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General Padiri has sent us this document and is asking us to disseminate
it widely in the world. He underlines that its text expresses
the totality of his ideas on the problems of the Congo and
of Rwanda.
Liberate
all Congolese territory! Help the Rwandan people overthrow
Kagame's terrorist regime! This is a duty for the Congolese!
We,
the Mai-Mai, nationalist fighters, want to put the pre- sent declaration
to the attention of the Congolese people, the Rwandan people and
all African peoples who desire their liberty, sovereignty and independence,
and also to that of all peoples in the world who adhere to the principles
of the UN Charter.
Since 2 August 1998, the Congolese people is being subjected
to an aggression and an occupation characterized by the mili-
tarist and adventurist regime of Kagame and by the Ugandan regime.
Pushed on and aided by their international principals, Kagame
and Museveni had in mind to finish of Mzee ["sage"]
Laurent- Désiré Kabila's nationalist regime in less
than two months. The resistance put up by the entire Congolese
people and above all by the people in the occupied territories
and their armed forces of the people, called the Mai-Mai, has
prevented this plan of conquest from being realized.
The Lusaka agreement [of 1999], an unjust agreement imposed on
the Congo by blackmail, was intended to obtain victory for the
aggressors and their rebels [" "] by political means.
But the more and more broadening resistance by the Congolese under
occupation has smashed to pieces that "Congolese" rebellion
which was nothing but a screen put up to mask the aggression.
The Rwandan and the Ugandan aggressors have indulged in the luxury
of waging three wars against each other on the con- quered Congolese
territory around Kisangani.
With the exeption of the administration of the United States,
all other governments have recognized that the Congo is the victim
of an aggression, of an occupation, of pillaging of its riches
and of a genocide against its people.
In Rwanda, hundreds of Tutsi leaders of the FPR [Rwandan People's
Forces] and the APR [Rwandan Patriotic Army - the army of the
government] have fled abroad, from where they are denouncing the
terrorist and militarist regime of Kagame. Re- cently, even the
American government, whose main objective is to put its hands
on the enormous subterranean riches of the Congo, has distanced
itself from the regime of Kagame, which has failed in that mission,
entrusted to it, of destroying the Congolese nationalist movement.
The Pretoria agreement [of 30.07.2002 - see "NEWS ON CONGO"
051, 052 and 053], on the disarming of the Interahamwe and withdrawal
of the Rwandan army, shows that the Kigali regime finds itself
in a position of great weakness and of interna- tional isolation.
But Kagame, that adventurist and militarist, can still choose
the flight forward and intensify the terror in the occupied territories,
as he is doing now. The argument of the presence of the Interahamwe
has been the main pretext for justifying the aggression. Kagame
might delay carrying out the provisions of the Pretoria agreement,
pretending that the Congo was "continuing to aid the Interahamwe"
and that therefore, the presence of the APR in the Congo is still
"ne- cessary".
We, the Mai-Mai resistance fighters, say that the Congolese people
do not want any Interahamwe. The aggressors should leave unconditionally;
all Congolese should help the Mai-Mai, the FAC [Congolese Armed
Forces] and the troops of the MONUC [UN mission] locate, assemble
and disarm the Interahamwe.
We, the Mai-Mai, are calling on all Congolese for vigilance and
determination in the struggle, which must be intensified in all
its forms up until the total and unconditional with- drawal of
the aggressors.
We, the Mai-Mai, are calling on the people in the free terri-
tories to support morally, politically and materially their countrymen
who are still living under the regime of occupa- tion. We are
calling on them not to let themselves be intoxi- cated by those
forces serving foreign interests which are preaching non-resistance,
disinterest in the nation's fate, capitulation to the aggressors
and their Congolese lackeys.
We are asking them not to forget that with each day that pas-
ses, thousands of their countrymen are dying because of the occupation
and its consequences. Every month that the war con- tinues, 100,000
Congolese are buried due to causes connected with the occupation.
We are calling on the Congolese in the free territories not to
forget that the war will end only after the total withdrawal of
the armed forces of the aggres- sors.
It is obvious that Kagame could not have engaged, in August 1998,
in such a senseless adventure against the large Congo- lese people,
without the total support of certain non-African powers which
wanted to eliminate the nationalist regime of Mzee Laurent-Désiré
Kabila.
