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
