Makeshift alliances bind force against rebels
December 01 2008 at 09:59AM
Related Articles
- UN envoy to meet Congo's rebel
leader<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20081129143112756C473331>
- Breakthrough in Chad president's son
murder<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20081128135045502C949232>
- Congo rebels expand 'their
territory'<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20081128132107265C877476>
- Thousands flee DRC for
Uganda<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20081128053603839C787105>
Lushebere, DRC - Government soldiers looked on as the Mai-Mai militia
moved off to another battle with Laurent Nkunda's rebels - and standing
beside them, a Rwandan Hutu fighter remarked on the coming clash.
Strange scenes such as this reflect the complexity of the conflict in the
east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Each military force here has its own war to fight, its own interests to
protect. But that does not prevent them forming alliances when it suits
them.
Rebel fighters of Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People
(CNDP) had launched an attack on one of the three factions of the
pro-government Mai-Mai militia.
At least 50 Mai-Mai fighters were moving quickly down the mountainside
headed for the fighting, about seven kilometres away, some wearing makeshift
uniforms, others in civilian dress.
Here, President Joseph Kabila's Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of
Congo (FARDC) and pro-government local militias have made common cause with
Rwandan Hutu rebels.
All are fighting the renegade Tutsi general Nkunda's CNDP, one security
source, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed.
Nkunda's forces have made significant gains against government troops since
fighting resumed towards the end of August in Nord-Kivu province, which
borders Rwanda and Uganda.
They have also clashed with the local pro-government Mai-Mai militia - and
with their longstanding enemies, the Rwandan Hutu rebels of the National
Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
Some FDLR fighters took part in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis and moderate
Hutus in Rwanda, and Nkunda has long accused Kabila's forces of backing
them.
Nkunda's own forces have in turn been accused of receiving aid from the
Rwandan authorities.
The heavy rains have made the road between Goma, the provincial capital of
Nord-Kivu, and the region of Masisi, which takes in Lushebere, impassable.
The mud track crosses zones controlled by government troops, by the CNDP
rebels and by the three factions of the Mai-Mai militias and finally by the
Rwandan rebels of the FDLR.
In the busy centre of Lushebere, small groups of FDLR fighters mingle with
patrols of government troops. All around them are some of the 22 000
civilians here who were forced to flee the fighting in the Masisi region a
year ago.
They are the real losers of the conflict that has blighted the region since
the early 1990s. They have had to pay the highest price for the sporadic
outbreaks of fighting between the rival factions.
Among those civilians is Claude, who helps runs a camp stretched out along
the hillside. With the FDLR, he says, "there is no problem. It's Nkunda's
men who are the problem," he adds. Nearby, an FDLR officer follows the
conversation.
"We collaborate closely with the population," FDLR spokesperson Lieutenant
Colonel Edmond Ngarambe said. "They house us.
"We cohabit with the Mai-Mai and the FARDC (government troops), but it is
not about collaboration," the Rwandan rebel officer stressed. Whenever there
was fighting, each group organised itself, he said.
Nearby, a young FDLR fighter, wearing an army uniform and a necklace of
plastic pearls, was in conversation with a member of the government forces.
But by the kiosks of the local market, voices were raised in a dispute
between two members of rival Mai-Mai militias. One had turned his gun on the
other and was accusing him of having failed to surrender his weapon when he
had defected the other Mai-Mai faction.
A group of civilians looked on unmoved as the dispute got fiercer.
Then from one of the mountains overlooking the town, where the Rwandan Hutus
of the FDLR were fighting Nkunda's Tutsi forces, heavy machine-gun fire
broke out.
"Ah, the music has started again," Major 'Gandhi', one of the FDLR officers,
said laconically. - Sapa-AFP
_______________________________________________
Ugandanet mailing list
[email protected]
http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet
% UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including
attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way.
---------------------------------------
