[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Congo (Kinshasa): Peacekeeping Steps

[Alfred Kagan]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: africafocus at igc.org
> Date: April 4, 2005 8:15:59 AM CDT
> To: akagan at uiuc.edu
> Subject: Congo (Kinshasa): Peacekeeping Steps
>
>
> Congo (Kinshasa): Peacekeeping Steps
>
> AfricaFocus Bulletin
> Apr 4, 2005 (050404)
> (Reposted from sources cited below)
>
> Editor's Note
>
> As the United Nations Security Council last week approved another
> six-month extension for the peacekeeping force in the Democratic
> Republic of Congo, Rwandan rebels in eastern Congo linked to the
> 1994 genocide declared their willingness to disarm and enter a UN
> plan for repatriation. And militia in Ituri district in
> northeastern Congo continued to enter UN camps for demobilization,
> while the commander of the UN force in the Congo said that those
> who did not disarm voluntarily would be disarmed by force.
>
> These small steps forward in the long-delayed implementation of the
> transition to peace in Congo (Kinshasa) may indicate new prospects
> of success for MONUC, the largest current UN peacekeeping
> operation, numbering more than 16,000 troops. But the pervasive
> insecurity in eastern Congo is still linked to resolution of
> political rivalries within the transitional government in Kinshasa,
> says a new report from the International Crisis Group (ICG). The
> international community needs to be far more proactive in pushing
> to press through the impasse, the report concludes,
>
> This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains two brief news reports on the
> latest development from the UN's Integrated Regional Information
> Networks (IRIN), and the press release and executive summary of the
> new ICG report.
>
> For the full ICG report, visit http://www.crisisgroup.org
>
> The official site of MONUC, http://www.monuc.org, has extensive
> background and current information, in English and French,
> including links to the broadcasts of Radio Okapi, the UN-sponsored
> radio operating through eight regional stations in the Congo.
>
> Additional background and regularly updated news from AllAfrica.com
> and IRIN are available on the AfricaFocus website at:
> http://www.africafocus.org/country/congokin.php
> http://www.africafocus.org/country/congokin_news.php
> http://www.africafocus.org/country/congokin_irin.php
>
> For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on peacekeeping issues, see
> http://www.africafocus.org/peaceexp.php
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
> Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
> http://www.irinnews.org
>
> [This material from IRIN may not necessarily reflect the views of
> the United Nations or its agencies.]
>
> DRC-RWANDA: Rebel group ready to disarm
>
> Nairobi, 31 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - Leaders of a Rwandan armed group
> operating from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced
> on Thursday their intention to end attacks against their homeland,
> according to the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC.
>
> Moreover, the leaders of the Forces démocratique de libération de
> Rwanda (FDLR) indicated a willingness to enter a UN programme of
> disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, reinstallation and
> rehabilitation (DDRRR).
>
> "In the light of this declaration by the FDLR, MONUC is ready to
> work out a timetable and details for undertaking the repatriation,"
> MONUC said in a statement.
>
> In response to the FDLR's announcement, William Swing, the head of
> MONUC, said in the statement that the decision created new
> prospects for a rapid and final resolution to the presence of armed
> Rwandans in the DRC.
>
> Swing, who is also the Special Representative of the UN
> Secretary-General in the DRC, was quoted as saying the move by the
> FDLR might clear the way for the rapid reestablishment of normal
> diplomatic ties between Rwanda and the DRC.
>
> FDLR fighters could assemble temporarily in the east of the country
> - at Hombo, Sake, Lubero, Walungu, Sange and Kanyabayonga - prior
> to their repatriation, according to MONUC.
>
> On arrival at these sites, MONUC would register the combatants and
> their close relatives before transporting them under UN escort to
> the border with Rwanda. There, the Rwandan authorities would assume
> responsibility for the returnees under their own national programme
> of demobilisation and reintegration, MONUC said.
>
> MONUC has promised to record and destroy all weapons handed in by
> the Rwandan fighters. Previously, FDLR leaders have been accused of
> blocking attempts by some ex-fighters to enter the DDRRR process
> and return home.
>
> Improved relations between Rwanda and the DRC would offer the
> possibility of a "significant opening of humanitarian access" in
> the zones in which the Rwandan ex-combatants are located, MONUC
> said.
>
> Moreover, it said, their repatriation would improve the climate for
> general elections due in the DRC later this year.
