Violence in Congo invokes Rwandan memories

MUSHAKE, Republic of the Congo, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- The renewed conflict in eastern Congo involving the state army and troops loyal to a rebel general evokes memories of Rwanda as thousands flee the region.

The United Nations estimates some 400,000 Congolese have fled their homes, thousands of women were raped and hundreds of children were conscripted into militias, rekindling thoughts of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, The New York Times said Thursday.

Many of those linked to the Rwandan genocide fled to Congo, fueling a resurgence of ethnic violence led by a rebel Tutsi general, Laurent Nkunda, who argues his ethnic group warrants special protection.

"Our enemies have the ideology of genocide," Nkunda said in December.

Nkunda claims Congo's Tutsi minority are subjected to attacks by remnants of the Hutu forces complicit in the Rwandan genocide.

International Crisis Group, a non-profit conflict observer, said Nkunda is exploiting ethnic tensions to exact a degree of retribution.