allAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: A Welcome Expression of Intent- The Nairobi Communique and the Ex-FAR/Interahamwe (Page 1 of 2)

Congo-Kinshasa: A Welcome Expression of Intent- The Nairobi Communique and the Ex-FAR/Interahamwe

On 9 November 2007, representatives of the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda met in Nairobi, Kenya, and signed a communique pledging "a common approach to address the threat posed to our common security and stability by the ex-FAR/Interahamwe." The agreement was facilitated by the United Nations and witnessed by the United States and the European Union. This new accord represents a comprehensive and constructive point of departure that could pave the way for an end to the armed presence of the ex-FAR and interahamwe in eastern DRC, and to the needless suffering of those living in North and South Kivu provinces, who have been the most directly and seriously damaged by the recent violence in the region. A Welcome Expression of Intent reveals details of the organization and functioning of the ex-FAR and interahamwe both within eastern DRC and internationally. In publishing this report, African Rights hopes to support and encourage the crucial process of dismantling these forces.

The protracted lack of co-operation in finding lasting solutions to long-standing problems in eastern DRC, in which the two governments and the peoples of both countries have an enormous stake, has profoundly hurt the entire Great Lakes region in terms of human security, political stability and economic development. The neighbouring states of Burundi and Uganda have also been affected by the troubles in this shared border region. Yet, as the signatories themselves point out, there has been no shortage of agreements—bilateral, sub-regional and regional to promote co-operation between the DRC and Rwanda. It is therefore easy, and tempting, to write off this late st initiative as just another document. Indeed, it may turn out to have little real impact, or far less than the civilians whose lives have been devastated need and deserve. It is for their collective benefit that every effort must

be made to translate the promise of Nairobi into reality.

Behind the negotiations are the bloody rebellions and counter-rebellions in eastern DRC, which have left hundreds dead, displaced thousands internally or to neighbouring countries, and which are sowing the seeds for intractable future conflicts. The clashes have been particularly intense in North Kivu. Here, soldiers loyal to the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), set up by a Tutsi general, Laurent Nkunda, are at war with the armed forces of the DRC. The communique draws special attention to the need to reign in Nkunda's CNDP, whose military campaigns have been a major contributing factor in the humanitarian disaster. Also ranged against the CNDP are the Mayi Mayi militia, and the Coalition of Congolese Patriotic Fighters, (PARECO), a militia force essentially made up of Congolese Hutus, both working in close collaboration with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandese militia directed by former officers deeply implicated in the 1994 genocide, and which counts many genocide suspects among its combatants and civilian cadres. PARECO is in fact a creation of the FDLR. In South Kivu, two units composed of Congolese Banyamulenge soldiers are in rebellion against the regular army. Also operating in South Kivu is Rasta, a small militia made up of former Mayi Mayi who have merged with elements from the FDLR. These multiple conflicts reinforce each other, providing new opportunities and justifications for the endless cycle of conflict.

Whatever the political, ethnic and social tensions that characterize the history of eastern Congo, there is little doubt that the seemingly permanent crisis in the Kivus dates from the arrival of more than two million Rwandese refugees in July 1994, incl ding soldiers of the Rwandese Armed Forces, known as the ex-FAR, and their allies, the interahamwe militia. Their activities, and those of the groups which express their political interests and aspirations,

and which fight on their behalf, for example the Republican Rally for Democracy (RDR), the FDLR and the Rally for Unity and Democracy (RUD/URUNANA), are at the source of the violence, mistrust and sense of hopelessness which feed on each other in the Kivus. In particular, they have hardened and widened the gulf that already existed between Congolese of Rwandese origin —both Hutus and Tutsis —and the other ethnic groups, and these fault lines are now part of the complex political landscape. In South Kivu, the presence of a large number of Burundian refugee s who crossed the border after the murder of President Melchior Ndadaye in October 1993, was an additional complicating factor.

Although the most recent fighting and atrocities in the Kivus were sparked by the rebellion of Laurent Nkunda, there is little prospect of stemming the violence, of restraining the armed groups or of facilitating the voluntary return of Rwandese refugees without first neutralizing the ex-FAR and interahamwe. They are the key to a realistic and successful strategy to bring human security to the Kivus, to defuse political and ethnic tensions, to promote dialogue and to lay the groundwork for effective and lasting regional solutions to the challenges spelt out in Nairobi. Even if Nkunda is brought under control, so long as the ex-FAR and interahamwe hold sway, as they do, in large parts of the Kivus, there will be neither peace nor security for

the Congolese people or Rwandese refugees, and the Great Lakes region will continue to be unstable and fraught with tension.

In addressing the complex configurations of warfare, the Nairobi communique rightly acknowledges that all foreign as well as national armed groups in the Kivus are part of the problem and must be tackled in a serious, urgent, concerted and collaborative manner, and places particular emphasis on the hazards inflicted by the ex-FAR and interahamwe. It calls for military action to dismantle illegal armed groups, as well as political programmes to enable fighters to lay down their arms, move away from the border areas and, for the Rwandese, to exercise the right to choose between voluntary repatriation to Rwanda or

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