De la Françafrique à la Mafiafrique: François-Xavier Verschave. Entretien avec Enrico Porsia.

“Who is grooming a little Hitler in the person of Paul Kagame in The Great Lakes Region of Central Africa?”

Antoine Roger Lokongo
2004-12-01

I.INTRODUCTION

Just like Adolf Hitler at the end of the Third Reich, Paul Kagame’s illusions of annexing Eastern Congo to Rwanda are shattered. The main pretext he has been brandishing to justify his intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been unmasked as it does not wash anymore; namely, security concerns over Interahamwe rebels, that is those who committed genocide in Rwanda in 1994 (a problem Congo did not create and is not responsible for), now based in Eastern Congo.

Not only has he been collaborating with the same Interahamwe in the exploitation of Congo’s mineral resources, but he also resists any move in the direction of repatriating Hutu refugees from Congo into Rwanda. Come on! Kagame cannot have his cake and eat it! Kagame cannot preach a democratic, inclusive Rwanda and exclude the majority for ever. The Hutu refugees from Eastern Congo really mean to go back home. Yes, there are Rwandan armed groups in Congo whom Kagame failed to disarm during the five years he occupied Eastern Congo. However, the UN Mission in Congo, MONUC by its French acronym declared that about 8,000 Hutu fighters are still in Congo but they no longer pose any serious threat to Rwanda.

There are many young people among them who took no part in the genocide ten years ago, because by then they were children or minors. They were not killers. In fact, General Rwarakabije, one of the leaders of the Interahamwe went back to Rwanda, invited by Kagame because he run all their bases in Congo. Upon his return many Interahamwe were released from prison in Rwanda and sent to destabilise Congo so that Rwanda can find a pretext of continuing to attack Congo where the Interahamwe still posed a threat to its security. Clever! Isn’t it? Nevertheless, all of them must leave Congo so that Kagame may no longer find a pretext to keep his army in Congo or send them back and forth as he wishes.
Colette Braeckman, a Belgian journalist for the daily Le Soir and a Great Lakes Region and Congo expert, in an article published in the Spring of 2002 by “Nouveaux Mondes N0 10”, revealed that although President Paul Kagame “always stresses that his troops are in Congo to disarm the Interahamwe, at the same time observers are concerned that the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), occupying the eastern Congolese provinces on north Kivu and south Kivu for five years now, have not really engaged in any serious fighting with those militias. Contrary to all belief, the RPA is collaborating with some of them for exploiting coltan and other rare minerals in Congo.”
That is it! That is what makes Kagame tick. Without the razzia he has been systematically orchestrating in eastern Congo, he can’t keep his country’s economy going.

Rory Carrol, correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian in Walikale, links the threats by Rwanda of new intervention in the east of Congo to “the protection of Rwanda’s wealth”. “Congolese rebel groups loyal to Rwanda are vying to keep control of mineral-rich areas in North and South Kivu provinces, which provide lucrative income to the elite in Kigali, the Rwandan capital,” Carrol wrote in his latest report.

But now, Kagame is cornered. He is racing against time. He is a very fearful man because he sees that Congolese under the leadership of President Joseph Kabila won’t have it anymore. They are proving to be serious about safeguarding the patrimony, the territorial integrity and the national integrity of their country. Proof? On the home front, six ministers - 5 of them from RCD-Goma, a rebel movement Rwanda created to camouflage the aggression - found guilty of embezzlement have been sacked and face jail! So Kagame’s allies, those traitors who have been acting as a “Trojan Horse” within the Congolese government have been unmasked and Kagame cannot count on them anymore. Not even the so-called Congolese of Rwandan origin who have been utterly discredited by the whole Congolese people after they backed the aggressors.

On the regional front Kinshasa has armed itself with a number of peace accords and treaties it has signed with Rwanda. Since 1999, the Democratic Republic of Congo worked closely with the international community in order to find appropriate solutions to Rwanda’s security concerns. In 2002, Rwanda and Congo signed a peace agreement which stipulated that Rwanda should withdraw its troops from Congo and Kinshasa should disarm the Interahamwe.

On 26 October 2004, Kinshasa signed yet another “Tripartite Accord” with Rwanda and Uganda in Pretoria, South Africa out of which “the joint verification of borders mechanism” with the collaboration of the UN and the African Union, was established.
On the basis of this mechanism, the government of Congo drew up a detailed plan to eradicate once for all the problem of the presence of Rwandan armed groups in Eastern Congo.
Those peace efforts in the region were bolstered by the recent International Conference on security, peace, democracy and development in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, enshrined in the final declaration signed by all the leaders of the countries of the region, who, each and everyone, including Kagame, made a commitment to work for security, peace, democracy and development in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
The Conference was held on19–20 November 2004 in Dar Es Salaam, the capital city of Tanzania. Fifteen leaders signed the accord on security, democracy and development. Present were heads of state from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Sudan, Burundi, Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) and the Central African Republic.
President Joseph Kabila called for an end to impunity in the region, good neighbourliness, thr rejection of a culture of violence and genocide and a regional economic integration from the Atlantic Coast to Indian Ocean Coast.

“We, the African leaders have agreed to rededicate ourselves for peace and development of our continent,” said Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current chairman of the African Union, which organised the two-day summit.
“Never, and ever again, shall we allow any despots or any tiranny in our continent,” he said. But it was UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who sounded prophetic when he said: “It is in the months to come, as you strive towards collecting the dividend of peace through a comprehensive security, stability and development pact, that your commitment will meet its greatest test.”

The ink used to sign that declaration had not dried up yet, Kagame told the whole world that Hutu rebels based in Congo had attacked Rwandan villages near the Congo border, and in retaliation he was going to send troops to Congo to deal with this problem once and for all. He did not believe the 6,000 UN troops in joint-operation with the Congolese army who have already encircled the Hutu rebels, would effectively disarm them.

“They are talking about voluntary repatriation, what voluntary repatriation?”, Kagame fumed.
“If you want peace, make war,” Kagame told a delegation of the UN Security Council visiting the region.
Kagame proved he was a man of his words. He sent 60,000 troops to Congo (in the Rwandan army, one batallion comprises 800 to 1,000 men), who were later joined by some Eritreans and Ugandans (death to the International Tutsi Power!); as well as 12,000-strong militia created by Congolese Tutsi of Rwanda origin trained by some 7,000 Rwandan officers, namely Laurent Nkunda; Jules Mutebusi; Eugène Sefuruli, the Governor of North Kivu province whose chief city is Goma, a city adjacent to Rwanda; General Obedi Rwibasirwa, the military commander of North Kivu province. It is unconstitutional for both of them to serve in the same province so close to Rwanda as they are also both members of RCD-Goma, a Congolese rebel movement created by Rwanda. General Obedi Rubasirwa was recalled to Kinshasa, following the massacres of many native Congolese – but repalced by Amisi alias Tango Fort of The RCD who butchered people like chicken in Kisangani in 2002. Surprisingly, Rwandan troops now wear the military uniform of the ANR (Armée Nationale Congolaise), the military wing of Rwanda masterminded RCD-Goma rebel movement (3.500,000 men essentially of Rwandan origin). Charles Muringane, Rwanda’s minister of foreign affairs did swear that Rwanda will never allow Congolese troops to take Goma. Goma is part of Congo, the chief city of North Kivu province.

It has also been established that South Africa, Malawi, Djibouti and Zambia are training Rwandan and “Congolese Tutsi” troops who will fight to annex eastern Congo to Rwanda.
On 13th December 2004, Congolese armed forces killed 30 “mutinous soldiers” and captured two Rwandan soldiers in two days of fighting in the eastern town of Kanyabayonga (completely looted by Rwandans troops), Kudura Kasongo, President Joseph Kabila's spokesman revealed.
The Mubi airport in Walikale was also recaptured from Rwandans, making it difficult for them to re-supply or evacuate looted mineral resources to Rwanda. Congolese troops are now 7 km from Kanyabayonga and are poised to retake it.
“The army took six prisoners, two of whom have been formally identified as and admitted to being Rwandan soldiers. Two regular army soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in the fighting,” Kudura said, citing military headquarters.
On 15 December 2004, Rwandan troops wanted to attack Bukavu in the South from Lake Kivu, they were repulsed by Congolese armed forces who alerted MONUC. Rwandan want to open another front in South Kivu.

AND THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SHOWING COMPLICITY DRUMMED THAT HEAVY FIGHTING PITTED RATHER CONGOLESE LOYALIST TROOPS AGAINST FORMER CONGOLESE REBELS INSTEAD OF RWANDAN TROOPS. THAT IS A BIG LIE!