Since four years back, Kagame has advanced three pretexts in
order to justify the aggression against and the occupation of
the Congo, in flagrant violation of the UN Charter. First, he
pretended wanting to put an end to "the dictatorship of"
Ka- bila, which he equated with that of Mobutu. Then he wanted
to ensure Congolese nationality for the Banyamulenge, and final-
ly, he declared that he wanted to eliminate those Rwandan Hu-
tus guilty of genocide who were operating in the Kivu pro- vince.
Kagame first pretended that his troops came in to end the dic-
tatorship of Kabila! But it was the United States that de- clared
Kabila to be "a dictator", for that only reason that
he resisted their intention to grab Congolese subterranean resources.
And those same United States during 37 years prop- ped up the
dictatorship of Mobutu, first as Army Chief, later as President
of the Republic.
The entire Congolese people remembers that during a year, bet-
ween May 1997 and July 1998, Kabila started to build up again
a country completely destroyed by Mobutu; security was basi- cally
ensured; monetary stability was re-established; the structures
of the state were built up again; the nationalist and patriotic
spirit was awakened.
[On the character and the intentions of the regime led by L-D
Kabila, see also "NOC 021-023", with an impor- tant
speech by him on 21.01.1999, "Create Committees of the People's
Power Everywhere". - RM]
The Rwandans and Ugandans and their puppets called "rebel
leaders" claimed they wanted to overthrow "the dictatorship".
But in the territories which they have occupied, the Congolese
people has experienced and continues to experience a terror such
as has never been seen before in the country's history; the people
has experienced horrifying massacres and has been subjected to
a genocide which has taken the lives of 4,000,000 men, women and
children.
The real terrorist dictatorship has been that of the aggres-
sors and of their Congolese lackeys. Kagame later maintained that
his troops had come to the Congo in order to ensure Con- golese
nationality for the Banyamulenge! But as far back as in 1997,
eminent representatives of the Banyamulenge made the as- sessment
that the presence of the Rwandan army in the Congo had a hidden
agenda of expansionism and pillaging. On 4 August 1998, the Munyamulenge
commander Mashako and several of his colleagues were executed
by Kagame's men because they opposed the Rwandan aggression. Kagame
has "instrumentalized" the Tut- sis living in the Congo
for his policy of expansionism.
The Banyamulenge, who since many generations back have grown
up in the Congo, consider themselves to be Congolese. Even in
the case that Congolese are questioning the nationality of the
Banyamulenge, this is a question which should be dealt with entirely
and only by the inhabitants of the Congo; this in no way is of
the concern of Rwanda. Kagame is utilizing the "question
of the nationality of the Banyamulenge", which is none of
his concern, only as a pretext for attacking and pil- laging our
country.
Kagame, finally, has pretended wanting to put an end to the presence
of Rwandan Hutus, guilty of genocide, in the Kivu! The genocide
of 1994 against Tutsis and against democratic Hutus was a terrifying
reality which we most sharply condemn.
We condemn all massacres of an ethnic type, since the masses
of the people of all nations and all ethnicities in Africa must
unite, in order to rid the continent of the domination and the
exploitation by foreign forces. Kagame has "instru- mentalized"
also the 1994 genocide and has made it into an instrument of propaganda
in order to realize his own avari- cious interests and his criminal
objectives.
During the war of liberation of 1996-1997, the Rwandan army [which
then acted, out of certain interests, in support of those Congolese
forces which liberated the DR Congo - RM] mas- sacred thousands
of innocent Rwandan Hutus. And Kagame has in- voked the spectre
of the 1994 genocide in order to justify his indiscriminate massacres
of Congolese in the occupied territo- ries. Four million Congolese
have lost their lives because of the Rwandan-Ugandan aggression!
This is a genocide which by far surpasses that of 1994 in Rwanda.
Concerning this, Alex Ntunga, Vice-President of the Mouvement
Shikama-Kivu Peace Initiative, in the name of the Banyamulenge
community has denounced "the silent genocide of the Congolese
by Kagame's army" and has written that "the Kivu risks
being emptied of its inhabitants in the case of an occupation
las- ting some twenty years".
