Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – Nkunda's rebels have taken over Rutshuru (in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo), where they are trying to give an impression of normality, allowing humanitarian aid to reach the local people, especially the refugees in the camps. Following the arrival of the humanitarian aid convoy on November 3, the international humanitarian aid organizations have decided to leave Rutshuru.
Rutshuru is an important administrative center located 75 kilometers from Goma, the capital of North Kivu and has now become the “capital” for Laurent Nkunda, who with great media tactics has invited several foreign envoys to venture into the rebel stronghold. The apparent “normality” of Rutshuru is a brutal contrast to the news coming in from Goma in recent days, which tell of government soldiers destroying civilian property and taking advantage of the people instead of defending them.
The situation is a perfect one for Nkunda, former Pentecostal pastor and former psychology student who claims that if the Congolese government does not begin negotiating directly with him, he will go to Kinshasa to overthrow President Joseph Kabila. Nkunda has been careful in taking over Goma, for now, as the militia would not be able to maintain order and guarantee regular supplies for the civilians. Nkunda, who is under investigation by the International Crime Court for war crimes, prefers to present himself as a respectable politician and avoid being considered the cause of the humanitarian tragedy occurring in North Kivu, placing the blame on the government in Kinshasa. As a result of the recent conflict, over 250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. All together, the internal refugees in North Kivu number over 1,200,000.
It is certain that the behavior of the Congolese soldiers reveals a flaw in the formation program of the new national army, which began as a result of a unification of various armed groups that fought in the war from 1998-2003. In spite of international economic aid and technical-logistic support from several European nations, the new Congolese army has not been able to face up to Nkunda's four thousand men. The blame has been placed on the low salary of the soldiers (which would lead them to attack the civilian population), corrupt officials, and the fact that there has not been efficiency in the “mix” of recruits, transfering them from one side of Congo to the other, to avoid that (for example) a battalion of ex-Kivu rebels remain practically in tact in the same territory where it had been fighting the government for years. The loyalty of these men is evidently unstable. Nkunda himself, appointed general in the national army, before publicly rebelling against the central government never obeyed military hierarchy.
In order to fight Nkunda, Kinshasa has had to turn to the Mai Mai militias, made up of locals who have also been criticized for their record of violence against civilians. Nkunda's men and the Mai Mai militiamen have been fighting several kilometers outside Rutshuru.
On November 7, Nairobi (Kenya) will host a meeting on the Kivu crisis, sponsored by the African Union and to which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been invited. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 5/11/2008)