According to Belgian and US military sources in Kinshasa, at least five battalions (1,500-3,000 troops) had penetrated the provinces of North and South Kivu from five different points.

Nineteen Congolese autochthons, who were either intellectuals, students, lawyers, business men…were killed in a week in November alone in that region; including Dr Dominique Mikekemo, Kambale Maneno, the director of Air Boyoma, Achille Misingi, a prominent lawyer and director of Mai-Mai Information and Study Bureau, M. Moise, a businessman, among others. Assassinations have become a daily routine.
The civil society denounced such an “ethnic cleansing” that Rwandan troops were carrying out with Obedi Rubasirwa’s full co-operation. The recall of Obedi Rwibasirwa to Kinshasa very much irked Kagame, who fought he was loosing North Kivu, which he was plundering and controlling by proxy.

Colette Braeckman, veteran journalist with the Belgian daily Le Soir reported on 19 October 2004, that “Rwanda is practically colonising Eastern Congo from South Kivu right up to Rutsuru in North Kivu. They already control markets and villages, have occupied fertile lands and have even built schools. Congolese autochtons in this area have been ethnically cleansed and systematically decimated, women have systematically been raped with “method and cruelty” and Aids is spreading like bush fire”.

Human Rights Watch, in a statement released on 19 November 2004 to coincide with the visit in the Great Lakes Region by some members of the Security Council, called for an end to arms flows to the region as ethnic tension rose.
The statement read: “Local government officials in North Kivu province (without naming Governor Eugène Sefuruli and General Obedi Rwibasirwa, the military commander of North Kivu province) have delivered guns to civilians in Masisi, long the site of conflict between different political and military groups; despite a UN embargo which has now been violated. Other shipments have been delivered to Ituri, another persistently troubled area in northeastern Congo. UN sources reported that some 300 Congolese high school students, refugees in neighbouring Rwanda, abruptly left their schools and are said to be undergoing military training [reference to Sefuruli’s militia].”

On 30 November 2004, Rwandan troops entered North Kivu, surrounded the Virunga Park, a world heritage site, and attacked and occupied the localities of Kimigigi, Rusamambo, Ngerere, Burehusa, Kilama, Binza, Katare, Tongo, Lubero, Kiwanja, Bueremana and, Kanyabayonga (150 km from Goma). Fierce fighting is taking place because the Congolese national army is poised to kick them out of all these localities. Many Rwandan troops and their allies, Congolese of Rwandan origin have been made prisoners (but Rwandan troops have now infiltrated Goma and have been sighted in the hills of Shehu surrounding the Goma airport. Traitors within the Congolese army and the police had given them Congolese army uniforms. So it is very difficult to distinguish them from Congolese troops). In the localities they have occupied, Rwandan troops are burning Congolese villagers in their huts, raping and looting. These are not Interahamwe. These are civilians. In the Lubero area, Rwandan troops burnt down seven villages on 30 November 2004. Tens of thousands of civilians have now fled their homes to neighbouring countries or further inside the Congo rainforest, having no choice but sometimes to leave their children behind in the confusion. In Kalembe, Rwandan troops burnt to death nine members of the same family in their house.
The presence of Rwandan troops has also been signalled in the localities of Jomba, Kamira, Busanza, Mugogo, Sarambwe and Kabugha, in the Kapopi sector. They have taken control of the Mabenga bridge and Mayi Moto village in the Virunga national parc in the Rutsuru territory, as well as Katale domaine in the localities of Bweza and Kibumba in the Nyiragongo territory.
Four Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) battalions have been sighted in Gihondo near the village of Nyanzale (again, in the Rwandan army, one batallion comprises 800 to 1,000 men).
Mbusa Nyamwisi, Congo’s Regional Affairs Minister, whose rebellion was formerly backed by Uganda, said Rwandan troops had by the middle of that week entered Congo and joined with Congolese allies to burn villages and rape women in remote villages.
“Instability in the area means we don’t have an exact number but one (non-governmental organisation) estimates 46,000 people are hiding in the forests of Pinga and Walikale,” Jahal de Meritens, head of the U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Congo (OCHA), said in a statement.

A Study by an American human rights organization, International Rescue Committee (IRC) revealed that 31,000 Congolese die monthly in Congo conflict and 3.8 Million died in the past six years. Wrong! 5 millions Congolese have been massacred in the past six years. When will the world pay attention?

“DR Congo remains by far the deadliest crisis in the world, but year after year the conflict festers and the international community fails to take effective action,” said the IRC’s Dr. Richard Brennan, one of the study’s authors. “In a matter of six years, the world lost a population equivalent to the entire country of Ireland or the city of Los Angeles. How many innocent Congolese have to perish before the world starts paying attention?”
The latest mortality study, a joint effort by the IRC and Australia’s Burnet Institute, is among the most comprehensive ever conducted in a conflict zone, covering 19,500 households. Mortality data was collected for the period between January 2003 and April 2004.
In Iraq, where Sadaam Hussein’s years of brutality, the effects of sanctions and three wars have led to far fewer casualties than DR Congo, the 2003 aid budget was $3.5 billion or $138 per person. Precise aid figures for 2004 were unavailable. The desperate situation in Darfur, Sudan, where an estimated 70,000 people have died and some two million have been displaced, has led to more than $530 million in foreign aid for 2004 or $89 for each person. In spite of DR Congo’s rank as the deadliest recorded conflict since World War II, the world’s humanitarian response in 2004 was a total of $188 million in aid or a scant $3.23 per person. In Uvira, South Kivu, 70 families of Congolese Tutsis of Rwandan origin who returned after the Gatumba massacre have crossed back to Burundi. They must know something.

By Kagame and his hidden backers’will, Congo is on the war footing yet again. But, this is not a time to talk about war in the region because there have been a lot of positive developments of late, all crowned with the Dar Es Salaam Conference. Despite many hiccups, the transition in Congo is holding and the Congolese people are determined to go to elections in June 2005. The disarmament, demobilisation and repatriation (DDR) of Hutu armed groups in Eastern Congo was on good course. The UN Mission in Congo, known as MONUC by its French acronym, together with the Congolese army are getting on with the job.
So why has Paul Kagame decided to wreck all these processes?
Why has Kagame chosen to attack Congo just now when all the actors involved (except Kagame of course) have made great strides towards the consolidation of peace?

II. GLOBAL WITNESS: “THERE ARE VERY IMPORTANT ECONOMIC MOTIVATIONS BEHIND RWANDA’S ACTIONS.”

Global Witness, an investigative non-governmental organisation that focuses on the links between natural resource exploitation and conflict, and which was co-nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, spotted it immediately.
Campaigner Corene Crossin said: “Rwanda has an undeniable economic interest in maintaining access and military control over Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s rich natural resources. The international community’s failure to address conflict resources means that once again the Great Lakes may be plunged into another resource-fuelled war.”
She added: “Unless the links between resources and conflict are severed, there will be little chance of lasting peace in the African Great Lakes region. Despite incontrovertible evidence linking military activities, exploitation of resources such as gold and coltan (short for columbo-tantalite, a metallic ore used in mobile phone technology), and human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the international community has not yet taken any coherent action to address these issues.”
Global Witness is called upon the major international donors to Rwanda and DRC to put pressure on both countries to follow-through with commitments to peace made at the Great Lakes Conference in November 2004, and to immediately work to end the corrupt and militarized plundering of the DRC’s resources.

The UN Security Council and the African Union were also asked to immediately incorporate into peacekeeping strategies mechanisms to secure areas where resources are exploited and traded by military groups in the DRC.
“Managing natural resources in post-conflict environments is a priority for peace-building, and will be highlighted by the report of Kofi Annan’s High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. The Panel is calling for the UN to “work with international financial institutions, civil society organisations and the private sector, to develop norms governing the management of natural resources in countries emerging from, or at risk of conflict,” said Crossin.

“Where resource exploitation has driven a war, so improving the governance, oversight and transparency of natural resource management should be a priority for peace-building. This is a textbook example of the problem with devastating implications for ordinary citizens of the Congo and nothing is happening,” she concluded.
As a reminder, links between ongoing violent conflict in the Great Lakes region and the exploitation of natural resources including gold, diamonds, timber, ivory and coltan are well-documented in a series of United Nations Security Council Expert Panel Reports published between 2001 and 2003, as well as the June 2004 report by Global Witness, Same Old Story at www.globalwitness.org/reports/index.php?section=drc>.

III. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: “DONORS SHOULD CUT OFF FINANCIAL AID TO RWANDA!”

Human Rights Watch called on foreign donors to cut off financial aid to Rwanda because such aid is given on conditions that recipient countries commit themselves to fostering peace and stability in the region. Rwanda has now violated all that!
Veteran Rwanda expert Alison Des Forges, a senior advisor to Human Rights Watch’s Africa division and recipient of a 1999 MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, said in a statement: “Rwandan troops have invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo twice in the last decade. Press reports indicate that Rwanda troops have again crossed into Congo. Violence and instability in Congo have claimed the lives of three million people in the last five years and the dispatch of United Nations peacekeepers to eastern Congo has not brought stability to the region.

“The evidence says, yes, Rwandan troops are yet again inside Congo. The United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo, MONUC, has aerial photographs of well-armed soldiers, who are not from the Congolese army, in northeastern Congo. Congolese living in the region identify the soldiers as part of the Rwandan Defense Force (RDF). Combat has been reported in this region. Since December 1, some wounded RDF soldiers have been treated at a hospital in Gisenyi, the Rwandan town nearest this part of northeastern Congo.”

Alison Des Forges denounced what it called the “psychological warfare” Rwanda has indulged itself in, such as sending troops to Congo and denying it at the same time.
“Rwandan authorities deny the presence of their troops in Congo, but in a late November letter to the African Union, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said that if Rwanda sent troops into the Congo, they would be home within two weeks. He left it unclear whether troops had already crossed into the Congo. In a speech before the Rwandan senate on November 30, President Kagame said it was possible that such military operations had already begun. The same day a Rwandan letter to the UN Security Council sought to justify military operations in the Congo, but again left unclear whether they had begun. Privately Rwandan officials talk of ‘surgical strikes’ taking place into Congo.

“This is the third time Rwanda has sent its soldiers into the Congo (1996, 1998, 2004), each time saying it is protecting its own security. The Rwandan Patriotic Front, a Tutsi-led party, took control of Rwanda in 1994 after defeating a Hutu-led government that carried out a genocide against Tutsi. Rwanda says it is threatened by remnants of the defeated government army (Forces Armées Rwandaises, FAR), now called ex-FAR, and members of the genocidal Interahamwe militia who fled to Congo after their defeat in 1994. The Congolese government says Rwanda seeks control of Congolese mineral wealth.”

On the presence of the Interahamwe in Eastern Congo, Alison Des Forges explained that “the original group of soldiers and militia chased from Rwanda in 1994 has been much reduced by death and desertions over the last decade. But it has been joined by new Rwandan recruits not involved in the 1994 genocide but opposed to the current Rwandan government. Many of them are part of a movement known as the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) that says it seeks a return to Rwanda by negotiation or by force. Others of the original group operate as armed bands, exercising control over local Congolese communities and sometimes committing abuses against Congolese civilians, including killings, rape, and looting. Still others have integrated into local communities and live by farming or trade”.

Alison Des Forges said Rwanda was intent on maintaining its military, economic and political grip on Eastern Congo, that is why Rwandan troops have attacked yet again, using whatever pretext they have found.
“The Rwandan government says the FDLR fired shells from Congo into Rwanda on November 15. It has been confirmed that shells were fired, but it is not clear by whom or for what reason. It also alleges other unspecified violations of its territory. Rwanda already showed signs of intervening again in the Congo in June and in August, but was dissuaded by international pressure from doing so. Rwandan influence, important for political, economic, and military reasons, has been exercised in part through its local ally, the Rally for Congolese Democracy-Goma (RCD-Goma). In recent months RCD-Goma has been weakened by internal splits and by the loss of administrative and military control over South Kivu. Rwandan military presence, even if only temporary, serves as a reminder of continuing Rwandan interest in the area.”

Alison Des Forges said Rwanda was not giving any peace accord a chance but made sure they were still-born.
“Rwanda and Congo have signed several peace agreements, most recently at a major regional conference on November 20, and have set up mechanisms to resolve problems like that of the shells fired on November 15. In terms of the larger issue of armed Rwandan groups in eastern Congo, the UN peacekeeping force, together with the Congolese army, began a new disarmament operation in South Kivu meant to persuade these combatants to return to civilian life just weeks before the recent Rwandan operations. The disarmament effort, which faces serious problems, has not yet had a chance to prove its usefulness and may find its hope for success significantly diminished by the Rwandan operations,” she said.

And what do military operations mean for ordinary people in the combat zone?
“More death, injury, and misery”, according to Alison Des Forges.
“An estimated five million civilians have died as a result of the last five years of war in the Congo. Rwandan officials say their “surgical strikes” will target only FDLR, but distinguishing combatants from civilian populations is often difficult. In addition, civilians are frequently caught between demands for assistance from competing forces and end up being punished for having given-or for being suspected of having given-aid to the other side. In the last week there have been reports of villages burned and of civilians killed. Thousands of civilians have fled the combat zone, reporting that heavy weapons are being used in the clashes. Some will seek safety in the forest, others in the towns. Some may cross into neighboring countries, Rwanda, Uganda, or Burundi. All will live in misery until they can go home where they may find the little property they had amassed since the last round of war gone or destroyed.”

Alison Des Forges also expressed her anxiety as to what impact there would be on ethnic tensions in the region.
“Fear and hatred between ethnic groups has risen sharply in eastern Congo in the last six months. News of a Rwandan military presence will further spark anger towards Congolese of Rwandan origin, particularly those who are Tutsis. Congolese of other groups believe that Congolese Tutsi-and a related people known as the Banyamulenge-will support a Rwandan invasion of their country. In the past two wars, many Congolese of Rwandan origin, especially the Tutsis among them, did in fact cooperate with Rwandan soldiers and their local ally, the RCD-Goma. In addition, Tutsis and Hutus in neighboring Burundi appear to moving gingerly towards constitutional arrangements and elections to end ten years of strife. Rwandan military operations in the Congo, especially if they spark widespread ethnic violence, could upset the peace process in Burundi.”

Finally Mrs De Forges called for the UN peacekeeping force MONUC which recently received a clear mandate from the Security Council to use force if necessary to protect civilians and to disarm armed combatants.
“The additional troops and equipment needed to make this possible are just arriving in the Congo and must be hurried to the east. The United Nations Security Council, international leaders, including President Olesegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa as well as US and European leaders, must redouble their efforts to calm the situation by urging Rwanda to keep its troops at home and by urging the Congolese government to ensure that its military or civilian officials offer no support to the armed groups. Important donor nations have agreements with Rwanda and Congo which include conditions meant to encourage peace and stability in the region; in the past they have interrupted their aid when these conditions were not met and they should be prepared to do so again,” Alison Des Forges concluded.

IV. KAGAME, MUSEVENI AND THE HIDDEN HANDS THAT BACK THEM DO NOT WANT CONGO TO SUCCEED

Is this war is a side effect of the US vs EU war over the control of mineral resources in Congo? Keith Harmon Snow, a journalist and photographer specializing in Central Africa reported for WORLD WAR 4 REPORT, on Dec. 10, 2004 that Rwanda and Uganda continue to benefit from high-level military arrangements with the United States. Entebbe, Uganda, is a forward base for US Air Force operations in Central Africa. According to the Global Policy watchdog, there are eleven US servicemen permanently stationed in Entebbe. The Canadian mining firms Barrick Gold and Heritage Oil & Gas arrived with Ugandan (UPDF) and Rwandan (RPA) military during the “War of Aggression” to exploit mining opportunities in the north. Barrick prinicpals include former Canadian premier Brian Mulroney and former US president George H.W. Bush. Heritage has secured contracts for the vast oil reserves of Semliki basin, beneath Lake Albert, on both the Congolese and Ugandan sides of the border. Heritage is reportedly tapping the Semliki petroleum reserves from the Ugandan side, where a huge pipeline to Mombasa, Kenya, worth billions of dollars, is now in the works.

