Congo

Re "Gunman at Oregon mall kills 2 victims, then himself," Dec. 12 Does the National Rifle Assn. want us to believe this deranged man, who was using a holiday-packed mall as his shooting range, deserved 2nd Amendment protection? It's time the outrageously powerful NRA understood what our Founding Fathers had in mind regarding the meaning of a "well regulated militia. " Jerold Drucker Camarillo ALSO: Letters: Cheering on All Saints Church Letters: U.S.-funded violence in Congo Letters: When should government get involved?

Re "Congo rebels thrive on fear and chaos," Dec. 11 The article about the situation in Congo reveals the alarming truth about Rwanda's exploitation of eastern Congo's natural resources and the unspeakable sexual violence being committed against Congo's women. The Times was right to focus on the weak, corrupt and wholly ineffective Congolese government and on neighboring Rwanda and Uganda as the primary perpetrators in eastern Congo. What is not mentioned is the contributing role that the United States has played in the region.

Los Angeles Times RUTSHURU, Democratic Republic of Congo - The rebels materialized out of the moist, heavy air, startling the woman as she tended her crops in the lush volcanic hills near the Rwandan border. They wanted a bag of salt. No salt, and they'd kill her. "You just do what they say," said Solange, a widow struggling to support a family in the midst of war. To people like her who live in eastern Congo's North Kivu province, the M23 fighters who have taken control of their region are bandits, not rebels.

GOMA, Congo - The rebels' truck rounded the corner at breakneck speed and skidded onto the  wrong side of a pitted bush road, with several dozen fighters swaying on the back. Two weeks after seizing the eastern Congolese city of Goma, the M23 rebels were withdrawing Saturday, leaving behind an uneasy city. They snaked along the road north, riding in looted government cars, trucks piled high with mattresses and a minibus stolen from the state television and radio agency. One M23 spokesman stood by his fancy SUV, which had broken down in the road, trying to make a call.

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo - Two weeks after seizing Goma, the M23 rebels withdrew Saturday with a warning that they still could retake the key eastern Congo city. M23, backed by neighboring Rwanda, caused a geopolitical crisis with its surprise capture of Goma nearly two weeks ago. They embarrassed Congolese President Joseph Kabila, whose troops gave up the city without a fight. They exposed Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose persistent military interference in one of the world's most troubled regions was widely condemned.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been repeatedly ravaged by war, rebellion and attacks on civilians in the last two decades. Though the country is rarely without some skirmish going on somewhere - a result of a complicated history of rivalries among ethnic groups and constant conflicts over land ownership and resources - the government made a strategic move toward peace several years ago. It signed a treaty on March 23, 2009, with a rebel group...

GOMA, Congo - Rebels who seized the eastern city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo ignored a deadline set by regional leaders to leave and instead spelled out a long list of demands Tuesday. Officials immediately rejected the conditions set by the M23 rebels, which included the release of political prisoners. The Congolese army threatened military action to take back Goma. "They have refused to leave the city of Goma. This is a declaration of war and we intend to resume combat," military spokesman Olivier Hamuli was reported as saying.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Regional leaders pressured a Congolese rebel group Saturday to give up its military gains and stop an offensive that could lead to a catastrophic war in eastern Congo. After an emergency summit in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania urged the M23 rebels to withdraw. Rebels on Tuesday took Goma, a city of about a million people in eastern Congo. Congo government forces did not put up a fight.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo seized the eastern city of Goma with ease on Tuesday, raising fears of a new regional war that could leave tens of thousands of people dead. Facing little resistance, the M23 rebels also took control of the airport, news agencies reported. Tensions in the volatile region rose, with Rwanda accusing Congo's army of shelling its territory with tanks and mortar fire while Congolese officials accused the Rwandans of backing the rebellion, a claim supported by the United Nations and analysts.

Reports of escalating clashes in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo raised renewed fears of outright war Monday, as rebels again neared the provincial capital of Goma. The M23 rebels had pledged to halt their push toward Goma in order to negotiate, but government officials shot down the idea of talks, saying they were useless because Rwanda was pulling the strings behind the scenes. New violence erupted on the outskirts of Goma only hours after rebels made their pledge, the Associated Press reported.