Negligence Within the Congolese Military

Updated April 16, 2009

Now that Laurent Nkunda is out of the picture and some other rebel groups have been integrated into the Congolese national army, what is the Congolese government’s excuse for neglecting to take care of the state’s men in uniform (FARDC in French acronym)?   Consider the case of the Congolese soldiers deployed in the North Kivu province, where AFJN staff just spent more than a month.  In this particular area, the harsh reality is that in every sector there is evidence of great suffering of Congolese soldiers, despite the relative end of hostilities between the FARDC and rebel groups. 

In Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province, and especially in and around Katindo military base, soldiers’ families live in unbelievably poor conditions.  In Himbi, a wealthy suburb of Goma, military families live in an unfinished complex with no doors and emergency toilets in their front yard, right in front of the house of late president Mobutu Sese Seko (now provincial government offices).  In different localities such as Kibumba, Rutshuru, Nyamilima, and Masisi just to name a few, soldiers, their wives and children are seen on the move carrying their small mattresses and kitchen utensils to their new location at any given time.

As a result of these deplorable conditions, the unpaid and hungry soldiers have become enemies of the people they are supposed to protect.  In Rutshuru town, AFJN spoke with a man who was recently approached on his farm by two soldiers who asked him for his cell phone.   As a pretext, they initially accused him of using his phone to talk with members of the Force Democratic for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). It has become all too common in DRC for soldiers to coerce people into giving them their belongings.  The most popular items acquired are cell phones.  Soldiers can then sell these stolen phones to get money to support themselves and their families.  Instead of feeling secure upon meeting a Congolese soldier, especially at night, you feel uneasy because you may be encountering a thief and a dangerous enemy.

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Rwanda Begins Troop Withdrawl in Eastern DR Congo

Posted February 25, 2008

Despite anxieties around Rwanda's military presence in Congo, troops have now begun to leave eastern DRC, five weeks after they crossed the border to attack FDLR Hutu rebels. A ceremony bidding farewell to the Rwandan military took place in Goma today, and news reports say approximately 1,500 troops have already left. Though this is a positive advancement, civilians have paid dearly for the joint Rwanda-DRC operation and the FDLR, though weakened, remains a threat to stability in the eastern Kivu provinces.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday that thousands of new civilian displacements have occurred as a result of increased FDLR attacks. Similar to the situation in northeastern Congo with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the military strike against the FDLR has caused retaliatory attacks against civilians. The inability of the Congolese government to effectively police its eastern territory means that civilians were left vulnerable during the military operation.

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The Scope of the Congo Crisis

By Bahati Ntama Jacques, Posted December 12, 2008

With the renewed violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the number of victims continues to rise and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced.  On November 6^th in Kiwanja, civilians were massacred by Laurent Nkunda and Rwandan troops in retaliation to an attempt by the Congolese armed resistance group commonly known as Mai Mai to draw Nkunda’s men out of Kiwanja.

 

Mr. Alan Doss, the special envoy of the United Nations’ secretary general and top leader of the United Nations’ peace keeping mission in the Congo (MONUC) confirmed the Kiwanja massacre in an interview given to the local radio channel, Radio Okapi and promised to release a related report very soon.  Regarding MONUC’s work in the Congo, Africa Faith and Justice Network’s contact in North Kivu said that the Congolese people feel that “talking about Nkunda’s crimes without arresting him is useless.  Had the level of crimes been the way to get international support, the crisis in the Congo would have been over by now.”

 

About six million people have lost their lives in the Congo since Rwanda first invaded the Congo in 1996.  The international community and many analysts continue to wrongly address the Congo crisis as primarily a Congolese internal problem instead of recognizing that it is and has been mainly a conflict between Rwanda and Congo.  Their disagreements are over the presence of the Rwandan Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), in eastern Congo since 1994, Rwanda’s access to Congolese natural resources, and the Rwandan government’s military support of the Congolese rebel group the National Congress of the Defense of the People (CNDP).

 

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How is the Conflict in the Congo Linked to the Cassiterite Trade Boom?

December 3, 2008

The ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is essentially an economic war.  The high demand for Congolese cassiterite (tin) and other natural resources has claimed millions of lives, displaced thousands, and transformed the Congo - particularly North and the South Kivu - into a crime scene (sexual violence against women, ethnic cleansing, torture, forced labor, etc.) 

David Barouski, an expert on D.R. Congo the conflict, explores in detail the following questions: What is cassiterite ore and why is it desirable?  How is the conflict in the Congo linked to the cassiterite trade boom?  Who are the actors involved in this trade?  How is it linked to different armed groups in the Congo? Finally, what is being done to try to end this illicit trade?  

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