RELEASE PP/NO. 01/AUG/14
MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE EAST OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC): FAR FROM BEING A SOLUTION FOR RESTORING PEACE IN THE AFRICAN GREAT LAKES REGION, THEY COULD LEAD TO A HUMANITARIAN TRAGEDY IN THE ENTIRE REGION.
Lately, Mr. Martin Kobler, the representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been promoting military operations aimed at forced disarmament of Rwandan combatants and forced repatriation of Rwandan refugees residing in Eastern DRC.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC/CND), a coalition of the Rally for Unity and Democracy (RUD-Urunana) and the Rally of Rwandan People (RPR-Inkeragutabara) believes that such an approach is neither pragmatic nor realistic; it may even turn out to be even dangerous. In fact for almost two decades, several military operations were conducted against Rwandan refugees over the years and have shown their limits. Meanwhile, such operations have just left behind misery and desolation of mainly innocent people including the local population and the Rwandan refugees. Our organization has a firm conviction that this is time to come up with other solutions, other than military, if the real goal were to bring peace to the African our Great Lakes region. If this were the case, we are ready to propose a plan to the Presidents and Leaders of the governments of SADC and ICGLR countries, outlining a realistic approach for the peaceful and voluntary disarmament of Rwandan combatants based in Eastern DRC, including those of RUD and RPR’s National Army (AN-Imbonezagutabara) and for the return of durable peace in the African Great Lakes region.
Over the years RUD and RPR’ s AN-Imbonezagutabara combatants have consistently shown, through several concrete actions, their willingness for a voluntarily disarmament and their commitment to help restore peace. These actions include, for example, the voluntary disarmament that took place on July 31, 2008, in Kasiki, Lubero territory in North Kivu province. This process, that had the most chance to succeed, was, in part, sabotaged by some MONUSCO officials under the pretext that it was not initiated by MONUSCO.
Between MONUSCO and the combatants, the problem is the lack of trust.
During the preparatory phases of the voluntary disarmament ceremony in 2008, a meeting was held in Kasiki. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the DRC, Mr. ANTIPAS MBUSA NYAMWISI, the Governor of the province of North Kivu, Mr. JULIEN PALUKU, MONUSCO representatives, traditional chiefs, and the medias. During such a meeting, the combatants unequivocally told MONUSCO representatives that they did not trust MONUSCO, for the following two reasons:
First, the combatants expressed their doubts about the MONUSCO commitment to engage the government of Rwanda. For the combatants, some officials of the United Nations Organization mission seem complacent about the Rwandan regime, when it comes to the violations of fundamental rights and freedoms in Rwanda. As a proof, the combatants gathered in Kasiki showed a group among them, who had previously been repatriated by MONUSCO and who were forced to flee again because they were persecuted and hunted down by the Rwandan regime. They exhibited evidences of torture in the presence of the media cameras. MONUSCO officials saw the evidence and heard testimonies, but said nothing.
Second, for the combatants, some of MONUSCO agents appear to cover and tolerate the abuse committed by the regime in Kigali against the Congolese population. Hence, a group of combatants who had just been freshly repatriated by MONUSCO was armed and brought back into the RUTSHURU territory by the military authorities of the Kigali Government, so they may commit atrocities to be attributed to combatants and Rwandan refugees based in DRC. Before these fighters decided to rejoin RUD and RPR, they had made sure to hand over the weapons and communications equipment supplied to them by the Kigali government, to MONUSCO officials, who also received their written testimonies. Indeed, the fighters had refused to carry out the mission given to them by the Rwandan authorities. After witnessing the testimonies by the combatants, before the DRC Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Governor of North Kivu and the Congolese traditional chiefs, MONUSCO officials did not challenge the evidence and found no answer to the questions from these combatants were simply asking: "What to do? Where to go? ".
Based on these few elements, our organization may wonder why Mr. Martin Kobler as Head of a UN Peacemaking mission keeps promoting military operations that for sure comfort Paul Kagame and his regime but would end up costing countless innocent lives including defenseless refugees, children, women, and the elderly. One may not forget the local Congolese population that has suffered so much. It is important to recall the fate of the Rwandan refugees during the human hunt perpetrated by Kagame’s troops and their allies in 1996-97. Recently Mr. Martin Kobler has confirmed to both the Security Council of the United Nations and the international media, that there were more than 240,000 Rwandan refugees are located in Eastern DRC. However, based on a DRC government recent census and other data from reliable independent sources, there were already several hundred of thousands of Rwandan refugees who have been living in the North Kivu region alone. Therefore any person advocating such military solutions may also bear the full responsibility of the subsequent human tragedy that would follow.
As we have indicated before, our Organization has always advocated, still is and will remain committed to peaceful solutions that would also lead to the disarmament of the Rwandan combatants. What we have always asked in return is to provide security guaranties that would allow the Rwanda refugees to return to their homeland peacefully and with dignity, where they can enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms, currently denied to them by the dictatorial Kigali regime. Thus, we call upon men and women of good will especially the political Leaders of the region to do everything possible to prevent such tragedy that may be in preparation to take place.
August 19, 2014
DR. AUGUSTIN DUKUZE Spokesperson
