Complicit neighbours: Rwanda, Uganda and East DRC
Antoine Roger Lokongo
2012-06-15, Issue <
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/589> 589
The troika of Rwanda, Uganda and the international community continue to get
away with destablising the east of the DRC.
The carnage that is lived daily by the Congolese people in eastern DRC is
what the Congolese daily Le Potentiel calls a ‘forgotten genocide’[1] by the
will of the international community. In fact, the international community
has witnessed the atrocities being committed in eastern Congo by both
Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi armed groups, with the complicity of some Congolese,
since the UN peacekeeping mission was deployed in the DRC over a decade ago.
Britain, America and the European Union can no longer turn a blind eye to
the complicity of Rwanda and Uganda in both supplying arms and soldiers to
Tutsi rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda (both him and his predecessors are already
indicted by the ICC) in the troubled North Kivu of the DRC. Britain, America
and the European Union are now caught red-handed and cannot claim not to be
aware of the plot (of annexing eastern Congo to Rwanda and Uganda,
encouraged by the Sudanese experience) that is being weaved by Rwanda and
Uganda in the eastern DRC.
Three official reports issued by the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo as
reported by the BBC[2], by Human Rights Watch[3] and by the Congolese
government (after conducting its own thorough investigation, including
interviewing Rwandan fighters caught in the frontline[4] have all confirmed
that Rwanda, for the umpteenth time, is yet again on the front line in
eastern Congo. According to Congolese Minister of Information, Lambert Mende
Omalanga:
‘200 to 300 rebels were recruited in Rwanda in order to be infiltrated in
the DRC. They underwent a brief military training before being deployed
against the armed forces of the DRC.’[5]
Anyway, for the Congolese people there was nothing new. A year before Rwanda
joined the Commonwealth (November 2009), The Telegraph, a British daily
close to the Conservative Party in Britain and therefore close to the
British Crown, revealed that Congolese Tutsi rebel leader General Laurent
Nkunda was recruited from the Rwandan army. Rwanda was therefore allowing
its territory to be used as a recruiting ground for the rebel movement
behind the DRC’s bloodshed, according to first-hand accounts and evidence
gathered by The Telegraph.
A 27-year-old fighter in Nkunda’s movement said that he served as a platoon
commander in Rwanda’s army:
‘There are many former Rwandan soldiers with the CNDP [Gen Nkunda’s rebels].
When I was still in the Rwandan army, I was in touch with them. They wanted
me to join the CNDP,’ he said. ‘I decided to join them because fighting for
the CNDP is like fighting for Rwanda.’[6]
The US Department of State is said to have issued ‘a firm statement’[7]
warning governments against supporting rebel groups and mutineers operating
in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo - without naming Rwanda. In a
statement published on 6 June 2012 titled ‘Situation in Eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo’, the US State Department spokesperson Marck C. Toner,
said:
‘The United States is concerned by the continued mutiny of officers and
soldiers formerly integrated into the armed forces of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) and now operating in North Kivu province as an
armed group under the name M23, and by recent reports of outside support to
M23.’[8]
The European Union for its part, is said to be ‘strongly concerned’ about an
army mutiny in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the
bloc’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
‘The EU is strongly concerned by recent developments in the Kivus and the
deterioration of the security situation. The current developments require
the attention of all countries in the region. Recent cooperation between
Rwanda and the DRC on this matter is necessary and positive. The EU is
worried by information that this dynamic might be endangered,’ Ashton said
in a statement.[9]
After all these crocodile’s tears, Rwanda will simply get away with it and
recommence again tomorrow -- as long as minerals need to be supplied to the
West.
Kagame, Museveni and their Western backers have been uncovered. The whole
world can now see that the main force driving this conflict. As Jacqueline
Umurungi writes, some of Kagame’s greatest admirers are Bill Clinton, Tony
Blair, and Starbucks magnate Howard Schultz. American evangelist Rick Warren
considers him something of an inspiration and even Bill Gates has invested
in what has been called Africa’s success story. Yes, Western liberals,
reactionary evangelicals, and capitalist carpetbaggers alike tout Paul
Kagame as the herald of a new, self-reliant African prosperity. Britain
annually subsidizes 50 per cent of Rwanda’s national budget.[10] Now you
understand why the war in mineral-rich eastern Congo never ends and why,
mockingly according to the BCC, ‘there is no end to the tears in the
DRC.’[11]
What Kinshasa did was to integrate all the Tutsi Congolese into the national
army, even those wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity like General
Bosco Ntaganda, ‘who was born in Rwanda where he fought with the ethnic
Tutsi rebels who brought current President Paul Kagame to power and ended
the genocide in 1994’, according to the BBC.[12] The CNDP (The National
Congress for the Defence of the People or Congrès national pour la défense
du people), a former rebel movement, was transformed into a political party
and integrated into President Kabila’s coalition in power.
