Nkunda 'ready to fight peacekeepers'
Updated on 11 November 2008
Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has said he is ready to fight regional peacekeepers if they back the Congolese army and its allies.
Fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people, caused international alarm and prompted a warning from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it could engulf other countries in central Africa.
Southern African countries said they are willing to send peacekeepers to try to help stabilise eastern Congo, where Mr Nkunda's Tutsi rebels are fighting Congolese government soldiers (FARDC) and Hutu rebels (FDLR).
"If they are coming in to support peace, there is no problem. If they are supporting operations against the FDLR, there is no problem," Mr Nkunda said.
"If they come in and fight alongside the FARDC and the FDLR, they will be weakened, they will share the same shame as the DRC government. If SADC engages like this, they will have made a mistake," he said.
"I am ready to fight them," Nkunda said.
Tomaz Salamao, executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community, said a team of military experts should be deployed immediately to assess the situation and provide assistance to Congo's army.
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