>
> ******************************************
>
> DRC: Uncooperative fighters will be hunted down, MONUC says
>
> Bunia, 1 Apr 2005 (IRIN) - Militiamen in Congo's Ituri District who
> failed to comply with a UN ultimatum to disarm will be hunted down,
> Gen Jean-Francois Collot d'Escury, chief of staff of the UN Mission
> in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), has said.
>
> "If you do not surrender your arms by 1 April you will be treated
> like armed bandits and war criminals and we will chase you," Collot
> d'Escury said on Wednesday.
>
> The warning, issued during a news conference, was aimed at
> thousands of militiamen still roaming in Ituri District in the
> northeastern province of Orientale. Should the militias resist
> disarmament, UN troops would seek and destroy militia camps, the
> MONUC spokeswoman for Bunia, Rachel Eklou, told IRIN.
>
> At the end of February, the UN ordered militiamen to enter a
> programme, which started in September 2004, to disarm and either
> enter civilian life, or join the new Congolese army.
>
> MONUC estimates there are some 15,000 militiamen still roaming
> around Ituri. Half of them are children thought to be associated
> with armed groups, but not necessarily combatants.
>
> The armed groups still active in Ituri are the Union des patriotes
> Congolais-Lunbanga wing (UPC-L), the UPC-Kisembo wing, the Forces
> armees du peuple Congolais of Jerome Kakwavu, the Front des
> nationalistes et integrationnistes of Floribert Ndjabu Ngabu, the
> Forces de resistance patriotiques en Ituri, the Parti pour l'unite
> et sauvegarde de l'integrite du Congo and the Forces populaires
> pour la democratie au Congo.
>
> So far, about 6,300 militiamen have been disarmed. The National
> Commission for Disarmament, or CONADER, has confiscated almost 400
> rounds of 81 mm shells, 380 landmines, 70 grenades and several
> thousand rounds of ammunition.
>
> Weary of what may immediately follow the expiration of the UN
> disarmament deadline, humanitarian aid agencies have decided to
> scale back their activities for one week.
>
> "One week of observation is a typical precautionary measure,"
> Modibo Traore, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of
> Humanitarian Affairs, told IRIN. "After the MONUC deadline, lots of
> movement and disorder may arise during the search for bandits and
> criminals. The displacement of the population may aggravate the
> situation."
>
> Anticipating this possibility, the humanitarian community increased
> in March its food aid to areas heavily populated by internally
> displaced persons. This measure was taken to help cover for the
> observation period, Traore said.
>
> However, MONUC said it would not slam the door shut on those
> militiamen still willing to disarm, even after the deadline.
>
> "The doors will remain open until mid-April," Collot d'Escury said.
>
> He acknowledged that the different transit sites set up to process
> militiamen did not have the capacity to handle the hundreds of
> combatants showing up daily, which was not really expected.
>
> In addition, militia leaders told IRIN they failed to see how their
> fighters could be integrated either into the army or civilian life
> in such a short time if the measure could not be implemented in the
> past.
>
> "In ten months the UPC has not integrated into the army. How can
> they integrate in 15 days?" Remy Banyina, a member of the Hema UPC
> leadership, said.
>
> A leading member of the Lendu FNI militia, alias Commandant Unega,
> is wanted by MONUC and did not want to disclose his real name. He
> said MONUC and the transitional government should be more lenient
> on the disarmament deadline.
>
> "In the Bunia area we surrendered all our arms, but we also have to
> address our combatants who are farther away and have still not
> disarmed. We need more time from MONUC," he said.
>
> However, MONUC said the militias had been given enough time to
> disarm. On 16 May 2003, the militias signed an agreement in Dar es
> Salaam, Tanzania to end hostilities and confine their fighters to
> bases. A consultative committee of armed groups, headed by MONUC,
> was also established to monitor compliance with the accord.
>
> Ituri's inhabitants are anxiously awaiting the disarmament of all
> militia. One Hema trader in Buina's main market, Sophie Furaha,
> recalled how Hema militia raped her sister.
>
> "During the day they walk around like saints, but at night they
> emerge as killers," she said. "They raped my sister in front of me
> and my parents - yet they belonged to us. We have suffered too much
> from these uncontrolled, undisciplined and drugged militias."
>
> Other Ituri residents fear that the situation would not improve
> even if the militias are disarmed.