According to a petroleum futures report (Africafront), Heritage Oil was
poised to exploit the northern Lake Albert basin, southern Lake Albert
basin, River Semliki basin, and Lake George and Lake Albert basin areas
in partnership with the Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB) of China. Heritage is surrently exploiting petroleum in neighboring war-torn Congo-Brazzaville in partnership with ZPEB.
Ashanti Goldfields has reportedly secured a contract for the vast gold
reserves at Mongwalu, north of Bunia. Ashanti has ties to the British
Crown and some sources in Bunia report that the Ashanti interest in nearby Mongwalu is guarded by Nepalese Gurkhas, possibly of the Gurkha Security Group based in Britain. Elsewhere in DRC, major foreign mining and logging contracts are
underway.
If the Great Lakes Region is sitting on another powderkeg, Kagame and the hidden hands that back him are surely the detonators and therefore bear a great responsibility. It is therefore not surprising that Kagame has re-sent his troops to Congo just at a time when the prices of coltan (short for columbo-tantalite, a metallic ore used in mobile phone technology) have rocketed high in the world market – from $32 a kilo, it has now gone up to $128 a kilo. New gold reserves have just been discovered in Walikale and Shabunda, precisely in Mapirwa and Luwinja. Rwandans are poised to control the nearby Nzovu airstrip from where they hope to evacuate the plundered minerals.
This is the favourable time to do business. International companies, some linked to Mafia organisations which buy blood diamond, blood gold and blood coltan from Rwanda now need to be supplied. Kagame has to honour some lucrative contracts he has signed with them to supply them with the coltan plundered in Congo in return for arms. He is compelled to fight this war in order to meet the deadlines.

Rwanda and Uganda reportedly withdrew their troops from Congo in September 2002. This must have been very hard for them. Congolese President Joseph Kabila took them by surprise when he announced that he was ready to share power with the same rebels they had created and who have been looting, maiming, raping, plundering and even eating human flesh (cannibalism).

Prior to that the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre in America forced Museveni and Kagame to back down, the only superpower left (under the George W, Bush administration) was not going to give them a “carte blanche” to continue causing havoc, plunder and terror in Eastern Congo for fear that it could turn out to be “terrorists’breeding ground”.
Unlike the Clinton administration, the new tenant of the White House did away with the thinking according to which Congo was too big to govern, therefore it had to be split into three or four states. Instead Congolese were compelled to sit together around the table in dialogue and settle their differences. The outcome which is now irking Rwanda and Uganda is the total reunification of Congo they wished to help balkanise.

That is why they have maintained their stooges within the Congolese transitional government, responsible for all the hiccups the transitional process in Congo has known; including assassination attempts against President Joseph Kabila and Congolese General Nabolya in Bukavu; fomenting ethnic clashes in Ituri, coup d’état attempts in Kinshasa; and secessionist attempt in Bukavu last June by the so-called Congolese Tutsi of Rwandan shouts who never hesitated to sacrifice their own in Gatumba to convince naïve westerners that they face genocide in Congo!
All these plots backfired, except that they maintained their grip on North Kivu.
They made sure Eugène Sefuruli, the Governor of North Kivu province and General Obedi, the military commander of North Kivu province remained in their posts. It is unconstitutional for both of them to serve in the same province so close to Rwanda as they are also both members of RCD-Goma, a Congolese rebel movement created by Rwanda.

However, Kagame was not happy with the fact that General Obedi was recalled to Kinshasa, following the massacres of many native Congolese as we said above. He then released some Interahamwe from prison in Rwanda and sent them to Congo to cause havoc so that they may find a pretext to say danger was still coming from Congo, and therefore they had to act. That is why we call them “Interakagame”. But it is the Congolese people who suffer as a result. The Interakagame gang rape, plunder, and massacre continually in Eastern Congo. But there some Hutus Groups in Congo, such as the FDLR who sincerely want to engage in an “inter-rwandan political dialogue” with the regime in Rwanda with the support of the International community prior to returning to an inclusive Rwanda. Kigali does not want to hear it!

So, what does Rwanda want? To annex the Kivus to its tiny territory. Period. But as the unfolding events are not being favourable to that “project”, Kigali thinks it must act know to wield total control over the Kivus before it will too late. He must make sure elections are not held in Congo as planned, which by all means will not be won by his allies in Congo, now hated by the whole downtrodden population over all these years.

Uganda has also understood that and has deployed troops along its border with Congo under the same pretext (combating Ugandan rebels based in Congo). We would not be surprised when it will be confirmed that they are already inside Congo. A senior Uganda People Defence Force (UPDF) official who preferred anonymity told The Monitor, a Kampala independent daily that Rwanda’s redeployment in Congo “is going to act as a perfect umbrella for the PRA rebel movement led by Colonel Kizza Besigye to launch their activities in Ituri.”
No surprise why Uganda criticised Human Rights Watch for calling for the freeze of financial aid against Rwanda.

The Interahamwe threat is just a pretext. Soon the world will discover that what Kigali calls as Interahamwe are his own troops it sent to infiltrate Congo, cause havoc and then give a justification to Kagame to enter Congo when he wishes.
Kagame knows that Uncle Sam is busy in Irak, and has no time to worry about some negroes wealding machetes or shooting arrows against each other. At least no before President George W. Bush is sworn in! Sending troops to Darfur is also working for him. It gives him an “international credibility” especially from Americans and Europeans weray to send their troops to Africa after the America Somali debacle.

So Kagame thinks this is a favourable time to act. He feels in Bush’s shoes to act “unilaterally” and “pre-emptively” in Congo to avert a danger against Rwanda’s national security. He thinks it is good his troops are already in Congo, when time comes Kigali will play the victim card as usual following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He knows there is still s huge sympathy for the Tutsis in America just like for the Jews after the Holocaust. Summits can always be organised about it later, inviting both sides to “normalise” their relations and so on.
After all, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi have managed to get away with the crime of a genocide of 5 million people they perpetrated in Congo as well as the systematic looting of Congo’s natural and mineral resources. Such crimes in the case of Congo have become normal. Congo is the only country in the world where such crimes are normal. But when Congo defends itself it gets brimstone on its head! It is lectured trough international media about not fomenting ethnical hatred against ethnic minorities – each tribe is a minority in Congo (not just the Tutsis whom we welcomed as refugees and now we are paying a price for our hospitality!).
Rwanda and Uganda know that all the resolutions the UN Security Council will vote against them will be vetoed by Britain and America, their protectors.
Well, not long ago the Ivorians thought the French were their protectors. They are learning a bitter lesson!

V. THE RE-INVASION THEY ALL KNEW ABOUT

It appears clearly that before Kagame re-invaded Congo in a spectacular way, he sent the BBC on a “reconnaissance mission”. Prior to this re-invasion, Mark Doyle, a BBC World Affairs correspondent toured Eastern Congo. Judging from the headlines he sent back to London in a four series article (which would make Kagame tick), one would not hesitate to conclude that Mark Doyle was a precursor of this Rwandan re-invasion.

(1) The first article’s headline read: “Elections in DR Congo – a bad joke?”.
Here Mark Doyle argued that unlike Nigeria and South Africa (former British colonies) Congo has the potential to drug down the prospects of the whole African continent!
“Eastern Congo,” he wrote, “is a critical part of a critical country because it borders Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi[whose rebels are based there].”

“The UN is the glue holding Congo together but it cannot stay in Congo forever. The glue that holds Congo together should be the country’s government and army. But neither of these institutions yet works properly. In these circumstances, the idea of holding elections in a few months’time sounds like a bad joke. One observer in Kinshasa said that by pressing for quick elections the international community was trying to rebuild Congo on the cheap. Given Congo’s history of generations of war, dictatorship and kleptocracy – from the time of the Belgian dictator King Leopold through local post-colonial versions of similar administrations – the observer said, such elections were doomed to failure. Pressing for quick elections, he said, was pure wishful thinking – like waiting for the Messiah and a ticket to paradise,” Doyle wrote.

(2) Mark Doyle’s second article’s headline read: “DR Congo troops on impossible mission [to disarm militia in Ituri]”.
Mark Doyle was in the lawless Ituri province. “Ituri province,” he wrote, “has always been very distant politically from the capital, Kinshasa, and allowed to get by on its own. There are, for example, hardly any regular Congolese army units here and only a handful of police. It is the seven militia [created by Uganda along ethnic lines and presenting themselves as self-defense groups for their communities] who effectively make the law in Ituri, with the thin blue line of the UN trying to referee disputes among them.”
Doyle described an Ituri festered with illegal road blocks where tens of millions of dollars worth of illegal taxes are collected by militia every month.
“In illegal gold mines set up by militia and protected by UN troops (illegal in terms of any relationship with Kinshasa government’s institutions), forced labour was systematically being used,” he wrote.

