Thousands of displaced sought to return home Sunday in eastern DR Congo as a cease-fire held, but European diplomats warned 1.6 million were at risk despite a rebel charm offensive that included a parade. As the rebels who have taken control of sections of the country's east sought to reassure residents that they would be safe, Western diplomats worked to avert disaster.
A flood of residents, many of whom fled just seven days ago, trudged along one of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's main roads on foot, carrying bundles of personal belongings.
"We received no food, so we are returning," said Paul Bashoboye Bareke, 51, surrounded by his wife and their eight children. Diplomats pleaded for co-operation to address humanitarian needs.
"More than 1.6 million internally displaced are trapped in the crisis and cannot be easily" accessed, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in Dar Es Salaam. "They are without food, water and other necessities." He spoke after he and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner held talks with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, current chairman of the African Union.
They had earlier met Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila and the president of neighbouring Rwanda, Paul Kagame. But the two countries were cool when it came to any suggestion they should send troops to the DRC to bolster the UN peacekeeping force there, and France said it had been consulting Angola as to whether it could contribute.
Kinshasa has accused Rwanda's Tutsi-dominated regime of supporting the rebels, which Kigali has repeatedly denied. The rebels are led by renegade ex-general Laurent Nkunda, who claims to be protecting the local Tutsi population. Analysts say there is little doubt that Kigali, frustrated by Kinshasa's failure to disarm a Rwandan Hutu rebel group harbouring key perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against Tutsis, assists Nkunda.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking during a trip to the Gulf, told reporters Saturday the international community must "not allow Congo to become another Rwanda," where 800,000 people died in the 1994 genocide. Kikwete on Sunday said he was involved in intensive diplomatic efforts ahead of a summit on the situation in Nairobi next week, where the leaders of Rwanda and the DR Congo were expected to discuss means of ending the fighting.
The United States' top diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has also held talks with Kabila and Kagame. The DR Congo government prefers a "political solution" to the conflict, a spokesman said, but warned all options would be kept open.
"We prefer a political solution, but we will look at all possibilities if that option does not bear fruit," said Lambert Mende. A unilateral cease-fire declared by rebels on Wednesday appeared to be holding.
From 6:00 am (0400 GMT), thousands of displaced began moving down the main road linking the provincial capital Goma and Rutshuru, 75 kilometres (45 miles) further north, in the opposite direction from which they had come. With bags on their heads and goats at their sides, they were making their way home and not to the camp at Kibumba, 25 kilometres north of Goma, where most of them had been living only a few days ago.
On Sunday the camp was closed. Rebels from Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) were posted around the camp and told people they had to go to their own homes because security could now be assured. The displaced, who had been living in the camp since clashes resumed between Nkunda's forces and the army in August last year, fled at the beginning of last week when fierce fighting erupted. They took refuge on the outskirts of Goma.
Nkunda's forces on Saturday held a parade in Rutshuru, which they seized earlier this week, and promised civilians they would improve their living conditions. A rights group however said abuses targeting the population should be probed by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues said retreating government troops had "carried out pillaging, summary executions and rapes on the civilian population" but also cited pillaging by rebel forces. About 10 Congolese soldiers have been arrested for looting in eastern DR Congo and will be judged later in the week by a military tribunal, government spokesman Mende told AFP on Sunday.