Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – Kivu is a region of 256,000 km sq. in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire, Belgian Congo), which gets its name from Lake Kivu which, with an area of 270,000 km sq is one of the largest lakes in Africa. Kivu is bordered by Rwanda, Burundi, and Lake Tanganica (Tanzania). The region is divided from an administrative viewpoint, in North and South Kivu. The capital of North Kivu is Goma, where the conflict has been taking place most recently, and the capital of South Kivu is Bukavu.
Both regions were defined as “the Switzerland of central Africa,” because of the wealth of the land (diamonds, gold, uranium, coltan, niobium, cassiterite, etc., see also Fides 14/3/2007) and for its great potential in terms of forestry, agriculture, hydraulics, and energy (petroleum and gas beneath Lake Kivu and Lake Tanganica).
It is necessary to begin with the wealth present there, so as to understand the reasons behind the was that since 1994 has affected the region, especially since the so-called ethnic conflict seems to be an effort to divert attention, as the missionaries from “Peace for Congo” write in a statement sent to Agenzia Fides: “There are currently tutsis and hutus present in all the political institutions begun since the elections. They work in the private and public companies and in the humanitarian organizations, just like any of the other ethnic groups present in Congo. The situation is similar to that of many of the country's provinces. It is a consolation to see how relationships of friendship are established among the children, among the tutsis and those of other ethnic origins present in the country.”
Recent History
Kivu has always been a region with great migration patterns, both hutu and tutsi, coming from Rwanda. In 1994, the hutu interahamwe militia, who carried out the genocide in Rwanda, took refuge in Kivu, from which they carry out their activity in Rwanda, where the government had been formed mainly by tutsis from the Ugandan diaspora.
Along with the militiamen and the retired members of the Rwandan army, there were also thousands of civilians taking refuge in the then Zaire, fleeing attacks. In 1996, the Rwandan army crossed the border into Zaire, in an effort to expel the interahamwe militiamen and support the coalition of Congolese rebels, led by Laurent Desiré Kabila (the father of today's President Joseph Kabila). These rebels came to power after expelling a dying Mariscal Mobutu, the father-leader of the country since 1965. Kabila's father became president and renamed Zaire the “Democratic Republic of Congo.” In 1998, a new war broke out between Congo (supported by Angola and Zimbabwe), Rwanda and Uganda. The conflict was centered in Kivu, where the parties in conflict supported different local guerrilla groups. Among these is the Congolese Rally for Democracy (CCD), of which Laurent Nkunda is a member. After a series of negotiations, a peace process began, giving way to free elections in 2006 (which were won by Joseph Kabila, who substituted his father, assassinated in January 2001. The CCD became a political movement and its members were to be added to the new Congolese army.
However, Nkunda, appointed general of the army, refused to obey and with a part of the CCD members, began the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). Nkunda affirmed his desire to defend the tutsi population of Congo from the hutus interahamwe militias still present in the area. Rwanda, for these same motives, supports Nkunda (although it has been years since these militias last attacked Rwandan territory). In spite of the peace accord of Goma (January 2008), signed by Nkunda and calling for the “Amani” program to establish peace in North Kivu, with the presence of 17,000 Blue Helmets of the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC), the war has once more broken out, and this time more violent than before.
Nkunda has renamed his military group “Movement for the Total Liberation of Congo” (MLTC), making his change of strategy clear. Members of “Peace for Congo” write: “The real plan of Nkunda would be that of the destabilization of the entire nation through a war, with all its consequences: 1,200,000 refugees in Kivu, forced to live in miserable circumstances, weakening the population of Kivu and running it ragged, so that it will accept the creation of a new State,” whose mineral and energy resources would be exploited by those who are financing this new war. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 31/10/2008)