“The UN troops’mission is to encourage the militia to disarm. There is no success. In the town of Bunia itself, some progress have been made in the security situation since, last year, a French force was sent here with much publicity. The French managed to stem the superficially inter-ethnic (though in fact mafia-style economic turf-war) massacres in the immediate environs of the town, and handed over to UN troops. Since then, Bunia itself has been relatively (relatively is the word) peaceful.”

Relatively calm? Was Bunia not the theatre of unprecedented acts of rapes and sexual abuse of girls as young as 14 by UN troops based there as admitted by Kofi Annan the UN Secretary himself? Is raping and abusing young girls part of peace keeping? If yes, then it only happens in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Returning to the theme of elections, Mark Doyle struck a pessimistic note:
“In about six months time, if current plans are respected, nationwide elections will be held in DR Congo. But the idea that the Congolese state – even with the support of the UN – has enough control successfully to pull off such an event is simply laughable.”

(3) The headline of Mark Doyle’s third article went: “Dangerous phase for DR Congo peace”
Mark Doyle was in Walungu, where he met the Mai-Mai, that is Congolese local combatants fighting against Rwandan occupation and the Rwandan incursion into their ancestral land.
This is how he described them: “Dressed in an array of uniforms and civilians clothes, the men and child soldiers had the usual collection of AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers and mortar tubes slung over their shoulders. The Mai-Mai are fiercely nationalistic and implacably anti-Rwanda. This nationalist Congolese government reserve was created to face rebellions and occupations by foreign armies far too widespread and numerous for the army-proper to handle. The Mai-Mai see Rwanda as the root of Congo’s problems because of its direct interventions and support of proxy anti-Kinshasa militias. Many households in Eastern Congo have given one of their children to the Mai-Mai, seeing this as a patriotic duty. ‘Mai-Mai’ means water – magic water, which when applied, can protect a soldier from bullets.”

“The troops concentration in the Walungu marketplace,” Doyle noticed, “was a symptom of a dangerous new phase in Congo, a country teetering between war and peace. The Mai-Mai are being moved from Walungu because they suspected of collaborating with the Forces Démocratic pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), originally formed from the remnants of the defeated ethnic Hutu Rwandan army which orchestrated the genocide of the Tutsi and Hutu government opponents in Rwanda in 1994.”
But UN troops and the Congolese army are being deployed to Walungu exactly to disarm the FDLR by force, in accordance with the new mandate of the UN troops in Congo.
But will the UN troops fight?

To this question Mark Doyle provides an answer: “These realities are sometimes difficult for the international community to deal with politically, because it is still reeling from the guilt of having failed to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda – despite ample knowledge, at the time, of what was going on. This guilt translates into far less pressure on the Rwandan government to share power than there is, for example, on DR Congo. For these reasons disarming the Hutus in Dr Congo is a political obstacle course as well as militarily difficult. It may also be that the FDLR (estimated to be 10,000) are more effective, in their own military terms, the Congolese army and the UN troops respectively.”

(4) In the final analysis titled “Retracing Che Guevara’s Congo footsteps”, Mark Doyle punted old prejudices, only reminiscent to the Cold War era, unashamedly falsifying history.
“Almost 40 years, ago,” he wrote, “the mountains towering above Uvira, a lakeside town in South Kivu province, were the scene of some of the opening shots in DR Congo’s post-colonial wars. Che was unimpressed with Congo revolutionaries. In 1965, with the world on a tense Cold War footing, the Latin American revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara came here to try to spark a left-wing revolution. Che aimed to pit himself against what he called the “Yankee Imperialists” whom he saw as backing pro-westerns candidates for power in DR Congo. Among Che’s would be Congolese allies was the then 26 year-old- Laurent Désiré Kabila, who he met in the Fizi Baraka mountains, now soaring up above me from the Ruzizi River Plain which empties into Lake Tanganyika at the town of Uvira. Laurent Désiré Kabila did eventually come to power in 1997. But the revolution he headed was far from left-wing. He ousted the ailing President Mobutu Sese Seko after forming a tactical alliance with neighbouring Rwanda. Rwanda wanted Mobutu deposed because he had hosted the defeated Hutu army which had orchestrated the genocide of the Tutsis and other government opponents in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

But Rwanda lived to regret its choice of Kabila as an ally in the 1996 invasion of DR Congo. He turned against them after coming to power in 1997, a switch which rekindled the war in Congo as Rwanda attacked again – not with Kabila this time but against him. Che’s recently published personal diaries make it clear that he was unimpressed by Kabila. Perhaps if the Rwandans and their American adviser had had better intelligence from the Cold War period, they would not have made such a costly mistake. Che Guevara’s seven-month stay in the Fizi-Baraka mountains was, as he admits himself, an ‘unmitigated disaster’. The mercenary Colonel ‘Mad Mike’ Hoare, who had been contracted by the American-influenced government in Kinshasa squeezed Che’s small force into an ever smaller area until he had to escape back across Lake Tanganyika into the then friendly territory of revolutionary Tanzania.”

Mark Doyle finally offered this assessment: “Today, this region is no less pivotal to the war, and potentially the peace process, in the DR Congo. Despite the impression of calm, residents fear war could be round the corner. The villagers were clearly terrified, hungry and desperate.”

Congolese nationalists would not know what to make of Mark Doyle’s assessment of this period of Congo’s history. It remains to say that in the same diaries Che said of Kabila that he was the only one with clear leadership qualities, capable to rally the masses to the revolution. The reasons why Rwandans turned against Kabila remain the same up to today. Pretexts upon pretexts and this is what we have been trying to explain in our website www.congopanorama.info, and in this essay without being apologists. Angola played a big role in the fall of Mobutu, greater than what the Rwandans did. Readers can consult and draw their own conclusions.

But some of the conclusions Mark Doyle drew angered Congo as a country, no less President Joseph Kabila, the head of state and a biological son of Laurent Désiré Kabila. He treated Congo as a stateless country. Something had to be done. Mark Doyle was invited to Kinshasa for a treat: an interview with President Joseph Kabila.
This is what he wrote about the encounter:

“For a journalist, being offered the chance to meet a country’s president without asking for it may seem like an opportunity too good to miss. But sometimes, the experience may not be what was expected. Joseph Kabila became president in January 2001. It was a correspondent’s dream. Or, at least, I briefly thought it was.
I was hanging about in the marble corridors of the presidential palace in
Kinshasa, waiting for what I suspected would be a rather unexciting briefing
about a meeting between the DR Congo President, Joseph Kabila, and some visiting
United Nations diplomats.
They were talking about the fragile peace deal in Congo and the UN peacekeeping
force which is trying to glue it all together. But then I got a tap on my shoulder.
I turned round to find an immaculately dressed Congolese official asking me if I
was Mark Doyle.
“Er, yes,” I replied, rather tentatively.
“Good,” he said, “follow me”, and he started bounding up a marble staircase.
Turning round to check I was following him, the man in a perfect Parisian suit
said: “You asked to see President Kabila, right?”
“Er, yes,” I replied, lying through my teeth. I simply could not believe it.
I guessed that there had been some mix-up somewhere - and as a result I was
going to get an interview with the president of Congo without even having asked
for one. We turned a corner at the top of the stairs and there he was, waiting for me,
President Joseph Kabila. He was standing near the edge of a thick red carpet.

When he saw me he gestured me into a room and politely took a step backwards to
allow me to go in first. He stumbled slightly on the edge of the carpet and for a terrible moment I thought he was going to fall over and crack his head open on the marble floor.
I was alone in a room with a powerful man who appeared not to be happy with me. That might have been a cue for every machine gun in the palace, and there are
plenty of them, to be pointed at me. Luckily he did not fall, but nevertheless other things then started going wrong with my plan.

“Thank you so much, Mr President,” I started hopefully, “for agreeing to be
interviewed.”
“Oh, I don't want to be interviewed, Mark,” he replied, looking at me with his
piercing eyes and waving away my microphone.
“I just wanted a word with you about what you’ve been writing about Congo.”
Oh dear. I was alone in a room with a powerful man who appeared not to be happy
with me. I must have looked worried, but the president smiled.

“You see, Mark,” he continued, using my first name again as if we had been
friends for years. “You see, I was not very happy when I heard you say that the
idea of holding fair elections in Congo in six months' time was... what was it
you said? A bad joke.”
I had indeed said that, in a BBC News website feature article.
I was quoting well-placed sources, of course, but I had said it. And the
president of Congo, unfortunately, appeared to be a BBC News website reader.
Shifting his weight in his chair, the president of the Democratic Republic of
Congo pointed his dark eyes at me again and said: “Why did you say that, Mark?”
I swallowed hard, and decided on the honest approach.
It is testimony to the power of radio in Africa - lots of people feel they personally know correspondents because they have heard them so often
“Well, I've just been in Eastern Congo for a week,” I began, “and it’s obvious
to me that your national army is still split between opposing factions.
“There’s no police force to speak of, foreign armies are still present in the
region and there are no lists of potential voters and frankly, in these circumstances, I don’t see how you can hold fair elections in six months time.”

