DRC appeals for international help after Rwanda ‘invasion’
Col Sultani Makenga (3rd from right) , the M23 army commander inspected areas of Bunagana on the Rwanda DRC border that his army captured from the DRC government early this week.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is seeking international help after claiming it had been invaded by Rwandan forces in the past few days. Columns of well-armed soldiers thought to be members of the rebel M23 forces crossed into Northern Kivu, an operation DRC officials say was a Rwandan military operation.
“It’s not a rebellion, it’s an invasion. We didn’t think that the Rwandan army would be throwing all its might into Congolese territory,” Erneste Kyaviro, spokesman for North Kivu governor Julien Paluku, told Reuters. Kyaviro appealed for a forceful response by the international community, especially Western nations, to put pressure on Rwanda to halt its alleged support for the rebels. “You don’t need a single shot fired to stop Rwanda,” he said, adding that countries like the United States, Britain, Norway and Belgium should halt their aid to landlocked Kigali to make it end M23 operations in Congolese territory. “We need the help of the whole world,” he said, adding that Rwanda had deployed elite troops along the border near Goma.
No immediate reaction was available from Rwanda’s presidency or foreign ministry, which have in the past strenuously rejected the accusations of Rwandan support for the Congolese insurgency. Rwanda has consistently denied allegations by Congolese officials and United Nations investigators that it is fomenting and supporting the Tutsi-dominated M23 rebel movement in Congo’s mineral-rich North Kivu province, long a tinderbox of regional ethnic and political tensions.
The rebels, described by U.N. officials as apparently well-equipped and growing in number, drove back the Congolese government army in a determined offensive over the last few days, forcing U.N. peacekeepers to withdraw into isolated operating bases in the hilly countryside. One Indian U.N. soldier was killed in a rebel attack last week. The rapid M23 rebel advance has opened the way for a possible assault on the North Kivu provincial capital Goma, where U.N. peacekeepers have reinforced their positions. Goma residents reported that U.N. armoured vehicles were guarding major crossroads and patrolling the outskirts.
According to the U.N., the latest fighting in North Kivu, which began in April, has displaced more than 100,000 civilians and has once again raised tension between Congo and Rwanda. The rebel successes have embarrassed the army and government of Congo President Joseph Kabila. M23 political commissar Colonel Vianney Kazarama also denied the rebels received any support from Rwanda. “We have the support of the population … We took many weapons in Bunagana, Rutshuru, and Rumangabo. Are these places in Rwanda?” he said.
In a report last month, U.N. experts laid out evidence that high-ranking Rwandan military officials were backing the Congolese rebels. The United States, a key ally of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and the European Union repeated on Tuesday this week a demand for Kigali to end this support. “We have asked Rwanda to halt and prevent the provision of such support from its territory, which threatens to undermine stability in the region,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marissa Rollen said in a statement.
The M23 insurgents, who include mutineers from the Congo army, take their name from a March 2009 peace deal that ended a previous Tutsi-led rebellion in North Kivu. Since March, hundreds of ex-rebels have defected from the army in support of a renegade general, Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court for suspected war crimes. Like the 2004-2009 rebellion, the current mutiny has its roots in ethnic and political wounds dating back to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Later invasions of Congo by Rwandan forces, and Kigali’s backing of Congolese rebels, fuelled two successive wars that killed several million people.
M23 rebels
DRC appeals for international help after Rwanda ‘invasion’
M23 political leader Jean Marie Runiga meets people of Bunagana after his movement captured it from DRC soldiers.
Kyaviro said the Congolese army, which has melted away before the M23′s advance, was reinforcing its units at Goma. But he appealed to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO, to be more robust in its response to the rebels’ offensive. “They (the peacekeepers) are not here to do tourism, they should get engaged,” he said, adding that U.N. troops had simply shut themselves into their bases when the rebels took Bunagana, Rutshuru and other places north of Goma in the past few days.
Rebel commanders and MONUSCO say the insurgents have since pulled back from some of the positions they seized. A witness told Reuters on Tuesday that M23 fighters were still occupying a military base in Rumangabo, just 40 km (25 miles) north of Goma. “The M23 forces appear to be well equipped and supplied, their numbers have increased in recent weeks,” a U.N. official, who asked not to be named, said late on Monday, adding the rebels might move west towards the Masisi area of North Kivu. “That would again be of great concern because it is a stronghold area and there’s the possibility then of actually threatening Goma on two fronts,” the U.N. official said.
The official said MONUSCO was helping the Congolese army reinforce the road from Rutshuru to Goma to prevent further advances by M23 and ensure government soldiers were able to return to their positions to help protect civilians. Thousands of people have been displaced, but the death toll from the recent fighting is not known. The U.N. Security Council has condemned the rebel attacks.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed grave concern about the military support Rwanda is allegedly giving Democratic Republic of Congo DRC soldiers who mutinied and are now fighting their government under the banner of the M23 Movement.
In a telephone call to President Paul Kagame, the UN chief told the Rwandan leader that he was concerned about U.N. reports that Rwandan officials were supporting rebels in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Secretary General phoned both Kagame and DRC President Joseph Kabila to discuss a mutiny in the mineral-rich eastern Congo province of North Kivu, which has been swept by violence since March after hundreds of former rebels defected from the army.
A statement issued by his spokesman Martin Nesirky said: “The Secretary-General expressed grave concern over reports that the M23 mutineers fighting Government forces in North Kivu are receiving external support and are well-trained, armed and equipped.” Ban stressed “the need do everything possible to dissuade the M23 from making further advances and to cease fighting immediately” and urged the Rwandan and DRC presidents to begin talks to defuse tensions between the neighbours.
The M23 insurgents, dominated by Congolese Tutsis, take their name from a March 2009 peace deal that ended a previous rebellion in North Kivu and led to their integration into the national army. They deserted the government ranks earlier this year, accusing the government of not respecting the agreement.
Like the 2004-2009 rebellion, the current mutiny has its roots in ethnic and political wounds dating back to Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Later invasions of Congo by Rwandan forces, and Kigali’s backing of Congolese rebels, fueled two successive wars that killed several million people.
This article first appeared on the Reuters website. Further editing by The LEP editorial team
Comments
Post a Comment