Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – Violence has once again broke out between the Congolese Army and rebels of the National Congress for People's Defense (CNDP) led by Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this time in a town 45 kilometers outside Goma, the province’s capital.
Fighting broke out in spite of the presence of the “Blue Helmets” of the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC), which claims to have reinforced their own contingent, and that of the Amani Program, signed by Nkunda himself (see Fides 17/6/2006).
“One of the setbacks of the Amani Program and the mediation effort offered by the international community is that of reducing the Kivu conflict to a provincial and ethnic matter, when in reality, it is a national and international issue involving the sovereignty of a State, trafficking of arms, illegal sales of minerals,” says a statement sent to Agenzia Fides from the “Congo Peace Network,” promoted by several missionaries working in Kivu. The statement affirms that there is “a fatal program of annexation, balkanization, exploiting of Congo’s natural resources, and the extermination of its people,” in which Nkunda holds a large responsibility.
The statement continues: “Nkunda, although he has committed all kinds of extortion and crimes against the people of Congo in the Eastern Province and in both North and South Kivu, he has never been prosecuted, in spite of the existence of a warrant issued by the Congolese government. On the contrary, today he moves quite freely, without the least bit of trouble, living on a portion of Congolese territory (the Masisi and the Rutchuru) where he has placed visible signs of balcanization: security posts, a flag of the CNDP, etc. In the areas controlled by his men, the taxes our paid to him, and he receives a considerable profit from the profits of illegal mining businesses in the region.” The precedent set in the recognition of Kosovo could be repeated in Africa con Kivu (and with Somaliland, which is multiplying its contacts with the Western governments).
The population of eastern Congo is victim to a Western policy that tends to place the leaders of the country, the rebels, the national army, and armed groups all on the same pedestal. In the past, when there was an inter-Congolese dialogue, there was an intent to justify the lack of popular legitimacy of the constitutive power. However, the tides have turned. Now, the DRC not only has a Constitution approved by a popular referendum, but it also has institutions that have arisen as a result of free, honest, and democratic elections, which are recognized by the international community. On what grounds can the leaders of a sovereign country be treated as if their were the leaders of a militia? With this policy, Nkunda has remained protected by a government that has received, in spite of everything else, popular legitimacy, the statement said.
The cruelty of the war in Kivu has also been denounced by a report sent out by Amnesty International, which affirms that for every 2 children who remain free, 5 are kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers. Many of the children who are recruited are former soldiers who had been returned to their families after being freed by the armed groups who had previously kidnapped them. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 29/9/2008)
