Today the Hutu militia [FDLR] is a formidable but ultimately fractured
force.
Some factions are made up of die-hard fighters toughened by 14 years in the
bush.
They seek to overthrow the Rwandan government and establish a Hutu-dominated
rule.
Some even speak of "finishing what was started in 1994",
in the words of one FDLR commander,
a dark hint at plans for more mass killings of Tutsis.
PEACE TALK NO ACTION
The Congolese Army uses the Hutu militia as an auxiliary force
to fight the renegade Tutsi general, Laurent Nkunda.
Current & former Rwandan Hutu soldiers say they've often fought with Congolese
forces.
Most of the Hutu militia in Rutshuru district wore Congolese Army uniforms.
"The FDLR has become part of this fight".
To Orwell Today,
re: NEWS COVERING CONGO
Dear Jackie,
How are you? As you said, the BBC tries a little harder, though sometimes
I've sent to their editor short rebuttals, with positive feedback.
Kabila invites Nkunda to talks ('to bring an end to war & create a durable
peace'). BBC, Dec 18, 2007
I can see here nothing else than Kabila trying to put up a brave face. The
problem is that it is very difficult to believe they are going to achieve much.
His xenophobic advisors won't let him seek true peace. But you never know, we
might be on our way to "saving" the republic as I told you last time.
Greetings from this side of the world and still holding on the chance of
meeting you in Mushaki.
-Antoinette Kankindi
Greetings Antoinette,
Yes, Kabila's and the UN's track record for living up to their never-ending
series of "peace" talks isn't good. They're always "all talk, no action". And
nine days seems a long time for a peace conference. What must the refugees
SLEEPING ON LAVA IN THE RAIN be thinking about all this? Also, how safe is it
for Nkunda to be in close proximity to Kabila and the UN? He'd have to bring
his army to protect himself and then who would be protecting Mushaki and
everywhere else? But the BBC article says Nkunda won't be attending this Goma
peace conference unless the Hutu FDLR are disarmed first. That's a relief, and
also, what's the point of having another peace conference until the main tenet
of the previous ones - ie disarming the genocidal Hutu army first - is
accomplished?
I like the words to this classic American song (the tune of which is played
way too slow on this piano clip). It expresses true sentiments, I'm sure, of
the refugees and citizens of Congo, and everywhere else in our war-torn world:
Last night I had the strangest dream,
I never dreamed before.
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.
I dreamed I saw a mighty room,
The room was filled with men.
And the papers they were signing said
They'd never fight again....
Actually, I notice an improvement in the latest New York Times article so it
seems your rebuttal to their Congo reporter was favourably responded to.
There's hope we'll meet in Mushaki!
Amahoro masi,
Jackie Jura
Kabila invites Nkunda rebels to talks. BBC, Dec 18, 2007
The Democratic Republic of Congo has announced a peace conference at the end of
the month aimed at ending the conflict in the east of the country. The
government says all parties in the conflict are being invited, including rebel
leader Gen Laurent Nkunda. The conference comes after Gen Nkunda's forces
recaptured most of the territory they had lost during a government offensive
earlier this month. The rebel general said last week he was ready for a
political solution. An official said the conference would be held in Goma, the
capital of North Kivu province, where Gen Nkunda is leading a rebellion. The
nine-day conference has been scheduled to start on 27 December. The meeting
aims to "bring an end to the war... and to create the basis for a durable
peace", Vital Kamerhe, head of the National Assembly and a deputy from the
South Kivu region, told AFP news agency. Gen Nkunda said last week that as a
condition for talks, the Congolese government must first disarm the Rwandan
Hutu rebels he claims are attacking ethnic Tutsis. He was speaking after his
forces recaptured the town of Mushake. Gen Nkunda says his forces are
protecting DR Congo's Tutsi population from Rwandan rebels [Hutu FDLR], who
have been based in eastern DR Congo since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The
United Nations estimates that about 60,000 people fled the fighting in North
Kivu in the course of last week. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio
Guterres, called for a political solution to the conflict as he visited a camp
on Friday near the provincial capital, Goma, where he heard people's stories of
killings, rape and razed houses. Health experts said the displacement of
hundreds of thousands of people in North Kivu this year was leading to
outbreaks of disease.
Solving Congo's Hutu militia crisis complex
by Lydia Polgreen, New York Times, Dec 19, 2007
RUTSHURU, Congo Word spread quickly of the surrender of four Interahamwe,
members of the Hutu fearsome youth militia that carried out the Rwandan
genocide in 1994 and has been hiding in the eastern Congo jungles since. A
crowd of people in their Sunday best soon gathered to gawk at the young men as
they marched through town. But in a sign of how complex the Hutu militia has
become, the four wiry young men were barely out of diapers when an estimated
800,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis, were killed by Hutu extremists in the biggest
mass murder since World War II. What is more, the teenagers were not even from
Rwanda. They were Congolese. We got tired of life in the bush, said Roger
Seburo, a 19-year-old fighter, hungry and hollow-eyed from days of walking
through the jungle. We want to join the regular army and leave the bush. We
dont want to fight with the Rwandans anymore. Congos civil war, a complex
and seemingly endless conflict that drew in neighboring countries and
killed as many as four million people, is inextricably tied to the Rwandan
genocide. The Hutu militia and soldiers who led the genocide fled into Congo,
then called Zaire, in 1994 when a Tutsi-led rebel force toppled the Rwandan
government. How to deal with these foreign fighters has been at the root of the
humanitarian emergency in Congo. Battles among the Rwandan Hutu militia, the
Congolese Army and a Congolese Tutsi general who insists that the Hutu militia
be disarmed have forced 425,000 civilians to flee in the past year, and plunged
Congo into its deepest crisis since the war ended in 2003.