“Mark”, the president said, using my first name again, “you’ve been around a
bit, you've got to take some other things into account.”
It was then that I realised that this first name stuff was not some clever
public relations tactic designed to flatter me, but a genuine feeling on the
president’s part that he did know me, because he had been listening to me on the
radio for years. I have experienced this before.
It is testimony to the power of radio in Africa - lots of people feel they
personally know correspondents because they have heard them so often.
“Look”, President Kabila continued, “if you had come here two years ago, there
was no peace process at all and we were still fighting in the east. Things
aren’t perfect now, of course, but we are making progress. Please be fair.”

“But that still doesn’t mean,” I said, “that fair elections can be held in six
months’time.”
But, hang on, I thought, what’s going on here? Why was I having this private debate with the president of Congo? I am a journalist and I was supposed to be recording an interview with him.
“Of course,” I said, “of course we’ll be fair, but couldn’t I just record a
little interview with you saying that? Only take a few minutes. Then I can use
your voice saying you think there has been progress and...”

“No thanks, Mark,” the president replied, “I’m tired.”
“Later, then,” I implored. “Any time, any place, just before I have to leave
tomorrow morning?”
He shrugged.
“Oh, all right then.”
I was amazed at the informality of all this. “All right then”, the president of
Congo said. “Come to my place at seven tomorrow morning. I'll send someone to
your hotel to collect you.”
I never did get the interview.
My plane left earlier than we thought it would, and my messages to the
president, asking for a different timing for the appointment, got confused in
the protocol channels, as messages to heads of state so often do.
But if you are reading or listening to this report Mr President - Joseph - maybe
we can have the interview some other time?
Mark Doyle, is now convinced that any Rwandan military action could unravel tentative moves towards peace throughout central Africa.

Perhaps MarkDoyle took the cue from Karel De Gucht, the Belgian Foreign Minister - whom Congolese have now nicknamed “The Tintin Minister” (Tintin was a Belgian character in colonial times) and whom they suspect of having given Paul Kagame a “carte blanche to re-invade Congo”. In July this year, Karel De Gucht toured the Great Lakes Region, starting his visit with Kinshasa where he had talks with President Joseph Kabila and all other actor of the power-sharing transitional government. He left Kinshasa for Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, only to declare in front of Rwandan President Paul Kagame that “he had met few responsible politicians who gave him the impression of being statesmen”.
“Here in Rwanda, you can see that there is at least a state. In Rwanda, they are trying to manage the affairs of the state in a correct manner,” he added.
Such a statement made Kagame tick. He can now invade Congo to solve the problem of the Hutu rebels because the Congolese will never be able to deal with it. After all, there is no state in Congo.
That is why President Joseph Kabila snubbed Karel De Gucht at the summit in Dar Es Salaam and refused to meet him and all Congolese applauded such a decision.

VI. A TRUE PLETHORA OF CONDEMNATION OR A LIP SERVICE AS USUAL?

The European Union was the first to warn Rwanda against any military thrust into the Democratic Republic of Congo and condemned any violation of that country’s sovereignty.
“The (EU) presidency condemns any violation of the sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Congo and strongly opposes any attack by Rwandan or other foreign forces on armed groups present on the territory,” the Netherlands, which holds the EU presidency, said in a statement.

But the EU presidency also called upon the transitional government in Congo “to react to the recent incursions with restraint to avoid a military escalation.”
The EU called upon Rwanda and Congo to resolve the crisis within existing mechanisms in close co-operation with the United nations mission in Congo, MONUC.
Aldo Ajello, EU’s special envoy in the region held talks with President Joseph Kabila during a five-day-visit to Kinshasa and called for Congo to be helped quickly to put in place an integrated army and reform its security services in order to be able to deal with the problems caused by several armed groups within its territory.
The US government – KAGAME’S MAIN ALLY - immediately dispatched its Under-Secretary of State for African Affairs, Donald Yama Moto to the Region “to calm the tensions”.

“We are unequivocally against any unilateral military action. We think the two countries should settle their differences through diplomatic means and not through exchanging fire or fighting each other by proxy armed groups in the region,” Richard Boucher, a spokesman for the state department declared before Yama Moto left for Africa, “Washington,” the spokesman said “was unable to confirm the presence of Rwandan troops in Congo independently and urged Rwanda, Uganda and Congo to hold talks at high level talks and implement the tripartite joint verification mechanism along the common borders.”
From London, a spokesman of the Foreign Office warned that “any military incursion by Rwanda into Congo would have serious consequences for all the parties involved and so the Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn had telephone President Kagame to dissuade him from undertaking it.”
The African Union (AU) asked both Rwanda and Congo to exercise self-control and avoid any escalation that would wreck the peace process in Congo especially, and to abide by all the agreements they had signed. This is a disappointing statement from the Congolese point of view. It should call a spade, a spade and condemn Kagame’s actions unequivocally.
But the British Minister for Africa Chris Mallen called Rwanda’s claims “legitimate” and so the DRC has to do something about it.

The French President Jacques Chirac, in a telephone conversation with his Congolese counterpart Joseph Kabila, re-assured the latter of France’s support to the peace process in Congo and said he was preoccupied with Rwanda’s new incursion into Congo which France and him personally condemned, adding that he had discussed the matter with UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

A statement from the Elysée, read: “Such behaviour put into question all that has been diplomatically achieved in the last year or two, including at the recent International Conference on Security, peace and Development in the Great Lakes Region.”
Paul Kagame who had always accused France of supporting the Hutu regime that orchestrated the genocide in 1994, attended the Francophonie Summit in Ougadougou for the first time as President of Rwanda. He met briefly with President Kabila in Ouaga, a meeting, which reportedly was cut short by President Kabila.

Perhaps, shedding a crocodile’s tears, Karel De Gucht, the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs who told Kagame “he found no statesman in Congo”, issued a statement through the Belgian embassy in Kinshasa, in which he said: “Congo’s territorial integrity must be respected. If it happens to be established that Rwandan troops have entered Congo, I would condemn it, and would call upon them to withdraw immediately. In this unstable region, all the parties must make sure they avoid a new escalation towards a new regional conflict. The commitments recently made in Dar-es-Salaam and Ouagadougou must be fully respected and adhered to. I insists also that the accord between Rwanda and Congo which established a “Joint Verification Mechanism” be implemented in order the render the borders between Rwanda and Congo more secure.” How hypothetical his statement was!
At the time of going to press, there was no reaction from the UN Security Council which had met behind closed door (we hope they will call a spade a spade, as they have never done in previous occasions, ordering Kagame to withdraw his troops from Congo); following a request by the government of President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa, which has asked the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the “situation in the east where the Rwanda authorities and the presence of the Rwandan army pose a threat”.
In a letter signed by Nduku Booto, Congo Advisory Minister to the Congolese mission at the United Nations, Kinshasa also asked the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his entourage.
“The government of the DRC wants the Security Council to hold Mr Paul Kagame personally responsible for the attacks against the sovereignty of the DRC and the whole peace process in the region,” said the letter.
Sanctions are envisaged against Rwanda. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is quoted to have said that “action must be taken quickly. A lot has been achieved in the past year and Congolese have a new hope and predators must not be allowed to wreck the transitional process.”
But the UN Mission in Congo, MONUC as it is known by its French acronym, already condemned Rwanda’s re-invasion of Congo. BUT WHERE WAS MONUC WHEN RWANDAN TROOPS ENTERED CONGO? WHAT IS MONUC DOING THERE?
Patricia Tome, the MONUC director of information, said: “MONUC is concerned about the prevailing situation. The international community would consider it unacceptable and unjustified if any decision was made counter to previous decisions to restore peace in the country. MONUC is surprised by Kagame’s decision to send in his soldiers into Congo, at a time when recent developments were in favour of a speedy repatriation of foreign armed groups on Congolese soil.”

The International Committee for the Accompaniment of the Transition in Congo, CIAT by its French acronym - made up of ambassadors accredited to Kinshasa from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as Belgium, the former colonial power, South Africa and others - said that “there was no way it was going to let Rwanda wreck the peace process in Congo which must culminate in the organisation of elections as planned for June next year”.

