Cholera Outbreak Worsens DRC Crisis

A cholera outbreak has engulfed various displacement camps in Eastern DRC, threatening to worsen the humanitarian crisis that followed a violent conflict between government troops and rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda. Officials of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international independent medico-humanitarian body, have said at least 90 cases have so far been treated and six people newly admitted overnight. The conflict erupted when Nkunda began a violent offensive in late August, nearly taking the provincial capital of Goma before declaring a ceasefire. A summit of Southern African leaders indicated Sunday that African peacekeepers could be sent to bolster UN forces in the region, but Nkunda has warned that he would fight the peacekeepers if they backed DRC President Laurent Kabila’s government. [PE]