo Lashes Out At U.N.

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The Associated Press

Published: November 24, 2008

KIBATI, Congo - Thousands of people displaced by fighting in eastern Congo stoned U.N. vehicles at a refugee camp Sunday in anger at the organization's failure to protect them.

Soldiers who had stopped the U.N. peacekeepers' convoy at an impromptu roadblock at the Kibati camp then dragged a group of men off the trucks, accusing them of being rebels.

Peacekeepers' spokesman Lt. Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich said 10 surrendered rebels were among these men, and that they were to have been turned over to the military today, "but because of this incident, it was agreed on the spot to hand them over."

The refugees at Kibati, four miles north of the regional capital of Goma, are among 250,000 people driven from their homes by the latest round of a long-simmering rebellion that erupted in August in eastern Congo.
Congolese at Kibati camp hurled stones at the convoy and at journalists accompanying it, as they have done several times in the past few weeks.

"We are very unhappy about what the U.N. is doing here," said Boyazo Ruzuba, 29, a resident of Kibati. "Before the peacekeepers came, we had peace. Now, we don't have peace. They are helping rebels."

Also on Sunday, officials in Goma clamped down on the illegal sale of food aid in the city's bustling markets.

Goma mayor Roger Rashiy said local police spotted sacks of maize flour bearing the World Food Program logo in the local market, which led to the seizure of some 40 tons of food aid and the arrest of several vendors. Authorities said the food will be returned to aid agencies to be distributed.

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