Goma, Rwanda News

Secretary of State John Kerry sent a powerful signal Tuesday to the people of war-torn eastern Congo by appointing former Sen. Russ Feingold as the new U.S. special envoy to Africa's Great Lakes region.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebels are accusing the government of refusing to negotiate at peace talks in Kampala, Uganda.

When the heads of the World Bank and the United Nations flew into the violence-wracked African city of Goma on a cloudy day last month, it was the first time the giants of international development had joined forces in the struggle to help the world's most fragile regions.

A rebel group in Congo that succeeded in overrunning and briefly holding one of the largest cities in the country's east is now accusing the Congolese government of refusing to negotiate at recently-reconvened peace talks in Uganda's capital.

The UN is about to go to war for the first time in its history after the Security Council voted unanimously to intervene to fight rebels in the Congo.

THE first stretch of road seen by new UN troops in Congo after their arrival at the airport in Goma, the country's second-biggest city, is a stark indicator of what lies ahead.

Mary Robinson, in a statement issued by her Office last evening, welcomed that the talks &#8220are about to resume soon&#8221 in Kampala, the Ugandan capital after which they are named, under the auspices of the Chairperson of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region , Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

A man looks out toward the hills of Rwanda from the eastern edge of Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's eastern city of Goma.

In November of last year, Congolese rebels from the M23 movement advanced on Goma, eastern Congo's largest city.

The United Nations chief made that call as he spoke to reporters after briefing the Security Council on his week-long visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Rwanda and Uganda with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Mary Robinson.

The rebel group M23 in the Democratic Republic of Congo has repeated its call for a ceasefire after last week's fighting outside the city of Goma.

Deployment of a unique new U.N. combat force, billed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a peace enforcer for eastern Congo, is being delayed by logistical difficulties and reticence from troop contributor South Africa.

Eastern Congo's most powerful warlord stands on a hillside, surrounded by heavily armed fighters, and gazes down on the sprawling lakeside city of Goma spread invitingly below him in the distance.

The U.N. chief traveled to Congo, and specifically to Goma, for the first time since the Security Council authorized the creation of a new intervention brigade, which will be based in the city and will have an aggressive mandate allowing the peacekeepers to engage the M23 rebels stationed just north of the city.

It was a familiar sight at Kanyaruchinya, just a few kilometres north of the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: White armoured personnel carriers had taken up positions along the road.

Arriving today in restive eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo , United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all the leaders of Africa's Great Lakes region to throw their support behind a recently-signed peace accord which aims to ensure security, as well as development, for the long-troubled country.

The town of Kanyaruchinya from the last United Nations peacekeeper outpost along the road leading north, into M23 rebel territory, from Goma in eastern Congo.

The AU is celebrating 50 years of existence this year. Set up in 1963 in the Ethiopian capital, the body had 32 initial signatory governments, with 21 more nations joining over the years.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, May 22 - The UN refugee agency said on Wednesday it was concerned about the latest outbreak of heavy fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and urged all parties to ensure the safety of civilians.

M23 rebels fired two rockets into the eastern Congo city of Goma, killing one person and wounding four, officials said, in an apparent spillover from three days of fighting raging north of the city.