8,000 RWANDAN TROOPS RE-INVADE THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
WITH THE COMPLICITY OF SOME RENEGADE CONGOLESE REBEL SOLDIERS
AND THE SHEER COMPLICITY OF THE UN MISSION IN CONGO
RWANDA
INVADES CONGO YET AGAIN
History has repeated itself in the Democratic
Republic of Congo yet again.
On the night of 29.05.2004, more than
8,000-strong Rwandan troops crossed the border with the
Democratic Republic of Congo through Lake Kivu, instead
of through the Ruzizi border post as usual, thus avoiding
to arouse any curiosity from the Congolese population.
The Rwandan Patriotic Army (APR) began their crossing
from Rwanda via the Idjwi Island on the Lake Kivu using
a dozen of military speed motor boats. They were perceived
on Congo's territorial waters between the Idjwi Island
and the territory of Kalehe after going round the extreme
north of the Island between the locality of Kihumba (Idjwi)
and the Rwandan Wane isles.
On the Sunday morning of the 30.05.2004,
this Rwandan troops cover up embarkation was perceived,
escorted and protected by APR military speed motor boats
et were heading towards the main land in Congo in order
to tip out hundreds of troops in the port localities of
Kabonde, Kakondo, not far away from Fomulac and Kajutsu
on the peninsula near Mugeri.
On the 4.06.2004, a brigade of 3.500 Rwandan
troops entered Congo trough the Congolese border town
of Bunagana situated at 6km from the Rwandan border, passed
the night at Matebe a farm and training Centre, before
deploying into Rutsuru territory. A second brigade which
came from Bigobwe in Rwanda was seen deploying in the
Congolese town of Rubare, according a splinter rebel movement
from RCD itself now called RCD-ML and allied to the former
government in Kinshasa and which controlled the city of
Beni and Butembo before the Pretoria peace accord.
These troops converged towards the Kavumu
airport where they joined 1,000 renegade troops led by
renegade Congolese Tutsi of Rwandan origin Général
Laurent Nkunda et encircled the airport. They then descended
on Bukavu and joined up with 400 men led by another renegade
Congolese Tutsi of Rwandan origin Colonel Jules Mutebutsi.
The latter provoked skirmishes with the Congolese army,
which led his men into massacring 27 people in Bukavu
including some 16 Banyamulenge (women and children) and
wounding 20 others. A supreme court of justice judge called
Kabamba was also assassinated by Mutebutsi's men. But
later Mutebutsi cried fool for what he called a "looming
genocide against the Banyamulenge", that is Congolese
Tutsi of Rwandan origin. What a pretext for this second
Rwandan invasion of Congo! Laurent Nkunda and Mutebutsi
have conspired against their own country and state and
therefore are guilty of treason.
The Congolese Chief of staff, Admiral
Liwanga confirmed that Rwanda has gone too far already
in creating what he called the new "Republic of the
Volcans" using Congolese insurgents fighting under
the banner of the so-called "Front for the Liberation
of Eastern Congo", a politico-military movement.
The movement has made a deal with Rwandan Chief of staff
James Kabarebe to supply it with logistic support until
the Republic of the Volcans becomes a reality. Over our
dead body!
Mutebutsi is a long-time criminal used
by Rwanda to kill his own brothers and sisters Congolese
Tutsi of Rwandan origin otherwise known as the Banyamulenge
in Minembwe in 2002. He was twice chased away by Général
Patrick Masunzu, a patriot and also a Munyamulenge himself,
who refused to be used by Kagame for the same purpose.
As a consequence Paul Kagame sent 8,000 APR troops to
fight Masunzu. They used the latest war machines you can
buy on the market, as well as napalm to neutralise Masunzu
and his men in the hills of Minembwe, but they lost one
battle after the other and withdrew after 6 months, leaving
thousands of people dead. Masunzu has now confirmed having
seen Rwandan army trucks crossing into Congo, and denied
that any genocide of the Banyamulenge was taking place
in Congo at the moment.
The same Mutebutsi was given a mission
by his chiefs within the RCD rebel movement to assassinate
his superior General Nabiolwa and thus provoke chaos,
ethic conflicts "à la Ituri" and thus
jeopardise the peace process, prevent the people of Congo
from going to the polls next year and compromise the reunification
of the whole country.
RCD is now part the transitional government
where Azarias Ruberwa its leader, a Munyamulenge himself,
is one of the vice-presidents and another Munyamulenge
Bizima Karaha, former foreign affairs minister under Kabila
father is now deputy in the transitional National Assembly
as well as Enock Ruberangabo another deputy in the same
transitional assembly who said that "Banyamulenge
did not need protection from criminals". He called
on Azarias Ruberwa to resign if he did not condemn the
invasion in clear terms. So there is not some sort of
"anti-semitism" against the Banyamulenge in
Congo as Claire Short seemed to suggest not so long ago.
