LUANDA: Angola has no troops mobilised to enter the Democratic Republic of Congo and will not interfere “just to be in another war,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

“Angola suffered much during its war, and we are now in the process of reconciliation and reconstructing roads and buildings to allow the country to develop,” Abreu Breganha, an acting foreign affairs spokesman, said Friday.

“Angola is not going to interfere just to be in another war.” Renewed fighting in DR Congo’s eastern Nord-Kivu region between troops led by renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda and the army has displaced more than 250,000 people and left more than 100 civilians dead since August, according to UN and private aid agencies. Breganha said no troops had been mobilised and Angola’s primary aim was to bring peace to the region. Angola has repeatedly denied speculation that it has sent troops over the border to quell the unrest and said it will only intervene if called on to do so by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc.

“Angola wants to contribute to the stability of the region, it doesn’t want to contribute to its confusion. Angola is extremely worried about the situation in DRC and the people there who are suffering,” Breganha said.

Both Angola and Congo are members of SADC, and Luanda sided with Kinshasa in the 1998-2003 regional conflict that erupted in the country then known as Zaire.