Rebel group lifts ban on UN envoy

The Rwandan-backed rebel group which governs much of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has lifted its ban on the UN special representative to the country, Amos Ngongi, spokesman for the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC), Hamadoun Toure, confirmed to IRIN. Jean-Pierre Lola Kisanga, spokesman for the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), had said Ngongi was "no longer persona non grata on territory held by the RCD," news organisations reported earlier. Kisanga had also invited Ngongi to the city of Goma, the seat of RCD-Goma headquarters, to restore relations. Ngongi, who is also head of MONUC, was accused of partiality and declared persona non grata on 28 May after the rebel group took offence at a preliminary MONUC report on a mutiny within RCD-Goma in Kisangani from 14 to 21 May. In the report, MONUC had accused RCD-Goma of "grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law" in repressing the uprising.