Joshua Kato
22 December 2007
Kampala — The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is covered by huge forests, some parts which have never been ventured into. The Congo's eastern region is rich in minerals.
These two things - the mineral wealth and large swathes of forest - have played a huge part in shaping the destiny of the Congo.
The vast forests have attracted dozens of rebel groups with different agendas. Some, like Laurent Nkunda, are fighting the regime, while others like the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the People's Redemption Army (PRA) and the Allied Democratic Front (ADF) are fighting Uganda.
Defunct Ugandan rebel groups like the West-Nile Bank Front, Former Uganda National Army rebels and the Uganda National Rescue Front all at one time operated from the DRC.
The EX-FAR, composed of mainly former (ex-Rwanda president Juvenal) Habyarimana soldiers and the deadly Interahamwe also fight Rwanda from the Congo.
Earlier this month, another round of talks to solve the eastern Congo question was held at Munyonyo in Kampala. Uganda and the DRC countries agreed to co-operate to get foreign belligerents off DRC soil and the DRC gave the LRA rebels a January deadline to leave.
Uganda has, over the years, signed numerous protocols with the DRC, in an attempt to find ways of removing these rebel groups from Congolese soil. One was signed in Arusha in September, while the issue was also discussed in Ethiopia at the beginning of December.
Before 1996, the forests of the Congo were merely a feature to be marvelled at. But that changed when the ADF, a shadowy Islamic fundamentalist group, launched its first attacks on Kasese from there.
At around the same time, the EX-FAR attacked Rwanda from the DRC.
Another anti-Rwanda force, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, was also in the Congo at the time.
Suddenly, Rwanda and Uganda became interested in what was happening next door. In 1997, they attacked the DRC and subsequently overthrew the government of Mobutu Sese Seko. Mobutu was replaced with the flamboyant Laurent Desiré Kabila.
The eastern DRC, however, remained a hot spot, where life became as cheap as salt. Chaos erupted as the various countries involved in the Congo war tried to find ways of gaining control of particular areas and turned to each other's throats in their quests. Uganda and Rwanda fought three times in Kisangani. They created rebels groups, led by people like Wamba Dia Wamba, Jean Pierre Bemba and Thomas Lubanga. These, along with tribal groups like the Mai Mai and Lendu, wreaked havoc on the DRC.
Wamba Dia Wamba, Bemba and Lubanga are at the moment out of the picture. Bemba joined the unity government in Kinshasa for a short while, then stood for presidential elections and lost. He is now in exile in Portugal. Lubanga is incarcerated in the Hague on charges of abusing human rights. However, when one cock disappears, another comes onto the scene. The new cock is the renegade Tutsi general Nkunda.
So, can the DRC get rid of all the rebels operating on its territory? January is not far away, and the world will be watching and waiting for action on the LRA.
Uganda's worries
Other factors may come into play to help the DRC and Uganda solve the LRA problem more easily than anticipated.
There are reports that the LRA is disintegrating, with the latest news being that rebel leader Joseph Kony is relocating to the Central African Republic. Also, unlike with the ADF, NALU and PRA, there are talks going on between the LRA and the Government.
The ADF question, however, still looms. The rebels tried to re-enter Uganda in March, but were blocked by the UPDF. The ADF, according to intelligence reports, still has units hiding in the forests in Congo. The reports say there are over 300 rebels camped around Bunia, Butembo and Beni in the Ituri Forest area. As long as their leaders, Jamil Mukulu and Yusuf Kabanda, are still around, the ADF remain a threat to Uganda.
Some PRA remnants are also said to be in the Congo, especially around Ituri. However, they are not a major threat, especially after many of their commanders relocated to other countries.
Some ways to do it
There are mainly two ways in which the DRC regime can get rid of the belligerent groups. One is through the use of force. The DRC could attack and destroy the rebel camps in the east. Through the years, the DRC military has gained strength and experience.
