Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - “Certain official declarations seem excessively optimistic and I think that they have been made in order to justify the joint military operation; however, we should look at the facts: it doesn't seem that the operation has reached any definitive results,” Agenzia Fides learned from Fr. Loris Cattani, Xaverian missionary who has spent years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in commenting on the retreat of the Rwandan troops who had been deployed to North Kivu (eastern DRC) in a joint military operation with Congolese troops formed by former hutu soldiers who in 1994 took refuge in North Kivu). The operation began on January 20, when 6,000 men from the Rwandan army entered North Kivu, with the permission of Congolese authorities. In exchange for the Congolese support, on January 22 Laurent Nkunda, leader of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP – the guerrilla movement that has been tearing apart North Kivu) was arrested in Rwanda (see Fides 21 and 23/1/2009).
“According to Congolese authorities, 90 members of the FDLR have been killed, and another 200 have surrendered, and are to be sent back to Rwanda. As for the civilians, the MONUC claims that somewhere between 2,000-3,000 people have reentered Rwanda. Considering the fact that the FDLR have 6,000 men, one starts to doubt about the efficacy of the military operation,” Fr. Cattani said. “The FDLR have not accepted entering into combat and they flee before the advances of the Rwandan-Congolese troops, taking refuge in the forest. It is true that their bases have been destroyed, but they can reestablish them in no time. The FDLR support themselves with the trafficking of goods from Kivu and in the past, it seems that they have received arms from the Congolese army, to fight against Nkunda,” the missionary said. According to local Congolese press, the FDLR is expected to begin attacks once more on local civilians.
“On a more general level, two considerations should be made,” the missionary continued. “First of all, the sudden change in relations between Rwanda and Congo, who up until the beginning of January were mutually accusing each other of destabilizing their country. Kigali accused Kinshasa of arming the FDLR; Congo accused Rwanda of supporting Nkunda. Then, all of a sudden, a change in the tide: Rwanda arrests Nkunda almost simultaneously with the joint operation of North Kivu against FDLR. One month beforehand, the Ugandan troops had launched an offensive against the LRA. It has been revealed that both operations had been planned and supported by AFRICOM, the new command of the Pentagon in Africa. It is clear that the USA and the European Union have placed pressures on Kigali and Kinshasa to come to an agreement. In light of these considerations, I have to wonder how sincere and lasting this change is. The joint military operation was also prepared from the Congo side by very few people: neither Parliament nor the Head of State were even consulted. Then there is the paradoxical fact that the military attack was prepared by the Head of the National Police, John Numbi, without involving the the General of the Army. Numbi was one of the key figures in the January 2007 decision to allow members of the DRC Goma (a previous Rwandan guerrilla), who were integrated into the reunified Congolese army (according to the peace agreements) instead of dispersing them among the other regions of Congo. These are precisely the ones who one year later joined the ranks of Nkunda.”
In spite of these considerations, Fr. Loris remains hopeful for peace: “I am the first willing to acknowledge a real coming together of Rwanda and Congo and I sincerely hope that it implies a return to peace. Plans are now in the works for an economic agreement among Rwanda, Burundi, and Kivu. However, this already existed before the crisis of the 90s. The Economic Community of the Great Lakes Nations existed. We should return to this, however without contaminating it with the strategic and economic interests of foreign powers, as it should be above all at the service of the local people.” (LM) (Agenzia Fides 26/2/2009)
