| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
[IRIN report on anti-RCD rebel activities in eastern DRC]
GOMA, 30 June (IRIN) - As peace talks on the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue in the Zambian capital Lusaka, rebels of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) are also grappling with problems closer to home.
"There are, in effect, two wars going on here," local NGO sources in the Kivu region of eastern DRC told IRIN. "The big war [against President Kabila] is far away in Kasai, Katanga. More worrying is the inter-ethnic war in liberated areas." The persecution felt by Congolese Tutsi Banyamulenge in South Kivu, viewed by many "autochtones" as "foreigners", ignited the war of 1996 and, to a lesser extent, the current conflict which has resulted in tens of thousands of displaced people in eastern DRC.
Theo Mpabuka, who heads the RCD's conflict resolution department in Goma, North Kivu, confirmed that local conflicts were an ongoing, destabilising factor in the region. He said the biggest problem was posed by Mayi-Mayi warriors "who have no clear objective", but who recruit young men with the promise of weapons and a better life, under the guise of ethnic solidarity.
Further south, in Uvira, the local authorities describe the Mayi-Mayi as "needing an enemy". Born from the Mulele rebellion of 1964 in the western Bandundu province, the Mayi-Mayi were launched in the east later that year to start an insurgency there. The administrator of Uvira zone, Godefroy Muhivwa, told IRIN many of the veteran Mayi-Mayi members are training the younger men in their current conflict which, local sources say, appears to have three targets: the Rwandan army, local Tutsis "seen to be helping the Rwandans", or simply "when they [Mayi-Mayi] need something".
Humanitarian sources say most Mayi-Mayi attacks are now concentrated in the south, around the Fizi and Baraka areas, where intense fighting is reported. According to Mpabuka, measures taken by the RCD to sensitise the local population regarding Mayi-Mayi and allied Interahamwe activities have weakened the strong concentration of militias in North Kivu and they have moved "en masse" to Fizi and Baraka. Local sources in South Kivu confirm that practically the entire population of Baraka has fled the town.
It appears there has been some success in tackling the Interahamwe problem, at least in North Kivu/Masisi and northwest Rwanda. The authorities on both sides of the border have been involved in an intensive campaign to persuade the "resistants", as the militias call themselves, to leave the bush, lay down their arms and undergo "re-education". Mpabuka said that since January, 15,000 Interahamwe - mostly in the Rutshuru area of Masisi region - have returned voluntarily to Rwanda. The authorities use "re-educated" former militia fighters and their supporters to return to the bush and convince their colleagues to stop fighting and reintegrate into society. The current mayor of Gisenyi town is said to be a former "resistant". The Rwandan authorities are so confident security has returned to the region, that the Kigali-Ruhengeri-Gisenyi road - a notoriously dangerous route during the insurgency - is now noticeably devoid of military roadblocks and the usual patrols of soldiers. Even the Virunga national park near Ruhengeri has reopened to tourists.
Media sources in Kigali told IRIN the Interahamwe threat has lessened, but nevertheless remains. "You can never be sure where they're hiding out in that jungly, volcanic terrain", the sources said. But, they added, the Interahamwe's political front, known as the Peuple en armes pour la liberation le Rwanda (PALIR) with its armed wing the Armee pour la liberation du Rwanda (ALIR), thought to be responsible for the killing of 12 tourists in Uganda earlier this year, is a much-weakened organisation since two of its top commanders were killed recently. Many of its members are now reportedly on Kabila's frontline in the Kasai/Katanga provinces. "The RCD rebellion, with Rwanda's backing, effectively dislodged them from their rear bases, forcing them further back towards Kabila," the sources said.
Similarly, the RCD is trying to launch a dialogue with well-known Mayi-Mayi commanders such as Louetcha, Dunia and Padiri, in a bid to urge them to convince their followers to reintegrate into society. Mpabuka acknowledges the uphill struggle ahead, compounded by the emergence of another anti-RCD militia group known as "les mongoles". However, he added, there was the "beginning of a solution" with the creation of local defence units in villages whereby five or six weapons are distributed among the community for use mostly at night when the attacks occur. The authorities are strictly regulating these local defence units, aware that still more militia groups could emerge from these new formations.
Muhivwa, the administrator of Uvira, believes that by July the threat from "armed gangs" in South Kivu will have diminished. He said that last week the RCD forces "dismantled" a pro-Kabila base at Kilembwe in Katanga province which provided many of the anti-RCD rebel groups in the area with arms. He claimed many Zimbabwean soldiers fled the base, "leaving behind victims and weapons".
But in the "big war", the Mayi-Mayi have linked up with thousands of remaining Interahamwe militia and ex-FAR (Forces armees rwandaises) troops fighting alongside forces loyal to Kabila. In parts of South Kivu and Katanga, Burundian rebels of the Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD) are also ranged on Kabila's side against the RCD, lured by the provision of weapons and bases. Despite denials by both the Burundian government and the RCD, Bujumbura is believed to have sent troops into parts of eastern DRC to confront FDD insurgents.
The RCD authorities play down any possible conflict of interests with Burundi, which has been close to Kabila because of his continued support during the two-year economic embargo slapped on the country by the sub-region. As Muhivwa pointed out, "we have to cooperate with Burundi", particularly for trade purposes. The Burundian government stresses its war is against the FDD, not Congolese soldiers. Burundian presidential spokesman Apollinaire Gahungu told IRIN Burundi was protecting its borders, but had no fight with the DRC. "Do you think we can just keep sending soldiers there?" he said.
Meanwhile, Rwanda-backed RCD forces - who now call themselves the Armee nationale congolaise (ANC) according to one Goma newspaper - are reported to be advancing on the diamond centre of Mbuji Mayi in Kasai Orientale. Some analysts believe that if Mbuji Mayi falls to the rebellion, the war is "all but over".
But as Theo Mpabuka of the RCD's conflict resolution department warns, even if the current conflict comes to an end, unless the issue of Congolese nationality for the Banyamulenge - which sparked the first war in 1996 - is tackled and the problems between "Rwandaphones and autochtones", going back to Masisi in 1993, remain unresolved, a third war is highly probable.
[ENDS]
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Item: irin-english-1128
[This item is delivered in the "irin-english" service of the UN's IRIN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. For further information or free subscriptions, or to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or fax: +254 2 622129 or Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer.]
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1999
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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