Fred Oluoch
2 November 2008
analysis
The fresh violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), leaves no option but for Kinshasa and Kigali to negotiate. The international community has also weighed in, with the United Nations and the Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid and the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, initiating a shuttle diplomacy between Presidents Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagame.
Though Rwanda has denied supporting rebel commander Laurent Nkunda, Kinshasa maintains that his Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) is too weak militarily to maintain its operations without the support of neighbours.
The danger is that the renewed offensive by Nkunda could force the UN peacekeeping force, Monuc, to shift its mandate of maintaining peace to enforcing it. It now appears that both Kabila and Kagame have to sit down to address the concerns of Rwanda, which have always been that Congo is hosting remnants of the Hutu Interahamwe accused of planning the 1994 genocide.
The DRC ambassador to Kenya, Tadumi Onokoko, told The EastAfrican that Kinshasa is ready for a round-table conference with all the rebel groups in eastern Congo to persuade them to respect the outcome of the 2006 elections and that Congo has sufficient democratic institutions to address all their grievances.
"Congo is a victim rather than an aggressor. However, we want peace in Congo and all those who feel aggrieved should join the peace programme that was initiated by the government early this year," said Mr Onokoko.
The government had initiated the Amani (peace) programme to address the concern of all the rebel groups in eastern Congo, but Nkunda has maintained that he wants direct negotiations with President Kabila because his group is too big and their concerns too weighty to be lumped together with other small outfits.
While the 2002 peace deal officially ended DR Congo's war, Nkunda and his men have never agreed to fully join the army, as former rebel units were supposed to. His main argument is that he is protecting the rights of the Congolese Tutsis, commonly known as the Banyamulenge.
Nkunda declined to integrate his forces into the Congolese army after the Inter Congolese Dialogue signed at Sun City in South Africa. Kinshasa issued an international arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in 2005, after human-rights groups implicated him in killings, torture and rapes in his home region of North Kivu. He was also accused of committing atrocities in 2002 as a commander in the diamond-rich town of Kisangani.
Kinshasa accuses him of obeying orders from his former comrades-in-arms in Kigali, a charge the Kagame government has often denied. Last week, Rwanda's Foreign Affairs Minister, Rosemary Museminali, denied a US suggestion that Rwandan territory was being used to support rebels in eastern Congo.
She was reacting to a charge by Ms Frazer that the US has no evidence that Rwanda is fighting directly in the conflict, but that they believe Rwandan territory is being used to support Nkunda's CNDP.
Rwanda believes that Kishasa has the capacity to end the rebellion and deal with Rwandese rebels on its soil. Rwanda has twice invaded DR Congo with expressed intention of stopping rebel groups from staging cross-border attacks.
In March, Kinshasa initiated the Amani programme, in which all various rebel groups signed the cessation of hostilities agreement in return for their integration into the army. But Nkunda has refused to participate in the programme.
Other rebel groups in eastern Congo include another Tutsi outfit, Force Republicaines Federalistes (FRF), and the Congolese local defence forces called Mai-Mai, which often clash with Nkunda's CNDP.
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