17 October 2008
Maputo — The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has begun a diplomatic offensive in the region aimed at persuading other members of SADC (Southern African Development Community) to activate "appropriate mechanisms" to solve the political and security crisis in the east of the country, which it blames on alleged aggression by Rwanda.
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Thursday received the Congolese Interior Minister, Denis Kalime Numbi, in his capacity as special envoy from Congolese President Joseph Kabila. Speaking to reporters, Numbi gave the official line that the military problems his government faces in the east of the country are caused by interference from Rwanda.
"As a SADC member state, the RDC has the duty to inform the other countries of the region about the political and security situation", he said. He claimed that, just as in 1998, Rwanda is again violating Congolese territory.
There is no doubt that in 1998 Rwandan and Ugandan forces did indeed try to topple the government of Laurent Kabila, father of the current president, which precipitated intervention by Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia to support Kabila. The current fighting is not so clear, and Rwanda has denied the Congolese allegations.
Numbi said that, to prevent the current crisis in North Kivu and Ituri provinces from worsening, and sparking off a conflict similar to that of ten years ago, Joseph Kabila thought it best to inform Mozambique and other SADC members of what was happening in the eastern DRC.
"Within the policy and diplomacy of SADC, there exist mechanisms to deal with questions of this sort, and we want to see these mechanisms activated to respond to the current security problems in the DRC", said Numbi.
The Congolese authorities are facing an insurgency in North Kivu, led by renegade Congolese general Laurent Nkunda. Kinshasa accused the Rwandan government of sending troops across the border to support Nkunda. Rwanda has dismissed these claims as baseless.
Rwanda certainly has legitimate security concerns in eastern Congo, since the DRC has never disarmed members of the Interahamwe militias, responsible for the 1994 Rwanda genocide, who fled into Congo and have been there for the past 14 years.
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