UNITED NATIONS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The United Nations has temporarily reappointed a Senegalese general to command U.N. forces in crisis-torn Congo after a Spanish general lasted just seven weeks in the job, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Monday. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Lt. Gen. Babacar Gaye to return to the job he held from March 2005 until two months ago "in light of the current ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo," spokeswoman Michele Montas said. Montas said the appointment was for six months and was aimed at giving Ban time to find a long-term replacement for Spain's Lt. Gen. Vicente Diaz de Villegas, who resigned last week as commander of the peacekeeping force, known as MONUC. Diaz said he was quitting for personal reasons. U.N. officials have made little secret of their irritation that he left his post at a time when an explosion of violence has severely taxed the 17,000-strong MONUC force's resources. A rebel offensive last week by fighters loyal to renegade Congolese Tutsi Gen. Laurent Nkunda brought them to the gates of the major eastern city of Goma. Despite a cease-fire since then, the fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people. A January peace deal collapsed in August in Congo, where a 1998-2003 war and resulting humanitarian disaster have killed an estimated 5.4 million people, most through hunger and disease. (Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Philip Barbara)
European Union Aid Commissioner Louis Michel addresses the media in Kigali October 31, 2008. Michel is in Rwanda for talks with President Paul Kagame after visiting Democratic Republic of Congo's President ...