In their current conflict with Laurent Nkunda's forces, the Kabila regime has shown an ability to fight. They have, through experience, learnt that an army is very important for their survival and so they now have a standing air force, infantry and mechanised divisions. If the DRC decides to fight the rebels, they may not even need outside support.
However, the infrastructure in Congo is still bad. Other than the regional airports constructed by Mobutu, very little has been done to improve the infrastructure. This means that movement of both troops and military equipment will hinder the operations or totally fail them.
With Nkunda still fighting and controlling territory in the DRC, it is difficult to see how the DRC government can chase foreign belligerents off her soil. The DRC believes that Nkunda is fighting for the interests of Rwanda, though this is vehemently denied by the Rwandese authorities.
The DRC has also accused Uganda of aiding Nkunda. Uganda has refuted this allegation. Although Uganda supported at least one rebel group against the DRC regime a few years ago, it may not have any reason to do so at the moment.
The other way of getting rid of the rebels may be through allowing the Ugandan forces and the RPF to enter Congo and destroy the respective rebel camps. Uganda has successfully disabled the LRA because of numerous raids into the Sudan, where the LRA had bases.
The DRC, however, is unlikely to allow Rwandan and Ugandan troops on her soil again because of the total chaos that ensued when it allowed foreign troops in between 1998 and 2000.
Uganda, though, can decide to enter the Congo without the consent of the DRC government. Since 1999 when Uganda entered DRC in hot pursuit of the ADF, the Ugandan army has improved its capacity to launch even more successful similar operations.
There are also other groups whose importance in the matter cannot be underestimated. The immense gold deposits have attracted many mineral dealers, many of whom are militaristic groups. They at one time included the mercenary outfit, Executive Outcomes, whose mineral exploration thrived on the prevalence of conflict.
Once the war ends, the DRC regime will automatically move in and establish order and in the process, the mineral prospectors, who benefit from the lack of regulation, will lose out. They certainly will not welcome the new peace overtures.
The DRC has agreed to work with the UN monitoring mission, MONUC, to drive out the foreign rebels. In recent fighting between DRC troops and Nkunda's forces, MONUC forces at some point fought alongside the DRC soldiers. They were also instrumental in assisting at least eight former LRA commanders who had defected. MONUC and the DRC forces also mounted considerable pressure on the ADF late last year, although they stopped without successfully chasing them out of the Congo.
Overall, though, both Uganda and Rwanda have been critical of the MONUC's contribution to solving the issue of foreign rebels in the Congo.
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Kato you are right if the RDC GOVERNMENT WANT TO FIGHT THE REBELS HE DOESN'T NEED HELP FROM OUTSIDE, YES BUT YOU HAVE TO KNOW THAT THOSE REBELS ARE SUPPORTED BY OUTSIDE WESTERN COUNTRIES AS UK,USA VIA RWANDA AND KAGAME IS A CHAIRMAN ,WITHOUT THAT SUPPORT THERE IS NOWAY THOSE REBELS TO STAY RDC ,THE HELP THAT RDC GOVERNMENT NEED IS THAT RWANDA ACCEPT HIS PEOPLE FDLR (GROUP OF TUTSIS AND HUTUS WHO ARE AGAINST THE LEADERSHIP OF KAGOME) so why kagome doesn't want to have opposition party as a democratic country? kagame is the source of every trouble in centraal afrika. TODAY NKUNDA IS FIGHTING BECAUSE HE IS AFRAID OF FDLR TO EXTERMINATE HIS PEOPLE AND if fdlr still in kongo is because of kagome, now he has to open the door for his people to return home unconditionally if he doesn,t DO THAT HE WILL BE CONSTANTLY THE SOURCE OF TROUBLE OF the GRANdS LACS. HE HAS TO SHOW A WILL IF he IS REALLY A MAN OTHERWISE ,HE WILL BE CONSIDER AS A CHICKEN , BECAUSE HE CAN'T HANDLE OPPONENTS WHICH RESULT TO A DICTATORSHIP. THANK YOU
