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US sends top envoy to DRC

Washington - The United States said on Wednesday it is sending its top envoy in Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo as it voiced "deep concern" over fighting in the country's east. Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, "is going to be in Kinshasa," the capital, on Thursday to talk with "the leadership in the DRC," State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told reporters. "A lot of violence is ongoing in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It's of deep concern to us as well as the UN," McCormack said. He said Washington was supporting efforts at the United Nations to bolster a UN force deployed in the DRC and which has opened fire on rebel forces poised to capture the eastern city of Goma. The US spokesperson said he did not expect Frazer to meet with representatives of the rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda. McCormack said Frazer would be in contact with the leadership in neighbouring Rwanda --which the DRC has accused of actively supporting the rebels - even if he was not sure whether she would travel to Rwanda. "Jendayi is going to work the politics and diplomacy of this," McCormack said. "We are working to try to - as best we can - minimise or defuse those tensions," he added, referring to tensions between the DRC and Rwanda. Military sources and residents in the eastern DRC said government forces were fleeing from Goma ahead of advancing rebels who expect to capture the strategic eastern city within days.

 

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