The RCD rebel movement was founded in
1998 by Paul Kagame, the actual Tutsi President of Rwanda
who came to power after sacrificing his own brothers and
sisters in the 1994 genocide there. Since then Kagame
has always masterminded and used RCD as a front for the
Rwandan occupation of Congo.
Laurent Nkunda is a Munyarwanda of Rutshuru
and not a Munyamulenge himself. He is already responsible
for the massacres of May 2001 in Kisangani and was involved
in the assassination of President Laurent Désiré
Kabila. Nkunda has an international arrest warrant hanging
over his head as a criminal. Some of his close friends
affirm that his criminal agitation stems from the psychological
problems he has had in his childhood.
THE COMPLICITY OF THE UN MISSION IN CONGO
The role the UN Mission in Congo (known
by its French acronym as MONUC) played in the fall of
Bukavu is utterly negative. It was MONUC , which, on 27.05.2004,
stopped loyalist troops led by Général Mbudza
Mabe from advancing to completely neutralise Mutebutsi's
men near the Rwandan border, under the pretext that they
(MONUC) were going to negotiate with Mutebutsi in order
to have his men disarmed, which was not done. On the contrary
MONUC comforted a well armed Mutebutsi and his men regrouped
in the borough of Nguba and the Alfajiri College. The
same MONUC undermined the morale of loyalist troops in
order to discourage them from fighting Laurent Nkunda's
men head on when they were coming from Goma. The strategy
was the proposal for a truce and negotiation; which rather
helped the enemy to re-organise.
It was still the same MONUC which facilitated
the capture of Kavumu airport by Laurent Nkunda's men
by pretending to have it under control by a handfull of
MONUC's officers. MONUC was again and again informed of
the arrival by the Lake Kivu of Rwandan troops who were
heading towards the localities of Kakondo, Kabonde and
Kajutsu on 30.05.2004 at around 8 o'clock. The message
was handed to a MONUC officer called Igor with a geographical
map of the routes the Rwandan troops were taking at hand.
MONUC chose to lend a deaf ear to this information and
turn a blind eye to this situation as an observer.
MONUC officers have been seen patrolling
the streets of Bukavu together with the invading troops
and the latter are advancing thanks to the equipment and
transport logistics afforded them by MONUC, including
armoured cars and combat helicopters.
After the fall of the city of Bukavu,
MONUC officers quickly helped clear the streets of Rwandan
soldiers corpses in order to efface any trace or evidence
of Rwanda's involvement.
History always repeats itself in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. In 1961, The UN Mission in Congo (ONUC)
was deployed not to avert the Katanga secession as it
should have but to neutralise Patrice Lumumba, Congo's
independence hero and first democratically elected leader.
In 2004, MONUC is clearly supporting the Congo's balkanisation
project, already masterminded by Britain and America in
1998.
But the people of Congo will never accept
the partition of their country.
THE PEOPLE POWER AND RESISTANCE
We, the people of Congo have now understood
that the international community, represented by the UN
Mission in Congo is not there for us. As if MONUC came
to tie us hands and feet together to allow foreign troops
to walk easily over us. So, we have to rise now and rely
on ourselves, defend our country, our sovereignty and
the territorial integrity of our country. People power
and resistance is the order of the day just like it was
on 2.08.2004, when we were invaded by an anglo-american-rwandan-ugandan-burundian
coalition, six years ago. There is the same surge of solidarity
among all the masses who readied their support to our
armed forces and General Mubdza Mabe in the East in every
way possible. Thousands of youth and university students
have voluntarily enrolled in the army in order to kick
out the enemy out of our territory and ancestral land.
Congolese businessmen and women rallied
under their association called FEC (Federation des Entrepreuneurs
du Congo) raised an important sum of money as part of
"war contribution and war effort" to support
loyalist troops led by General Mbudza Mabe. Many are the
women who have volunteered to cook food for the troops
fighting in the front line. The population of the City
of Bukavu have decided never to leave their city to the
invaders and they are staying put despite the fact that
100 people have been killed since the battle of Bukavu
- to count only civilians - and many wounded. Systematic
looting and rape is the order of the day since Nkunda
and Mutebutsi's men became masters of Bukavu. These are
serious crimes against humanity and they should be punished.
But the people of Bukavu are united in heart and mind
with loyalist troops and will never trust the invaders.
The invaders will never win the battle of minds and hearts.
Everywhere, all over the country, in all
major cities, including the Capital Kinshasa, Bukavu itself,
Kisangani, Kindu, Lubumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi… masses
galvanised by students rose up to demonstrate against
MONUC's complicity in the fall of Bukavu.
They targeted MONUC's headquarters in
those cities and burned UN cars and ransacked MONUC headquarters.
Three demonstrators were shot dead in Kinshasa by Monuc
Officials and Congolese employed by MONUC were evacuated
to an unknown location.
