Bloody Week in Congo

Jeffrey Gettleman’s New York Times dispatches from Goma, the Congolese city under siege by rebel forces, have been must-reads this week. Today, Gettleman reports a kind of uneasy truce: “the rattle of gunfire was remarkably absent for the first time in days.” The forces of rebel leader Laurent Nkunda were apparently respecting a cease-fire they had called Wednesday. However, there was still bloodshed: “rogue” government soldiers had turned on Goma residents, leaving ransacked houses full of dead bodies. Over at The Independent, Johann Hari provides some essential background on how the conflict began.