The Congo is ruled by blacks - all ya need to know. Anybody want to go back?
Envoy arrives in Congo amid new fighting
GOMA, CONGO --- Renewed fighting broke out Saturday between rebels and soldiers in eastern Congo, as a U.N. special envoy flew in for emergency talks and said President Joseph Kabila was ready to meet his main rival.
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke in the capital, Kinshasa, before flying to the eastern city of Goma.
Fighting erupted in August in the east, displacing 250,000 people and raising fears the violence could spread through the region.
Mr. Obasanjo met Mr. Kabila late Friday and said the Congolese leader "did not give anything that I would call conditions" for holding talks with rebel leader Laurent Nkunda.
"But we are at the exploratory stage now," Mr. Obasanjo said.
Congo's government has always said it was willing to meet Mr. Nkunda, but only along with the myriad other militias operating in the region -- not alone.
Mr. Nkunda says he is fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis from Hutu militias who fled to Congo after Rwanda's 1994 genocide. The slaughter left more than 500,000 dead, mostly Tutsis.
Mr. Obasanjo said Mr. Nkunda called him three days ago and asked to see him.
In other news
TWO EXPLOSIONS in a coal mine in Romania killed eight miners and four emergency workers, officials said.
A COURT IN MILITARY-RULED Myanmar has sentenced nine more pro-democracy activists to 65-year prison terms, activists said. Their cases are among 70 recent sentences given to critics of the ruling junta.
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