Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – While the Congolese Army claims to have killed 11 guerrillas in a recent attack on North Kivu, local sources have informed Agenzia Fides that the situation remains one of great insecurity, in South Kivu as well.
Both North and South Kivu are located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on the border with Rwanda and Burundi, where for at least 15 years various armed groups from Congo and elsewhere have been in conflict. Among these groups is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), formed by Hutu soldiers responsible for the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda and who are taking refuge in Congolese territory. The FDLR has long been a source of tension between the DRC and Rwanda. At the beginning of the year, the two governments decided to conduct a joint attack on the Rwandan rebels in North Kivu. These, however, were able to conserve a large portion of their military potential and continue retaliation attacks on local civilian populations (see Agenzia Fides 28/5/2009). The Rwandan Army has officially retreated from Congo and the operations against the FDLR are being carried out by the Congolese Armed Forces, in conjunction with the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC), which last week announced that it was launching Operation Kimia2 (“kimia” means “peace” in lingala). In the course of the operation, the Congolese soldiers released 368 people being held hostage by the rebels.
Local sources told Fides that in the uplands of Ruzizi, in South Kivu, there is a growing situation of insecurity that the local people attribute to both the rebels of the FDLR and the Congolese Army. “In the towns of Kitoga and Kashama, various local leaders (pastors, developers, defenders of human rights, etc.) have confirmed that there is no difference between the soldiers of the National Congolese Army (FARDC) and the foreign armed groups (FDLR), as far as aggressions, sacking, and arrests are concerned,” said a statement sent to Fides from the “Association contre le mal et pour l’encadrement de la jeunesse,” an association of civil society based in Katogota, in South Kivu on the border with Burundi. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 3/6/2009)