“There is no other alternative to this process. Although the presence of armed groups in Congo represents a threat to the civilian populations, the transitional process in Congo and the stability of Congo and the whole region, it does not justify any external aggression against Congo whatsoever or the violation of its territorial integrity and national sovereignty. The call calls upon Rwanda and Congo to speed up the implementation of the Joint verification mechanism along their common borders.”
Incidentally, MONUC announced on 1 December 2004 that it had arrested about 100 people suspected to be Rwandan troops, amid persistent reports of their incursion into eastern Congo.

“According to the head of office of MONUC-Goma, a patrol of blue helmets [UN] soldiers found about one hundred soldiers who were spotted in Rutshuru [in the east] and suspected of being Rwandans,” Patricia Tome, the MONUC director of information, said, adding that “MONUC was trying to confirm the identity of these soldiers.”
The 1 December discovery of the suspected soldiers came as the Congolese Army Chief of Staff, General Kisempia, diplomats, Congolese authorities, humanitarian and religious sources all confirmed that Rwandan soldiers had actually crossed into the DRC and had engaged into battle with the Congolese army on 1 and 2 December in North Kivu. The battle was so fierce that Kagame issued a statement saying that “his troops would only target the Hutu rebels in a 14-day-operation after which his troops will withdraw and not the Congolese army, inviting the latter to cooperate in the flashing out of the Hutu rebels if they did not want to bear any responsibility”.

MONUC is continuing its patrols by air and by road in the area, and has deployed 2,500 and 500 soldiers, respectively, to the provinces of South Kivu and North Kivu. Another 433 UN soldiers, including 244 Pakistanis, would soon be deployed in the area, Tome said. In April and November, MONUC reported it had spotted Rwandan soldiers in Bunagana, in North Kivu, a charge Rwanda denied.

VII. KAGAME IS PLAYING WITH FIRE

“This time Rwanda’s move has gone against it neighbours’and the United Nations Security Council warnings and several undertakings, especially the November commitment to resolve the region’s problems peacefully made during a summit meeting in Tanzania. Rwanda’s defiance against the UN and its neighbours might lead to a spiral effects of instability in the region as other countries try to justify their moves without international or regional approval.” This editorial by the Kampala-based independent daily the Monitor could not put a better.

But Kagame’s game will soon be over. Kagame will soon will be caught in his own megalomaniac trap. He will not be able to attack and annex the whole Kivu and settle there to plunder it, massacre Congolese like he has done so far with the blessing of the international community under the pretext of protecting the Tutsis living in Congo roooting out Hutu rebels responsible for the 1994 genocide. Since 1998, the Congolese people, attached to the land of their ancestor have surmounted every external aggression and invasion. Then resistance has been fierce, despite the powerful backing from some the most powerful nations of this world the invaders enjoyed.

Kagame will not be able to hold a big country like Congo to ransom for ever or divide it along the west-east lines. Congo will not become another “Palestine” by the will of Kagame alone. Kagame is headstrong because he is sure of some powerful countries’backing. But 60 millions people will not accept to be repressed by Kagame no matter the support he enjoys from some of the powerful countries in the world.
Even Congolese the city of Goma, in north Kivu, have braced security forces they suspect of being Rwandan stooges itself, are determined to organise huge demonstrations, until troops land from Kinshasa. The city of Bukavu in South Kivu, which was looted by Rwandans when they occupied it last June is calm. Demonstration against another Rwandan occupation are common and the “Bukavutiens” say they await the Rwandans. They will not flee.

The Missionary News Agency (Misna) reported that thousands of women dressed in red - the colour of victory - marched from the centre of Bukavu to the border with Rwanda in protest against the Rwandan military intervention in North Kivu.
The march, organised by the main local women’s associations, set off from the city centre at 09.00 and headed for the border post near Cyangugu in Rwanda. The demonstrators included the wives of lawyers, non-governmental organisation officials, teachers, students and housewives; Moslem Women representatives; all carried placards bearing the words “we want freedom”, “we are tired of war” and “no to Rwandan aggression”. The only men present – at the head of the procession – were the governor of Bukavu and his deputy.

When they reached the post border, a document condemning Rwandan military operations in North Kivu as “a violation of human rights and international law” was red. It accused the government of Kigali of having “expansionist aims and of wanting to control Congo’s natural resources”. The protesters reiterated their backing of the peace effort and of the government of national unity in Kinshasa, calling on the latter to mobilise all available resources to defend the country and its territorial integrity. Last but not least, they urged the international community not to abandon Congo and to support the transitional government.
Women are heard saying: “They will not rape us in houses, defenceless. We will go out there and meet them together, come what may.” Security is tight and check points are set up everywhere. The mobilisation is high and this time Congo will not be a walk over.
University students in Kisangani, the third largest city in the country organised a massive demonstration and thousands enrolled in the army. Others city will soon follow, why not Congolese in the diaspora?

Another war will not self-finance itself out of Congolese labour and Congolese natural and mineral resources. Congo is like a lion who asleep. It is starting to roar again. A roar of peace and development for the whole region and not some Hitlerian hegemonic conquests orchestrated by the likes of Kagame.

At the end of the day, the Congolese people have realised that you don’t deal with the likes of Kagame with pen and paper, sanctions, treaties, peace accords or UN Security Council resolutions or sanctions. They are ready to fight to a bitter end until there is a “regime change” in Kigali for the sake of peace, development, investments and prosperity for all people in the region. We are not dreaming. We simply see the hand of history. How did Hitler, Mobutu, Marcos and many other tyrants end?
We may loose some battles, but at the end of the day, we are confident that we can and we will win the war because we have plenty of human and material resources.
According to a reliable source from the Congolese civil society in North hundreds of Rwandan soldiers have been killed by the Mai-Mai in conjunction with the Congolese Armed Forces in the battles and are retreating from several front lines, such as Pinga, Nyasa and Miti in the territories of Walikale et de Lubero. Hundreds of bodies are being repatriated to Rwanda but at night! Kagame’s troops are fleeing in disarray, resorting to looting pillaging, burning villages and raping women on the way.

VIII. PRESIDENT JOSEPH KABILA: “LET US REMAIN UNITED IN ORDER TO KICK OUT THE INVADERS”

In a televised address to the nation President Joseph Kabila assured his people that “our army was on full alert and several units were being deployed to the East of the country in order to reinforce the defense of the country there, to repulse the forces of aggression out of our territory, to deal with Rwandan armed groups still roaming in the eastern part of our country and to protect the citizens and their goods.

“We expect the international community to take note of Rwanda’s deliberate violation of the UN Charter and all pertinent UN Security Council resolutions with all the consequences that will ensue. We reject Rwandan leaders’pretensions to think that they come here and impose their hegemonic domination and domineering will on our people which goes against the dynamic of peace, stability and development in the Great Lakes Region. And because we are fighting for a just cause, this will definitely lead us to victory,” he said. Pretentions

President Joseph Kabila warned against division at this very time when the Congolese nation faced a challenge it has to meet at this junction of its history: to repel the Rwandan aggressor and invader from its ancestral land.
“United we stand. Our very existence is in danger. We cannot let the enemy exploit our relative political differences on the home front in order to slit the nationalist defense bloc. Let us remain vigilant, cement our national cohesion, walk elbow to elbow hold in order to preserve what is so dear to us as people: the territorial integrity of our country and our national unity and sovereignty.
May God bless and protect the Democratic Republic of Congo!
I thank you all!”

Soon after the address, Kabila consulted his generals as two to three brigades, amounting to 10,000 men arrived in the east of the country, precisely in North Kivu Province, to protect the civilian population and to stop aggression by Rwandan troops. Congolese Military sources close to the army chief of staff General Kisempia said that three battalions Rwandan troops had infiltrated Congo “five or six days ago” between North and South Kivu.
“Heavy fighting between Rwandan troops and Congolese armed forces joined by the Mai-Mai determined to kick out the invaders is taking place took place Masisi, Walikale et Rutshuru,” the source said, declining declined to say if there were casualties.
Rwandan settlements in Masisi, Walikale, Ruchuru, Kanyabayonga, Minova, Kalehe, Minembwe and Vyura must be dismantled.