President Kabila put them in charge of military operations against Hutu
militia accused of having committed the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Kinshasa
even made a deal with Kigali to allow the Rwandan army to enter Congo and
hunt Hutu militia. By the way, The ICC recently confirmed the dismissal of
charges against Callixte Mbarushimana, a Hutu, of responsibility for
atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009.[13] Then the people
of Congo realized that the Tutsi continued to use the war against Hutu
‘genocidists’ as a pretext for occupying mining concessions and
systematically exploiting them. That is why the Congolese Tutsi soldiers
refuse categorically to be transferred to other parts of Congo to serve
there. They just want to be posted in eastern Congo near the Rwandan border.
But the Congolese army is supposed to be a national army, not an ethnic
army. When President Kabila ordered the transfer of all soldiers from
eastern Congo to serve in other parts of Congo, rumour went around that
Ntaganda was going to be arrested and transferred to the ICC (Kabila has
said he would be tried in Congo). He launched a mutiny known as the 23 March
movement (a new name for the CNDP) because they joined the Congolese army
under a March 2009 peace deal but have defected ‘complaining of poor
treatment’.
Enough is enough. The well-armed and Western-backed Tutsi regimes of Rwanda
and Uganda must understand that there is a saying which goes like this:
‘Lie! Lie! There will always be something left to lie about: the truth.’
‘The international community’ will yet again confirm its complicity in the
plot against the DRC if Rwanda and Uganda yet again get away with it this
time. Is the ICC there just for Charles Taylor and Laurent Gbagbo, but not
Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Museveni and Kagame?
REFERENCES:
[1] Le Potentiel. 2012. Face à l’indéniable implication du Rwanda dans la
guerre au Kivu, les Etats-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne, l’UE… mis devant leurs
responsabilités !, Kinshasa, 11/06/2012.
[2] BBC. 2012. Rwanda ‘supporting DR Congo mutineers. BBC News Africa. 28
May 2012.
<
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18231128>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18231128
[3] Smith, David. 2012. Rwandan military 'aiding war crimes suspect' in
Congo – Human Rights Watch. The Guardian, World News, Rwanda. 4 June 20.
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/04/rwandan-military-war-crimes-sus
pect>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/04/rwandan-military-war-crimes-susp
ect
[4] Groupe L’Avenir. 2012. Est de la Rd Congo : Enfin le Rwanda démasqué.
lundi 11 juin 2012.
http://www.groupelavenir.cd/spip.php?article45903
[5] Le Potentiel. 2012. Face à l’indéniable implication du Rwanda dans la
guerre au Kivu, les Etats-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne, l’UE… mis devant leurs
responsabilités !, Kinshasa, 11/06/2012.
[6] Blair, David. 2008. DR Congo rebels recruited from Rwanda army. The
Telegraph. 20 Nov 2008.
<
http://bit.ly/MHp9pI>
http://bit.ly/MHp9pI
[7] AfroAmerica Network. 2012. US Government Warns Governments Supporting
Rebellions in DRC. 8 June 2012. <
http://bit.ly/Kvzquo>
http://bit.ly/Kvzquo
[8] Toner, Mark C. 2012. Situation in Eastern Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Press Statement. US Department of State, 6 June 2012.
<
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/06/191902.htm>
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/06/191902.htm
[9] AFP. 2012. EU 'concerned' over army mutiny in DRC. News24. 8 August
2012.
<
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/EU-concerned-over-army-mutiny-in-DRC-2012
0607>
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/EU-concerned-over-army-mutiny-in-DRC-20120
607
[10] Umurungi, Jacqueline. 2012. The Untold Stories: Again Rwanda is on the
front line in the Congo Conflict.Who is fooling who? Inyenyeri News.
NYENYERI NEWS, 28 May 2012.
<
http://bit.ly/OFjumW>
http://bit.ly/OFjumW
[11] Hubert, Thomas . 2012. Havoc as Congolese flee the 'Terminator'. BBC
News Africa. 11 May 2012.
<
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17994753>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17994753
[12] BBC. 2012. Congo warlord Bosco 'Terminator' Ntaganda 'replaced'. BBC
News Africa, 8 May 2012.
<
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17992994>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17992994
[13] Reuters. 2012. ICC confirms release of Congo war crimes suspect.
<
http://yhoo.it/K46RxR>
http://yhoo.it/K46RxR
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Received on Fri Jun 15 2012 - 12:03:08 EDT