>
> "I have no confidence in the Congolese army. They have not behaved
> well in Ituri in the past," a 17-year-old girl, requesting
> anonymity, told IRIN.
>
> There are Ituri residents, like Cecile Nyamundu, 70, who believe
> the militias will only surrender some of their guns.
>
> "If they have five weapons, they will surrender one. With the rest,
> they will make trouble," she said.
>
> There are already indications that some of the militias have turned
> to banditry. On 24 March, armed men attacked a vehicle belonging to
> the NGO Solidarity International on the road to Gina, 50 km north
> of Bunia, in an area under UPC control. OCHA said the attackers
> then stole the vehicle. The driver was wounded and an expatriate
> aid worker maltreated.
>
> Last week a bus with 80 passengers travelling to Beni in North Kivu
> was ambushed in Kombokabo about 30 km southwest of Bunia. One
> passenger was seriously wounded, but the bus was able to speed off.
>
> Ituri District Commissioner Patronille Vaweka said the situation
> was unlikely to improve immediately.
>
> "One has to realise that what has been destroyed in a single day
> can take years to rebuild," she said.
>
> *********************************************************
>
> The Congo's Transition Is Failing: Crisis in the Kivus
>
> International Crisis Group (Brussels)
> http://www.crisisgroup.org
>
> Press Release
>
> March 30, 2005 Nairobi/Brussels
>
> As the UN Security Council debates this week the terms of renewing
> the mandate of its peacekeeping force in the Congo, decisive action
> is needed to prevent a return to full-scale combat in that ravaged
> country and the destabilisation of much of Central Africa.
>
> The Congo's Transition Is Failing: Crisis in the Kivus. the latest
> report from the International Crisis Group, examines the political
> stalemate in Kinshasa and new military tensions in the Kivus
> region, where 1,000 people are dying every day in the ongoing
> political and humanitarian tragedy. The international community,
> which funds the political transition, needs to rein in spoilers,
> both inside the transition and outside it, and do a better job of
> training the new Congolese army. Also, the UN peacekeeping mission
> (MONUC) needs to get tougher with the Rwandan insurgents, the FDLR.
>
> "Neither MONUC nor the wider international community has shown the
> necessary will to address the Congo's crises", says Suliman Baldo,
> Director of Crisis Group's Africa Program. "But donors finance over
> half the transitional government's budget, so they have clear
> leverage to take serious action against those who work against
> unification of the army and administration".
>
> As it approaches the end of its second year, the transition risks
> breaking apart over the unreconciled ambitions of the former civil
> war belligerents. There is insufficient interest in making the
> peace process work in Kinshasa, where few leaders are interested in
> free and fair elections, now scheduled for June 2005 though almost
> certain to be delayed.
>
> The transitional government has moved some aspects of the power
> struggle from the battlefield to Kinshasa back rooms, but former
> belligerents still compete for resources and power through parallel
> chains of army and government commands. Many stand to lose power in
> the elections and are set on prolonging or disrupting the
> transition. Recent fighting in North Kivu, which displaced over
> 100,000 people and killed thousands, was potent evidence that
> actors in Kinshasa still use violence to further their aims.
>
> Appropriate solutions must address the political problems in the
> capital as well as the local conflicts in the Kivus, the eastern
> provinces where the wars of the 1990s began. In Kinshasa this means
> living up to the promise of the Sun City Agreement that brought the
> transition into existence: former belligerents must complete their
> military integration.
>
> MONUC needs more troops, but the bigger problem is how it uses the
> resources it does have -- its willingness to use force as necessary
> to prevent worse violence. And after MONUC's sexual abuse scandal,
> the international community must urgently help it restore its
> credibility among Congolese.
>
> "The most difficult task is to force progress from actors who have
> an interest in the status quo", says Baldo. "The international
> community must draw on the support of the 60 million Congolese
> exhausted from war and demanding the transition live up to its
> promises, to help it get a grip on the spoilers".
>
> *************************************************************
>
> Executive Summary
>
> As it approaches the end of its second year, the Congo's transition
> risks breaking apart on the unreconciled ambitions of the former
> civil war belligerents. Inability to resolve political differences
> in Kinshasa have been mirrored by new military tensions that the
> parties, as well as Rwanda, have stirred up in the Kivus, the
> birthplace of both wars that ravaged the country in the past
> decade. June 2005 national elections are imperilled, and 1,000 are
> dying daily in the ongoing political and humanitarian crisis. To
> reverse these ominous trends, the international community needs to
> use the leverage its aid gives it to rein in the spoilers in
> Kinshasa, and it needs to do a better, quicker job of training the
> new Congolese army. And the UN Mission (MONUC) needs to get tougher
> in dealing with the Rwandan insurgents, the FDLR, who provide
> Kigali with a justification for dangerous meddling.