Many have tried in the past 13 years to remove the Rwandan militia.
Frustrated that those responsible for the slaughter in Rwanda were hiding as
refugees across the border, Rwanda sponsored a rebel movement in Congo in 1996
to attack them. Rwandas protégé, Laurent D. Kabila, took power after he pushed
Congos longtime ruler, Mobutu Sese Seko, into exile. But Mr. Kabila soon
turned on his Rwandan allies, and eventually united with the Rwandan-led Hutu
militia. They fought the Rwandan government and its allies in the second,
perhaps most deadly, chapter of Congos civil war. The war devolved into
plundering by local militias and foreign armies, who all fought to control
Congos mineral wealth. A peace deal ended the war in 2003, and last year Congo
had its first democratic elections in four decades, but the east remains a
battleground.
Rwanda says those responsible for the genocide remain in Congo and should be
turned over to Rwandan authorities to face justice. Rwanda also says that the
Congolese Army uses the militia as an auxiliary force to fight the renegade
Tutsi general, Laurent Nkunda. Congolese military officials deny that, but
current and former Rwandan Hutu soldiers say they have often fought with
Congolese forces. Most of the Rwandan [Hutu] militia in Rutshuru district wore
Congolese Army uniforms. The F.D.L.R. has become part of this fight, said
Richard Sezibera, a senior Rwandan diplomat, referring to the name now used by
the Hutu militia. This is a foreign armed group, a terrorist organization, and
they work together with the Congolese military. Rwandan officials assert that
the Congolese Army has given the militia [FDLR] weapons. Col. Delphin K.
Kahimbi, deputy commander of the Congolese Army in the region, said that such
cooperation could never happen.
The F.D.L.R. recruits who surrendered to the United Nations on Sunday said
that they had worked with the Congolese Army in operations against General
Nkundas men, and that their Rwandan [Hutu] commander regularly spoke with his
Congolese counterparts. They talk on phones to share tactics, said Mr.
Seburo, one of the fighters. The four were still boys when they were recruited,
and they received military instruction as well as a potent dose of anti-Tutsi
ideology. They told us Tutsi are the worst people in the world, said Mr.
Seburo. They said Tutsi want to destroy Congo and make it part of Rwanda. The
Rwandan Army withdrew from Congo under the peace accord, and the Rwandan
militias have not mounted a serious attack on Rwanda since 2001. Some analysts
say the threat they pose is less to Rwandas government, which is protected by
one of Africas most formidable armies, than to the Congolese people.
The F.D.L.R. is routinely accused of committing terrible atrocities in Congo.
It is particularly well known for raping women, often leaving them incontinent
or unable to bear children. It controls large territories in North and South
Kivu Provinces, preying on villages for cash, crops and animals. Here in
Rutshuru, a rural district of North Kivu Province, a complex picture of these
Rwandan occupiers emerged. Many militia members, like the four young deserters,
are actually Congolese. Many are Hutus, but members of other ethnic groups have
joined the Rwandans because they felt threatened by General Nkundas fight to
control parts of Rutshuru. Today the F.D.L.R. is a formidable but ultimately
fractured force. Some factions are made up of die-hard fighters further
toughened by nearly 14 years in the bush. They seek to overthrow the Rwandan
government and establish a Hutu-dominated rule. Some even speak of finishing
what was started in 1994, in the words of one F.D.L.R.
commander, a dark hint at plans for more mass killings of Tutsis. Other
factions are led by Rwandans[Hutus] but made up largely of Congolese foot
soldiers and seem focused on self-enrichment. The F.D.L.R. was not achieving
its objective of bringing Rwandans in Congo home to live in dignity, said Col.
Rashid Ngoboka, 38, a former Rwandan soldier who runs a splinter group of the
F.D.L.R. They are busy getting rich on Congos minerals and have lost their
way. He said none of his men had been involved in the genocide. Our goal is
to change the political system in Rwanda and to live side by side with Tutsi,
he said. A few miles up the road, Katwiguru is occupied by another group of
F.D.L.R. fighters whose hatred of Tutsis is more typical of the militia.
Katwiguru villagers said they were not happy to play host to heavily armed
foreign extremists, but had little choice. We are tired of living with the
problems of Rwanda at our doorstep, but what can we do? said Yoweri
Bwiruka Kanyenyezi, the chief of Katwiguru.
What the villagers here fear most happened this year a brigade of the
Congolese Army battled to push the F.D.L.R. out of this area to try to appease
General Nkunda and persuade him to integrate his troops into the Congolese
Army. Thousands were forced to flee their homes. They missed the planting
season and now have no crops. The brigade executed any Hutu it found, accusing
them of being F.D.L.R. members, several witnesses said. Hutus were killed
because they were Hutus, said Simon Habimana, a Congolese Red Cross worker in
Katwiguru. They were not militia. He pointed to mounds that he and other
villagers said were mass graves from the assault. In one, human bones were
visible under a thin layer of earth. The violence has forced tens of thousands
into squalid camps. Cholera is rampant. The United Nations is trying to
persuade Rwandan militiamen to turn in their arms and go home. And Congo plans
a peace conference this month that is expected to include General Nkunda,
a prospect aid workers welcome. When militants clash, it is always the people
who suffer, Mr. Habimana said. We dont want to be chased away again.
KNOW NKUNDA CONGO
Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events
~
www.orwelltoday.com
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