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 6th 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).
The War: A Step Backwards
in the Democratic Process in Congo
This third Rwandan
invasion of the Congo in partnership with CNDP sets back the clock of democracy
established on December 6th, 2006 by the Congolese people when they
democratically elected a president after thirty-two years of dictatorship,
twelve years of a bloody war, and a long transitional government (July
2003-December 2006).This war undermines
the government’s internal peace initiatives in eastern Congo such as
the Act of Disengagement signed on January 23rd, 2007 in Goma
between the government and twenty-two armed groups. The implementation of the
Act has been conducted under the umbrella of the Amani program.Furthermore, the international community,
aware of the conflict between Congo
and Rwanda,
got the two nations to sign the Nairobi Accord on November 9th,
2007. The Accord deals with peace, security, and stability between the two
nations.It demands that the Congolese
government disarm the FDLR, and suggests that the Rwandan government stop
supporting CNDP led by Laurent Nkunda, a former soldier in the Rwandan army.
Understanding CNDP and
FDLR
The Rwandan connection to
CNDP and FDLR explains the most important political aspect of this crisis.The FDLR is a Rwandan Hutu rebel group
operating in eastern Congo
whose desire is to go back to Rwanda
and regain the power they lost to the current Tutsi regime of Rwanda after
the 1994 genocide.The Rwandan
government accuses its Congolese counterpart of supporting the FDLR instead of
turning them in to be judged for genocide crimes in Rwanda.
The CNDP is a Tutsi rebel
group led by Laurent Nkunda whose mission is to protect the Congolese Tutsi
community from the FDLR and to thereby gain control over Congo’s natural
resources. Nkunda’s financial support comes from Rwandan businessmen and
natural resource sales.He is also
militarily assisted by the Rwanda
government and recruits his soldiers from the Tutsi community in Rwanda, Burundi,
and the Congolese refugee camps in Rwanda.He also recruits inside Congo by forces
in territories he controls.In several
interviews, one with the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) in early November
2008, Nkunda said that his mission is no longer to protect only the Congolese
Tutsi community, but also all the Congolese oppressed by the Congolese
government.
Other Layers to the
Congo-Rwanda Crisis
Because the reasons why Rwanda invaded the Congo
remain unsolved, the Congo
has yet to be pacified 12 years later.If the issues were only internal to Congo, the crisis would not be of
this magnitude.This war is also about
the enormous natural resource deposits in the Kivus, wanted by many developed
nations around the world to support the electronic industry.Congo holds approximately eighty
percent of the world’s coltan, vast stores of the world’s tin, and other
important minerals such as uranium, copper, and gold.Rebel groups often sell Congo’s natural resources to mining companies or
electronics manufacturers in Rwanda,
Burundi, and Uganda.These bloody minerals are then used in nearly
every cell phone, video game system, and laptop computer sold around the world.
Also, this war is about political influence.For example, the United
States, under President George Bush, continues to train
and equip the Rwandan National Army despite its invasion of the Congo.This military program has allowed Rwanda to become a major player in the region
and boosts US influence and
interests against the Chinese and Europeans in Central
Africa.The US policies in Rwanda
are similar in vision and purpose, albeit on a smaller scale, to those of the US and Israel
in the Middle East. As such, the crisis will
be difficult to end with one political maneuver and will require investments by
all parties to ensure the safety of the Congolese.
