DR Congo Rebels Halt Fighting Ahead of UN Chief Visit
Kinshasa ---M23 rebels in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have declared a ceasefire to pave for UN chief Ban Ki-moon to tour the restive region, following recent renewed clashes between the rebels and government forces.
Mr Ban is in the capital, Kinshasa and is due to visit the regional capital, Goma, which has witnessed heavy clashes in the renewed fighting.
"We've decided to announce this ceasefire to allow His Excellency Ban Ki-moon to visit Goma as he promised," M23 political spokesman Amani Kabasha told Reuters news agency.
At least 20 people have been killed since Monday in heavy fighting between government and M23 forces. On Wednesday two rockets reportedly exploded in Goma’s Ndosho neighbourhood killing one civilian and left scores others injured.
Mr Ban expressed deep concerns of the renewed fighting, but said the world community would stand with DR Congo.
"We are in a very crucial and important timing. The Security Council recently strengthened the mandate and role of the United Nations peacekeeping mission (Monusco) with the introduction of an intervention brigade," he said.
"This is again an unprecedented one and I am sure that this will bring peace and security at this time."
The M23 rebel group have been fighting government troops in eastern DR Congo since they deserted their ranks in the Congolese army in April, over failed promises by the President Joseph Kabila government.
Its leaderGen. Bosco Ntaganda is facing war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) after turned himself over through the US embassy in Rwanda.
Earlier the World Bank head Jim Yong Kim, who is visiting DR Congo said the country and its neighbours will benefit from a $1bn aid to be used for health, education, cross-border trade and hydroelectricity projects.
Despite of the vast mineral deposits, DR Congo remains stuck in poverty due to decades of conflict and mismanagement.
A UN report last year claimed that both Rwanda and Uganda have been supporting M23 rebels,an allegation they denied.
Abuja, Nigeria
Renowned Novelist to be Buried
Nigeria’s celebrated writer Chinua Achebe who died in March, will be buried in his home town of Ogidi in Anambra state.
Mr. Achebe fondly regarded as the father of African literature died in March in Boston in the US following a short illness. He was aged 82.
His body arrived back in the country on Wednesday and was received by family, local officials and friends at Enugu airport in southern Nigeria.
Achebe, a trained journalist wrote vastly about the effects of colonialism and corruption involved in government circles that earned him exiled life abroad. He spent much of his adult life in the United States but never stopped calling for democracy in Nigeria.
After leaving Nigeria, he worked in the US as a professor. His 1990 car accident left him paralysed from the waist down and in a wheelchair.
His 1958 debut novel Things Fall Apart thrust him to fame, over the criticism of colonialism, and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide in over 50 language translations.
Last year, Mr Achebe published a long-awaited memoir about the brutal three-year Biafran war - when the south-eastern Igbo region tried to split from Nigeria in 1967.
Mr Achebe's body will be buried later on Thursday, with rituals according to customs of his native Igbo community near his family's home in Ogidi, a small hilly town in Anambra state.