>
> Beginning in February 2004, dissidents from the former rebel
> movement Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie-Goma (RCD-G)
> sparked clashes in the Kivu provinces of the eastern Congo. These
> were the result of disagreement within the transitional government
> over power-sharing in the army and the administration but the
> conflict was exacerbated by the interference of Rwanda, which sent
> troops across the border in November 2004, claiming to pursue the
> Hutu extremist FDLR. The resulting fighting displaced over 100,000
> civilians and pushed the transition to the brink of collapse.
>
> The fighting in the east is closely linked to the political impasse
> in the capital. The defining characteristic of the transitional
> government has been its weakness and the opportunism of its key
> members, who have little appetite for the approaching elections.
> None of the signatories of the Sun City Agreement, which ushered in
> the transition in 2003, has strong control of either its military
> or political wing.
>
> Parallel chains of command persist in the army as well as in the
> administration as the former belligerents compete for resources and
> power. All still use taxation schemes and mining deals to enrich
> themselves. Many stand to lose power in the elections, and they are
> set on prolonging or disrupting the transition. This political
> weakness at the centre has allowed military conflicts to fester on
> the periphery.
>
> The crisis in the east, which is again centred on tensions between
> the Congolese Hutu and Tutsi and other communities, has been
> manipulated by the Kinshasa contestants and Rwanda in pursuit of
> their own interests. The dissidents are hard-line Hutu and Tutsi
> from the RCD-G who feel their interests are not served in the
> transitional government. They have created a new "rwandophone"
> identity in order to fuse Congolese Hutu and Tutsi together, while
> President Kabila's party has roused anti-Rwandan sentiment. This
> manipulation of identity has raised the spectre of communal
> violence in a region where such feuds killed over 3,000 civilians
> in 1993.
>
> The dissidents have some 8,000 to 12,000 troops around the city of
> Goma in North Kivu, faced by an equal number of Kinshasa troops.
> While hardliners on both sides want a military solution, neither
> has the strength to achieve it. The conflict can only be ended by
> bringing the moderate leadership of the dissidents back into the
> transitional institutions, while arresting or marginalising the
> others. This, in turn, will only be possible if the Kinshasa
> power-sharing issues are resolved.
>
> Any peace initiative in the east must address the presence of the
> 8,000-10,000 Hutu rebels of the Forces Démocratiques pour la
> Libération du Rwanda (FDLR). They have been severely weakened and
> are no longer a strategic threat to Kigali but they are still able
> to conduct raids into Rwanda, and are a serious threat to civilians
> in the Congo, where they constitute a liability for the transition.
> The new Congolese army has ultimate responsibility for dealing with
> the FDLR but the army will remain weak and disorganised for the
> foreseeable future. The international community needs to launch an
> International Military Assistance and Training Team (IMATT) to
> support it. Efforts underway by South Africa, Belgium and Angola
> are a promising first step but more coordination and
> standardisation, as well as funding, are required.
>
> Neither MONUC nor the wider international community has shown the
> ability or the will to address the Congo's crises. While donors
> finance over half the budget, they have been unable or unwilling to
> take serious action against the spoilers in the transitional
> government, who work against unification of the army and
> administration. Some members of the government have been suspended
> for corruption but none has faced criminal charges. Indeed, the
> government has rewarded criminality by naming accused war criminals
> from Ituri to senior army posts.
>
> Similarly, MONUC has not lived up to much of its mandate. While it
> has the clear tasks of protecting civilians, monitoring the arms
> embargo, and supporting the new army against the FDLR, it has yet
> to devise a coherent strategy for any of these. Especially in the
> wake of the scandal involving sexual abuse by MONUC, there is
> urgent need for the international community to help it take urgent
> steps to restore its credibility among the Congolese. MONUC does
> not have enough troops, but the bigger problem is how it uses the
> resources it does have.
>
> *************************************************************
> AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
> providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
> a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
> Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
>
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> ************************************************************
>
>


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801

tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan at uiuc.edu
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