The problem is, none of these groups, including Kabila junior are for the better. They all try to get hold of the riches und get millionaires. The reason for this is based in the support of the classic colonial powers in Europe und US. They feed puppets in order to get hold of the riches. They support, like Leopold 2 did, rivaling tribes in order to have peace while exploiting Congo. So colonialism has never disappeared in Africa, only the governors have changed from white to black. Those heros like Jomo Kenyatta or Patrice Lumumba have either decayed or been killed. The attempts of Laurent Desiré Kabila to put an end to this was stopped by his son and chinese and North Coreans in order to get hold of uranium. The freedom fight in Africa was badly sabotaged by Sovietunion turning itself into a stronghold of capitalism and so gave disorientation in battle for freedom. Into this gap came islam but arabian imperialism is for nothing better. African freedom loving people must rely on their own strength, stop gasping to some dirty aid coming from false friends like now chinese. They in turn act no other than in social imperialist manner as Sovietunion did. Like in Afghanistan or Ethiopia Sovietunion badly failed with its attempts to place puppets and play role of colonialists. Even in Congo Cuba with Che Guevara failed to get feet in the door disguised as internatonalist aid. Cuba itself without laying at the breast of Sovietunion could hardly survive und nowadays sits at table with imperialists to establish capitalism in Cuba. Why is all this? Those chief ideologists think that without capitalism people could not survive. They curse Sovietunion at the time of J.W. Stalin. But the question is, how could that backward country face with success the biggest army then in the world with Hitler and defeat him in Berlin? Was it the aid of US? At that time the industry in Sovietunion encreased enormously and it is no secret J.W. Stalin organised the production forces to socialist base but not with capitalism. It is a simple fact, when the circulation of goods is blocked as is the case with capitalism by theft of riches by a few and getting millionaires, people gets hungry and angry. The economy is blocked. Work is worth nothing.But when those blockades are banned and those turned into capitalists chased away, victory for the people will come S.
The article is more a reflection of Uganda and Rwanda governments views than an independent analysis to understand the chaos in Eastern Congo and help suggest appropriate solutions to end the crisis.
The fact that the above mentioned countries deny any support to rebel groups in the Eastern Congo does not mean they do not support,journalists should investigate allegations and find for themselves if this is true or not.
Dissidents from "the Congo Desk" in Rwanda in particular have made it clear that the troubles in Congo are planned and executed from Rwanda.Some "rebel groups" such as RASTAS are a creation of Rwanda to perpetuate chaos in Eastern Congo.
Uganda and Rwanda have invaded and stayed in the Congo for at least 5 years since 1997. At one point under Kabila Father,the chief of military staff in the Congo was the current rwandan military chief of staff.Uganda on the other hand had even in addition to military appointed civil authorities in the north eastern Congo.
How and why these armies never drove the rebels out the Congo after at least five years of presence?Instead we saw these armies fighting against each other in KISANGANI,eastern Congo where there were no FDLR,no LRA.
The truth in this is that Uganda and Rwanda were busy looting the Congo and back then didn't have any security concerns to invade Congo in the first place.
Before Congo can organize itself with a strong army and strong central authority after years of instability,there will be chaos in Eastern Congo.Motivations of these rebel groups are minerals in most part.
In the search for a lasting peace in Great Lake region,the rhetoric is often to blame Congo.While instability in Congo can be a factor,it is not the only one. Democraty including fair elections,reconciliation and inclusion of all communities in the political sphere in Uganda and Rwanda is certainly part of the solution to the crisis in the region.
The sympathy of the International Community towards the regimes in Uganda and Rwanda which translates in pouring of huge financial assistance should not dismiss the need for a replacement of current authocratic leadership in those countries.
Elie Minami Kinshasa/Congo.