IX. BEWARE OF TRAITORS

The alert is general even in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. People are vigilant, ready to exercise the “people power” just in case. The army is constantly on patrol because Kagame still has his allies there acting as a “Trojan Horse” within the power sharing government, and anything can happen.
Proof? Vice-president Azarias Ruberwa, in charge of national security, a Tutsi of Rwandan origin and leader of the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma rebel movement was not in the country when Rwandans invaded.
To divert the nation’s attention from the Rwandan invasion, the whole opinion concentrated on corruption after six ministers - 5 of them from RCD-Goma, a rebel movement Rwanda created to camouflage the aggression - found guilty of embezzlement were sacked. All political leaders including veteran opposition leader Etienne Tsisekedi are surprisingly quiet!
Yes, there are some political actors in the power-sharing transitional government who are not behaving like true and responsible statesmen. Yesterday, they were rebels and still have blood in their hand the power-sharing agreement cannot wash.

Jean Pierre Bemba, one of Congo’s vice presidents in charge of economic affairs and the leader of the MLC rebel movement masterminded by Uganda is one of them. Shortly before this Rwandan re-invasion, he went to Kigali and lifted all the bans imposed against Scar, a Rwandan but Congo-based insurance company, as well as Rwandan telecommunications companies but Congo-based, which during the occupation forced Congolese in Eastern Congo to use and dial the Rwandan national telephonic code!
Bemba took all these decisions without consulting other members of the cabinet in Kinshasa. That is why they did not apply. What is going on between Bemba and Kagame?
Shortly before this Rwandan re-invasion of Congo, Ruberwa another Congolese vice-president in charge of national security and leader of the RCD rebel movement, masterminded by Rwanda visited Goma, North Kivu, now the theatre of a Rwandan re-invasion following reports of daily massacres of autochton Congolese by Rwandan troops. Shortly after his visit, he went on a tour of western capitals and Rwanda re-invaded. Ruberwa is a Tutsi who came to Congo as a refugee in 1976, took the gun, fought to have Congolese nationality and has now been imposed on the Congolese people as a vice-president by the Americans.

Paul Kagame must have been very pleased, when from Brussels, Ruberwa said that he was not sure Rwandan troops were in Congo.
“If they have crossed over, then this is an invasion and we condemn it.
However, Rwanda needs a guarantee of not being attacked from its neighbouring country,” Ruberwa told journalists in a press conference.
Paul Kagame must also have been very pleased when Ruberwa suspected “someone” [President Joseph Kabila?] to be arming Hutu militia in Congo. As a reminder, after the massacre of Gatumba, vice-president Ruberwa in charge of national security accused his own government he is part of to have carried out the massacre and to continue to be arming Hutu militia.

“Neutralising the Hutu rebels is a ‘Congolese problem’, said Ruberwa, adding “that Rwandan and Congolese troops could work jointly to flash them out of the jungles of Eastern Congo where they continue to attack and pose a threat to Rwanda”
“Mixed patrol, that is what we are talking about here,” the leader of the RCD Goma which has occupied Eastern Congo for more than five years said.
Right after Azarias Ruberwa’s press conference, Kigali issued a statement denying its troops’presence in Congo, arguing that its borders with Congo were still open.

Former Mobutuists are not idle either. On the scene again are Mobutu’s former Prime Minister Léon Lobitsh Kengo wa Dongo and Kpama Baramoto the former commander of the notorious “Garde Civile” which terrorized people during Mobutu’s dictatorship. They were given an audience with President Paul Kagame in Kigali in early December. They are in the coup, and who knows, should Goma fall, we will see them there immediately to a new secessionist republic, striking a blow to the transitional process in Congo which should be crowned with the organization of general elections in June next year. Over our dead bodies!

Eugène Serufuli, The Congolese Tutsi of Rwandan origin and governor of North Kivu province requested that the ferry that links Goma in the north with Bukavu in the south on the Lake Kivu be put at his disposal under the pretext of repatriating Congolese refugees from Rwanda to Congo. “Refugees or Rwanda troops?” the captain ironically asked him and never gave in to the governor’s request. The governor was truly humbled.

He then proceeded to hold a meeting with his close friend Bernard Byamungu Gishondo, General Bora, condemned in absentia for his involvement in President Laurent Désiré Kabila’s assassination, Xavier Cirimanya, former governor of South Kivu, also condemned in absentia for his involvement in President Laurent Désiré Kabila’s assassination, Commandant Claude, a Rwandan subject and director of AGIT (Anti-Genocid Team). They warned that if Kabila sent troops to Goma, they will be killed and tried to disarm other Congolese soldiers under the command of Mai-Mai General Mufu, but the attempt failed. Is it the beginning of the 3rd war or of a secession? The coming days will tell. These hopeless people will certainly not succeed. They say Kabila is deploying troops in the east in order to target Congolese Tutsis. Another pretext. Emmanuel Kamanzi and François Gachaba Two of the so-called Congolese of Rwanda origin, both deputies in the Congolese transitional parliament, incited all other “Congolese of Rwandan origin against the deployment of troops from Kinshasa under the pretext that they are coming to massacre them. They organized a big march in Goma in which thousands of Rwandans from the nearby Rwandan border town Gisenyi joined. The Congolese and university students in Goma organized a counter-march. Clashes ensued, the toll being three dead (two student and one elderly man on the Congolese side) and many injured on both sides.

X. CONCLUSION: THE WAY FORWARD

The indicators are on the red and Kagame does not mean us any good. So we must swiftly pass to action. I propose an 8-points action plan to be executed by an act of parliament:

1. We must declare a total overall mobilisation of all our human, military, economic, financial and material resources in order to deal with the Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian invaders and aggressors once and for all, to secure our borders and the territorial integrity of our country once for all; even if that means elections have to be postponed for the time being. It will always be difficult for Congo to dance with a devil on the back. We might as well shake him off first.
That is why we salute the courage of the Government in Kinshasa which effectively cancelled a high-level inter-government meeting scheduled for 9.12.2004 with Rwanda and Uganda to develop mechanisms by which they could peacefully work out their differences and ensure the security of their respective borders.

“Before talks can be held we insist that Rwandan troops withdraw from our territory," Simon Tshitenge, Congo’s deputy minister for information, told IRIN in Kinshasa.
“Our country is at war. This is not the moment for us to leave it,” he added. As a reminder, DRC, Rwanda and Uganda had signed a tripartite security agreement in October, which would put in place a commission to deal with diplomatic and security issues.

2. Close all borders with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi until such a time when we can organise general elections;

3. Sever at all levels, all diplomatic and economic links with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi until such a time when we can organise general elections;

4. Annul the validity of Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian passport and Congolese travel entitlements for Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi;

5. Demand that Ruberwa and Bemba step down and be arrested for treason

6. Demand that Eugène Sefuruli and General Obedi Rwasi, governor and military commander of the North Kivu Province respectively be arrested and tried for treason

7. Demand that Generals Nkunda (responsible for pogroms right now in Minova in order to control the land for the benefit of Rwandophones only) and Mutebusi, Major Eric Lenge and Kasongo and others who are responsible for crimes against humanity like them be arrested and tried for treason.

8. Demand that the UN Security Council establish a “Special International Penal Tribunal” for the Democratic Republic of Congo, so that crimes against humanity, acts of rapes, massacres, ethnic cleansing and genocide, perpetrated by Rwandans, Ugandans and Burundians with the complicity of their external backers and their Congolese local allies do not remain unpunished; and that Congo is compensated for the plunder of its natural and mineral resources.

XI. APPENDIX
N.B: GREAT LAKES TENSION DIVIDES THE PRESS
DR Congo troops on guard in Goma.

Newspaper commentators in Rwanda and DR Congo take sharply different views of the causes of the current military tensions in the Great Lakes region. Papers from both countries blame what they see as international indifference. Elsewhere, the press expresses alarm at the latest “beating of war drums”

By the courtesy of BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, which selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.

“The Interahamwe [Rwandan Hutu militia] and other Rwandan militia groups are criminal elements that have wreaked havoc on our society. Their atrocities and the threat to peace in the region has been on for a long time and yet the respective players seem to be doing nothing geared towards the disarmament and eventual repatriation of these people... As usual, the international community has turned a blind eye to the problem, leaving Rwanda with no option but to defend itself against these wayward criminal groups.”
Rwanda’s New Times

“Today, the Great Lakes region is suffering from two big tumours, one is the Interahamwe and ex-Rwandan Armed Forces [FAR], and the other, certainly the larger, is [Rwandan President Paul] Kagame... The Rwandan president cannot exist without his genocidal brothers. Kagame needs a true or presumed threat of Interahamwe and ex-FAR to rule... Thanks to that