Congolese Rebel Leader Holds Rally in Captured Town

Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda held a rally in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern town of Rutshuru, addressing about 3,000 people at a soccer field as over 100 rebel fighters held guard with automatic rifles and rocket launchers. Nkunda arrived in a white Lexus and danced with local children before making a speech and introducing his new local “administrator”,Julius Impeze Panga, to the crowd. The rebel leader told the crowd not to fear him, saying his aim was to liberate them from the rule of “strangers from Kinshasa”.[PE]