AGENCY
Kinshasa, Feb 27
The beheading of the 70 Christians by Islamist militants in the Democratic Republic of Congo momentarily caught the world’s attention because of the brutality of the act. But the never-ending conflicts and civil wars continue in Africa without the world paying more than a cursory glance. The international community, preoccupied with the Ukraine war and Israel’s war on Gaza, has no appetite to involve itself in these endless conflicts.
The fighting in DRC has nothing to do with Islamist militancy. Both Rwanda and the DRC are primarily Christian states. The Muslim population in both countries are minimal. With the breakdown of central authority, armed groups operating in the region are taking the opportunity to do as they will. The conflict in Congo, as in so many countries in Africa, is a complex mix of ethnic tension and tribal rivalries. The fact that people of particular ethnic groups have been divided by political boundaries drawn by their former European masters has been a problem in both Asia and Africa. Add to this the problem of exploiting the vast reserves of minerals, including gold, cobalt, copper, tin and lithium, that armed groups as well as neighbouring countries want to get their hands on, and there is a lethal mix. Much of the problem in the region is a fall out of the Rwanda massacre of 1994, where the Hutus killed thousands of Tutsis.
At the moment the situation in the eastern region of DRC is grim. Rwanda has been supporting several armed groups across the border that are working against the Congolese. This includes the latest armed group, the M23, made up of Tutsis who say they want to protect their fellow kinsmen known as the Banyamulenge, long marginalised by the DRC.
The situation had gotten worse since January and the Congolese army is on the backfoot. So far 7,000 people have been killed in the fighting. According to the UN, the rebels are supported by 4,000 soldiers from Rwanda. The M23 has occupied large swathes of territory in eastern DRC, including key cities like Goma in North Kivu and Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province. According to DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa, about 3,000 deaths were reported in Goma. She said that more than 2,500 bodies were buried without being identified while another 1,500 were still in morgues. “There is a significant mass of civilians who are part of these dead,” Suminwa said. More than 500,000 people were forced to flee their homes.
Widespread human rights violations are also reported including summary execution and rape by the victors. The UN relief coordination office reports that aid workers have been among those killed. Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said, “In Lubero Territory, north of Goma, clashes last week forced more than 100,000 people – about half of them children – to flee their homes.” The UN Security Council passed a unanimous resolution calling on the Rwandan Forces to stop supporting the M23 and withdraw from Congolese territory immediately.
The Council demanded that the M23 immediately cease hostilities, withdraw from all areas that it controls, “and fully reverse the establishment of illegitimate parallel administrations in the DRC territory.” The UNSC urgently appealed for all parties to quickly declare an unconditional ceasefire. They said “all parties must return without preconditions to diplomatic talks as a matter of urgency to achieve a lasting and peaceful resolution of the protracted conflict in the region.”
The DRC has strongly urged the Security Council to take punitive measures against the M23 and Rwanda and expressed frustration over the Council’s inaction in the wake of the rebel group’s military advances in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. On February 20, the US slapped sanctions against James Kabarebe, a Rwandan minister, as well as on senior leader and spokesman of M23 group. Rwanda has predictably denounced the sanctions as “unjustified and unfounded”, arguing that sanctions would not solve the conflict in eastern DRC.
DRC has been wracked by conflict since the last 30 years, ever since the Rwanda genocide of 1994. The aftermath of the Rwanda killings continue to fester. Around 800,000 people mainly from the Tutsi tribal group were slaughtered at that time by the Hutus, a rival ethnic group in Rwanda. The genocide ended when Paul Kagame’s Tutsi forces took control of the country. Now, he is the president.
With the Tutsi takeover, around a million Hutus crossed the border to the DRC. The Banyamulenge tribes living in the eastern areas of the DRC are affiliated to the Tutsi. The Hutu entry in such large numbers from Rwanda predictably led to security concerns for this group. The Banyamulenge people have been settled in the region since the 16th century, but were never accepted by the majority of the Congolese. The Banyamulenge are settled around the South Kivu province in Eastern DRC. Unlike the native Congolese, who eke out a living through agriculture, the Banyamulenge are mainly cattle keepers. Political parties in the DRC as well as several tribal groups regard them as “foreigners” while the agriculturists are seen as genuine citizens. They have been targeted by both the DRC security forces as well as local militia from time to time.
When the Hutus entered DRC and settled in the eastern region, from time to time Rwanda sent its army in hot pursuit of those responsible for genocide. The Rwandan army got support from local Banyamulenge population. Rwanda accuses the Congolese government of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a group that wants to wrest the country back from the Tutsi leader Paul Kagame. Rwanda dubs the FDLR as a “genocidal militia’’ and accused the DRC government of actively backing them.
