Washington, DC — "Very credible eyewitnesses who have seen boats crossing the lake from Rwanda" going towards Kalehe and Biraa and Bukavu say they contained Rwandan soldiers, according to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ambassador to the United States, Faida Mitifu.
"They may deny it but it's not the first time Rwanda has denied its presence in the Congo," Ambassador Mitifu told AllAfrica. The eyewitnesses prefer to remain anonymous, she said during an interview on Friday.
In sharply worded remarks directed at her country's tiny neighbor, Mitifu said Rwanda wants continued instability "so that they can continue to plunder [our] resources."
In Brussels, Friday, the Rwandan Defense Minister, General Marcel Gatsinzi, denied that his government has any hand in the new outbreak of violence in the eastern Congo. "The Rwandan government has absolutely no involvement in the crisis in eastern Congo. It's an internal affair," said Gatsinzi. Claims that Rwandan troops are in Bukavu are just "fantasy" said the general.
One week ago led by two dissident commanders, fighters of the Congo rebel group RCD-Goma, which has been associated with Rwanda, took control of the South Kivu provincial capital of Bukavu in the eastern Congo. They said they were protecting Banyamulenge people, a Congo group related to the Tutsi who dominate the Rwandan government. About 70 people have been killed since the fighting began.
In Kinshasha, the DRC capital, crowds took to the streets Wednesday protesting United Nations failure to protect Bukavu from the takeover. With thousands protesting in Kinshasa's streets, Friday, UN troops there opened fire killing at least five persons.
All across the DRC there have been attacks against United Nations compounds by a population outraged that the UN mission in Congo, a force of about 1000 known as MONUC, has been unable to contain a rebel group numbering no more than 4000. "A new war is being forced on us," Congo President Joseph Kabila told the French newspaper Le Monde. "Despite its arms and its mandate, the UN mission did not avert the fall of Bukavu."
MONUC has now redeployed 600 of its soldiers, "but they need to send in people who are better trained for combat situations," said Mitifu. "They also need to make a very good investigation of MONUC people within the area," she said, to determine whether to the current crisis could have been averted.
"UN forces are going to increase patrolling; right now we have redeployed inside the town," Brigadier-Gen Jan Isberg, the UN commander in charge of the provinces of North and South Kivu, said Friday.
Mitifu wants UN soldiers to "fully use" the UN's Chapter Seven mandate, which authorizes troops to use force, if necessary. "That will be the only way the UN will be able to regain the trust of the people in the area," she said.
One of the rebel commanders, General Laurent Nkunda, said Thursday that they were withdrawing from Bukavu, but Sebastien Lapierre, the spokesman for the MONUC peacekeeping force in Bukavu told AFP: "We have had reports of [dissident] troop movements away from the town, but we have not seen an organized withdrawal."
According to her sources, Mitifu said, "one column of 200 men or more was seen going toward Katana." Another she said was seen going toward the plateau of Karhale. Yet another group has been spotted going toward Walungu and another has been reported headed toward Bunyakiri on the road to the north-eastern city of Kisangani. A fifth group was seen headed toward the military camp, Saio. And, she said, some of the dissidents have spread through Bukavu now wearing civilian clothing. On hearing of Nkunda's withdrawal promise, Mitifu said she was skeptical. "My first question was they're withdrawing and going in what direction? And who is withdrawing? And are these people being disarmed?"
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Saturday, the rebels were reported to have captured a second eastern Congolese town, Walikale, about 90 miles west of Bukavu.
Secretary of State Colin Powell has spoken to President Kabila about the situation. In his Wednesday briefing, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, "strongly" condemned the killing of a MONUC soldier last month. He also said that the U.S. embassy in Congo has declared reports of a campaign of violence directed against the Banyamulenge to be false. "Suggestions that a genocide or a mass killing of Congolese Tutsis has taken place are irresponsible and unnecessarily inflammatory."
Mitifu said the remarks are an expression of support for her government. "The United States clearly sees the pretense that has been used" by the dissidents. "We hope they are putting the necessary pressure on Rwanda."
