CAN FOLLOW DR CONGO FIGHTING Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of the Congolese Foreign Minister, Bizima Karaha, who failed to return to Kinshasa from a visit to South Africa earlier this week.

A Johannesburg newspaper The Star says it interviewed Mr Karaha on his satellite telephone on Monday, and quoted him as saying he was joining the rebels.

Another unconfirmed report says he's been seen in the town of Goma in eastern Congo.

Mr Karaha, an ethnic Tutsi, has been foreign minister since helping President Kabila take power in 1997.