They also ransacked the headquarters of
all former rebel movements. The demonstrations were very
well organised around a specific political message: "Out
William Swing, the American Ambassador and MONUC's chief."
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAS YET AGAIN
FAILED CONGO
The international community is surprisingly
silent about the current situation in Congo, including
South Africa which hosted the Congolese inter-dialogue.
It is also very curious that the so-called Congolese dissidents
sport brand new uniforms, brandish brand new weapons.
Where do they get them from? They look very well organised
betraying a fact that they have undergone a long-term
military training.
We have always said that "former
rebels" within the transitional government constitute
a "Trojan Horse":
Hubert Olange, a mercenary from Brazzaville
was hired by Bemba, the leader of the MLC rebel movement
made of Mobutuist remnants, to assassinate President Joseph
Kabila. An attempted coup organised by the same Mobutuists
failed, the rebels are using their position in the transitional
government to embezzle money and to let Congo be infiltrated
by Rwandan troops, in Kinshasa and Kikwit notably. Arms
cachés were found in Bukavu in the residence of
Major Kasongo, a former RCD rebel movement officer as
well as in Kinshasa (belonging to MLC rebel movement)
and now Bukavu has fallen. History has proven us right.
But it is they, not the people of Congo who will be trapped
in their own snare.
"Don't cry for me, my dear Pauline,"
Lumumba wrote in his last letter from jail to his wife
Pauline Opango. " I know that my country that is
suffering so much will be able to defend its independence
and freedom and liberty. Long live the Democratic Republic
of Congo, one and indivisible."
PRESIDENT JOSEPH KABILA: "WE WILL
TAKE THE WAR BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM"
As President Laurent Désiré
Kabila put it on 2.08.1998 when we were invaded by an
anglo-american-rwandan-ugandan-burundian coalition, and
as President Joseph Kabila has repeated it, "the
war will be long and popular, until it will be taken back
where it came from, from Rwanda that is!"
President Kabila used his prerogatives
as head of state to put an end to this unending humiliation
of his people. A state of emergency was decreed and the
President requested a French military intervention along
the border of Rwanda with the Democratic Republic of Congo
while deploying more troops around hot spots to prevent
the invaders made of troops from Rwanda, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
even Somalia (according to the report by the Civil Society
in North Kivu province) from advancing.
In his address to the nation President
Joseph Kabila called on his people to keep their composure
and deplored the massacre of innocent people by the invaders.
He said he understood the anger of the demonstrators and
the worry that their have for their brothers and sisters
in the East. He insisted that MONUC was there in order
to help the government implement the transition's ends
and objectives but he also called on MONUC to lend support
to government efforts to liberate Bukavu. He said he was
always concerned with the living conditions of the people,
and that he has never accepted the occupation of Congo.
He pledged to do everything as head of state and head
of the armed forces to liberate Bukavu and to continue
with the transitional process until free, fair and transparent
elections are held.
President Joseph Kabila also told the
French daily Le Monde:
"History has repeated itself yet
again in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Once more Rwandan
troops have crossed the border. They already control Bukavu
and the tension is palpable in other cities of the east.
A new war is imposed on us. Trough this invasion, Rwanda
has shown clearly that it does not want peace neither
in Congo nor in the Great Lakes Region. The government
is going to take its responsibilities. It is true that
the country is on its knees and the living conditions
are miserable. But we have no choice but defend the territorial
integrity of our country and our independence.
"I have launched the procedure for
the proclamation of a state of emergency. The government
is already for a total mobilisation for the defense of
our country. This country is rich in natural and mineral
resources and the Congolese are totally mobilised. Our
military capacity is building itself up with time, but
even if the war is going to be long, we will end up taking
it back where it came from, from Rwanda that is! For that
we have to organise ourselves. The successive wars which
have ravaged the Democratic Republic of Congo have taught
us that we have to rely on ourselves first of all.
"I am very disappointed with the
inaction and the lack of solidarity from the international
community and the United Nations. They must do more. Despite
its armament and its mandate, MONUC did not prevent the
fall of the city of Bukavu. It is rather busy with bureaucratic
procedures. We don't need that. More than 5 million Congolese
have been massacred by invading troops since 1998 as a
consequence of the wars that have been imposed on us.
That must stop.
"The government has adopted a common
position. And the former RCD rebel movement [a front for
Rwanda] was represented at the government's extraordinary
council. But the developments in the East of Congo are
not good. Trust has been violated. All the Congolese must
react together. There are 300 ethnic groups here in Congo.
The men who took the arms in the East have pretended to
do so in the name of the Banyamulenge. That is wrong!
The Banyamulenge community is not under threat and it
will never be. They are among the 300 ethnic groups that
are part of the foundation of the Congolese nation. The
mission entrusted to me consists in protecting all those
300 ethnic groups, all the 60 million Congolese inhabitants.
They are united, and with their support, I will fulfill
this mission."
Loyalist
troops have now encircled Bukavu and are poised to retake
it.
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