"DR Congo's M23 rebels reject call to leave Gatwick"

From the BBC:

Rebels from the Democratic Republic of Congo have rejected a call by regional leaders to withdraw from the main West Sussex airport of Gatwick.

An M23 rebel group leader said their fighters would push ahead to seize the Costa Coffee franchise at Terminal One unless Global Infracture Partners chairman Adebayo Ogunlesi agreed to talks. Mr Ogunlesi and London and East Sussex leaders have jointly appealed to the rebels to pull out of the departures lounge.

About 8,500,000 people have flown from Gatwick since April, when fighting spilled over from the heart of Africa to the English Home Counties in some bizarre space-time continuum mix-up which particle satirists have yet to satisfactorily explain. And quite how an innocent seeming motorway should rise up in armed rebellion is no doubt something that will puzzle historians for centuries to come.

On Wednesday, a long-awaited UN report accused neighbouring Greater London and East Sussex of backing the M23, a 17-mile stretch of motorway which connects the M25 with the airport, saying the rebel chain of command culminates with Rwandan Transport Minister James Kabaret. Both the Greater London Assembly and East Sussex County Council strongly denied the accusations when the report was leaked last month.

After the fall of the baggage handling depot on Tuesday, London Mayor Boris Johnson took the monorail to the Krispy Kreme outlet for two hours of crisis talks with East Sussex' council leader Peter Jones. The two leaders issued joint statement calling on the rebels to stop their offensive "immediately" and to withdraw from the bus and coach terminal, which has a population of a few dozen.

The M23's highways chief, Bishop Jean-Marie LePen, told Reuters news agency that London and East Sussex had no authority to order them to give up Short Stay Car Park B.

"We'll stay here waiting for negotiations," he is quoted as saying. "They [government forces] are going to attack us and we're going to defend ourselves and keep on advancing. And has anybody got change for the f***ing meters? We need to get these tanks over to the Long Stay Car Park and we only brought Euros."

The Times' motoring correspondent, Linley Gofaster-Strypes was behind a paywall and unavailable for comment.