Since April 2002, the High Plateaus of the South Kivu have been
subjected to aggression and occupation by more than 6,000 Rwandan
military. More than two thousand Banyamulenge have been massacred,
and tens of villages completely destroyed by bombardments from
helicopters. Kagame started the aggression against the Congo in
August 1998 posing as "the protector" of the Tutsis
living in the Congo, purportedly threatened by "ge- nocide"
by the regime of L-D Kabila.
The representatives of the Banyamulenge are declaring before
the international public opinion that the Tutsis living in the
DR Congo, like all other inhabitants of the occupied Congolese
territories, are victims of a genocide organized by the occu-
pation regime of Kagame.
The spectre of the Hutus guilty of genocide prompting Kagame
into action has shown itself to be a fraud. The Interahamwe have
operated in those territories which the Rwandan army is occupying
since August 1998. Nobody can believe that Kagame, who has committed
massacres in the Congo, would not have been able to eliminate
those gangs, weakened and lacking provi- sions, of ex-FAR and
Interahamwe which have operated in the territories occupied by
the APR.
We the Mai-Mai can bear witness to the fact that the army of
Kagame has released Interahamwe from prisons in Rwanda and sent
them to the Kivu where they can kill, rape and pillage, so as
to maintain that "spectre of genocide" which Kagame
needs. The "Interahamwe threat" today is essentially
a lie.
The Tutsi commandant Masunzu too, who is fighting in resis- tance
to Kagame's army of aggression, has been accused by Ki- gali of
having entoured himself with "Interahamwe"! The Munya-
mulenge organization Shikama-Kivu Peace Initiative declared in
April 2002: "The pursuit of armed groups and militias guilty
of genocide, of which no presence has been seen in this zone now
under the control of Commandant Masunzu since 1999, is only one
of the pretexts for pillaging the mineral and forest- ry resources
of the DR Congo, install a rear base on these plateaus of Minembwe
and create a rural colonial area."
We, Mai-Mai resistance fighters, are saying that the people's
struggle in many forms, and notably the armed struggle, must be
intensified in the occupied territories up until the victo- ry
against the aggressors and occupiers. But we are saying also that
today, the war is not only a military one, it is also political.
And the Congo has already carried the war into that country from
which the aggression has come. It is the Congolese people's resistance
that has forced the Kagame re- gime to unveil its real nature
before the Rwandan people.
Today, Kagame is confronted not only by the ferocious opposi-
tion of the Congolese but also by a broadening opposition by the
Rwandan people which solidarises itself with the Congolese martyr
people.
On 2 July 2002, the Alliance Igihango, which unites an impor-
tant number of Tutsi and Hutu opposition forces, published a declaration
of considerable historic significance. This is in fact a political
declaration of war against that terrorist and anti-people regime
which Kagame has imposed on Rwanda. The Rwandan opposition parties
in that declaration are saying that Kagame is leading "a
military dictatorship soon to lie in its death-throes". They
are calling on "all citizens of Rwanda, of the DR Congo and
of the whole Great Lakes region to mobilize massively so as to
make the Kegame regime's expansionist plans fail". They are
saluting "the legitimate resistance by the people of the
DR Congo which confronts, in Kisangani, in the Kivu and elsewhere,
the disastrous occupation of their coun- try".
In mid-July, the Alliance Démocratique Rwandaise led by
Jean- Baptiste Mberabahizi published a declaration in support
of the resistance by the Banyamulenge, the Bafulero and the Babembe
in the Minembwe region. It states its solidarity "with the
Congolese masses in the occupied territories in general and in
the South Kivu in particular, in their legitimate and he- roic
struggle against the occupation troops of the dictator Paul Kagame.
The ADR holds that the resistance struggle of the Congolese people
against the occupation is one part of the struggle of the Rwandan
people against the small-clique dicta- torship of General Paul
Kagame, and that both of these are parts of the African peoples'
struggle for their total libera- tion".
We the Mai-Mai likewise hold that our patriotic war is a con-
tribution to the struggle by the masses of the Rwandan people
for their liberation. The vast majority of those 30,000 sol- diers
who are operating in the Congo have not been paid, are leading
a very harsh life in a completely hostile environment, have been
separated since long from their families and friends. Those soldiers
have seen how their officers have pil- laged and raped. And if
they return to Kigali, they will dis- cover that their high-ranking
officers have built big houses for themselves there.
