ukavu is under the control of Rwandan occupants. It's an aggression against our country by Rwandans who control the town of Bukavu," Joseph Kabila, President of the democratic Republic of Congo, said on state television last night. "We have decided to mobilize our resources and men and finances to defend ourselves. The army is mobilizing with the objective of retaking control of Bukavu to install our authority," he continued, confirming the news of the “fall” of Bukavu, the principal city in the southeastern province of South Kivu, which had been in circulation all day.
It is hoped that the idea of a rapid solution to the conflict is the right one.
Is this the symptom of a crisis that could deal a worrying blow to the peace accords of late 2002 – and possibly also spread across the Congolese border to other countries in the Great Lakes region – or of large-scale military insubordination, with ethnic overtones, which is destined to blow over within a reasonable length of time?
Kabila’s statement seems to broaden the possible horizons of the situation, which began a week ago with three days of clashes between renegade soldiers and government forces which, according to United Nations and Red Cross sources, left at least 65 people dead and several dozen people injured.
However, for now the question - which first and foremost concerns the lives of half a million people living in this key city in a mountainous and impervious region of eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda – seems to be without a certain and definitive answer.
It is hoped that the idea of a rapid solution to the conflict is the right one.
The UN spokesman in Bukavu has told the international press that he is not in a position to confirm the presence of Rwandans in Bukavu. On the other hand, it is known that the renegade soldiers come from the ranks of RCD-Goma (Congolese Rally for Democracy), the former rebel faction backed by Rwanda during the five-year war.
The question of the ethnic Banyamulenge (Tustis originally from Rwanda) population in Bukavu does not help to clarify the situation either: the insurgents have said that they are the main reason for the recent clashes. “I am here to save the Banyamulenge,” one of the renegade soldiers, General Laurent Nkunda, allegedly said yesterday. He is in Bukavu with 1,000 troops in support of the followers of the first insurgent, the former Colonel Jules Mutebusi, who was ousted in an earlier act of rebellion. Nkunda and Mutebusi do not see themselves as rebels, officially saying that they respect Kabila’s authority; however, they are calling for the appointment of a new military commander for South Kivu for the protection of the very Banyamulenge.
The storming of Bukavu, after four days of relative calm, began at dawn yesterday, when several thousand dissident soldiers (between 2,000 and 4,000 troops according to the dominant evaluations) penetrated the city amid light and heavy weapons fire, especially in the Nguba
neighborhood, where the soldiers of Mutebusi were concentrated, and in the Nyawera district containing the troops of General Felix Mudja Mabe, commander of the military region of Bukavu. However, movements of troops were also registered elsewhere, both in the zone of Kasha, north of the city, and in the direction of Camp Teve in the surrounding hills; in any case, it seems that Nkunda’s men joined the troops under Mutebusi’s command.
The most turbulent phase of the occupation seemed to be over by late morning, even if, on the basis of information gathered by MISNA sources, the operation apparently left at least six soldiers and two civilians dead and a further 15 people injured.
The market at Katudu, numerous shops and the headquarters of WFP (World Food
Program) and of UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees), as well as the parish of Kabare then became the target of looting and acts of vandalism, in which civilians also took part.
Meanwhile, in other cities such as Kisangani and the capital Kinshasa, demonstrations were staged outside the UN offices; at least two people were injured and a dozen vehicles were damaged.
According to the protesters – including numerous students – MONUC (UN Mission in DR-Congo), which boasts 10,800 troops, of whom only 1,000 are in Bukavu and the surrounding area, did not do enough to block the insurgents.
In this climate, the ministerial delegation led by vice president Azarias Ruberwa, which was in Goma (capital of North Kivu) waiting to travel to Bukavu, was transported back to the capital by MONUC helicopter after strongly condemning the occupation and cautioning the renegade soldiers against any use of violence.
In the light of yesterday’s developments, the statement read out on state television two nights ago seems all the more significant: “The general staff of the armed forces informs the population that no operation aimed at rekindling hatred towards the Banyamulenge population has ever been planned, nor has a man-hunt against the cross-border population ever been
organized.
The general staff, whose mission is to co-ordinate all activities concerning the military command, reiterates that our armed forces have the legal duty and the professional obligation to guarantee the security of the entire Congolese population in its diversity and to protect national independence and sovereignty.
Being an integral part of our people, the Banyamulenge are equal to the other tribes in the Democratic Republic of Congo and benefit from the same protection by the army as all the others.”
The message invited the Banyamulenge – thousands of whom have fled across the border into Rwanda - to continue their normal activities and not to listen to those trying to divide the population, at the same time recalling that the army is “apolitical and has the duty to distance itself from political movements, even if the animators of these movements are part of the national community”.
According to MISNA sources and some commentators, the document, signed by Lieutenant Colonel Leon Richard Kasongo, communications adviser for the army chief of staff, is without precedent both in terms of the declared “depoliticisation” of the armed forces and for the notable desire for unity and peace that it expresses.
Should these intentions be confirmed by the decisions and actions over the next few hours, instead of being the
epicenter of a new conflict, despite the further suffering of the civilian population, the fall of Bukavu could become the starting point for a new path carrying the country even further from a tragic and violent past that is struggling to vanish entirely from the Congolese horizon.
(From MISNA)