One high-ranking officer of the APR has made it known to a representative
of General Padiri that he supports the struggle of the commandant
Masunzu and that he will defect from Kaga- me's army. He will
be one of many Rwandan Tutsi officers to follow the example of
Major Furuma, one of the founders of the APR, who has fled from
Rwanda and who in most violent terms denounces the dictatorical
regime of Kagame and its criminal war against the Congolese people.
After four years of difficulties and sufferings in the Congo,
the Rwandan soldiers are asking: What puropse has this war served?
What has the Congolese people done, for us to make 4,000,000 children,
women and men die? Why have thousands of young Rwandan soldiers
died in this war? Who has profited from this war, who has made
it last more than four years? The mas- sacre of the Banyamulenge
is now making the Tutsi soldiers un- derstand that Kagame has
deceived them by saying that they have been waging war in the
Congo in order to prevent a geno- cide against Tutsis.
Also, the expulsion of the Rwandan occupation army from the Congo
will make all the contradictions of Kagame's militarist and terrorist
regime explode. The war will return to where it came from, but
it is the Rwandan masses, Hutus, Tutsis, Twa unis, who are the
Rwandan military, conscious of having been utilized by Kagame
for an unjust and criminal cause, who will overthrow that dictatorical
and warmongering regime which at present is installed in Kigali.
The Congo has allies in Rwanda who want neither Kagame's war
in the Congo nor the alternating in Kigali between ethnicist and
genocidal regimes which are claiming, the one to be "for
the Tutsis", the other "for the Hutus".
We the Mai-Mai are supporting the Hutu and Tutsi democratic forces
of Rwanda. First, in order to hasten the fall of Kaga- me's genocidal
regime, and later, to create a new solidarity and co-operation
between the Congo and Rwanda led by patriots and pan-Africanists.
In Rwanda, Kagame has no longer any political reserves; his isolation
is total and he will not be able to come up with any new tricks
for escaping from that. For Kagame, all real political opening
will seal the fate of his tyrannical regime. The defeat of Kagame's
army in the Congo may be facilitated by the political struggle
of the Rwandan political opposition. This opposition now is calling
for "the quick opening of an inter-Rwandan political dialogue
including high-level such", as the only way to give Rwanda
"a credible, legitimate and representative government which
takes into consideration the security anxieties of the DR Congo,
its national sovereignty and its territorial integrity".
It is to be expected that Kagame will follow his militarist logic
to its end and that he will not leave the Congolese territory
until he has suffered military defeats.
We are calling on the entire Congolese people for vigilance,
for persevering in the war effort for throwing the aggressors
out. Knowing the perfidity of Kagame and his entourage, we should
see that nothing will be won definitively before the total and
inconditional withdrawal of the aggressors.
Our armed resistance must continue and its efforts doubled. The
people and the army of the Congo must hold themselves ready to
wage patriotic war until victory, in case all con- cessions which
President Joseph Kabila may continue to make do not cause Kagame
to withdraw inconditionally his troops from the Congolese national
territory.
Kivu, 18 August 2002
For the High Command of the Mai-Mai Resistance,
General
David Padiri Bulenda
FIVE UGANDAN SOLDIERS KILLED BY TRIBESMEN IN THE CONGO.
KINSHASA: Five Uganda soldiers deployed in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been killed by tribesmen armed with bows and arrows. Reports say the tribesman believed that the Ugandans murdered one of their members. Uganda, which backs a rebellion against Kinshasa, has recently withdrawn 12 out of 14 battalions it deployed in the vast central African country, but is still maintaining a small presence in areas close to the border.
TRIBESMEN IN D.R.C. DRIVE OUT RWANDAN-BACKED REBELS FROM SMALL TOWN.
KINSHASA: Pro-government tribesmen in the Democratic Republic of Congo are reported to have driven Rwandan-backed rebels out of the small eastern town of Kalima. The town, which had been held by the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy, was overrun by the tribesmen last Wednesday. Kalima lies to the east of the strategically important town of Kindu. A contingent of the United Nations Observer Mission in Congo is due to be deployed in Kindu soon. The town is also due to become the base of a joint force of four-thousand men which the Rally for Democracy and another rebel movement, the Congolese Liberation Movement have agreed to set up.
CONGO-DEM.REPUBLIC, 26 NOV 2001 (11:13)
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