Chris McGreal in Kinshasa, Congo
A GROWING tide of resentment against the conspicuous presence of Rwandans in President Laurent Kabila’s victorious army this week transformed a political protest into a demonstration against foreign intervention.
Alliance of Democratic Forces troops broke up the protest – called against Kabila’s failure to include a leading anti-Mobutu politician in his new government – after it degenerated into a denunciation of Rwandans.
The army initially permitted Wednesday’s march of several hundred people, mostly students, despite a ban on demonstrations and political activity. But as the crowd wound through Kinshasa’s streets, troops blocked its path and fired into the air. Soldiers beat protesters and detained several dozen. The army confiscated film of the demonstration from television crews and photographers.
The relatively low turnout for the march, on the heels of a failed general strike earlier in the week, further damaged the claim by the veteran opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, to be the true voice of the people and Congo’s legitimate prime minister.
But while support for Tshisekedi is clearly waning, opposition to the alliance might yet galvanise around him if anti-Rwandan sentiment continues to grow or if measures such as the ban on political activity are seen as an effort to curb criticism of the new regime.
The alliance claims that while traditional political activity is suspended, it is encouraging an alternative channel through the formation of committees across Kinshasa to liaise between ordinary people and the government.
Hundreds have sprung up. Some are organised by old-style politicians in the hope of perpetuating their influence. Others are led by men such as Okitaloma Pena-Ngongo, a public service union official imprisoned by Mobutu Sese Seko for daring to demand workers be paid after months without their salaries. Okitaloma’s committee covers a few blocks around Rue de la Plaine in the poorer district of Masina.
The committees may yet prove an attempt by the alliance to stifle dissent. But Okitaloma sees them more along the lines of traditional African structures, and he and his neighbours are intent on being heard.
Residents of Rue de la Plaine say they back Kabila, but it is not a blanket support for the new government’s actions. Top of the list of concerns is the evidently large numbers of Tutsis who played a crucial role in leading the alliance’s war. Kinshasans take them all to be Rwandans, even though some are from the former Zaire. Congo’s new foreign minister is also a Tutsi.
“We are not Rwandan, we are Congolese. It’s not good for them to stay. It’s a kind of recolonisation,” Okitaloma said. “If Rwanda helped to liberate us, they should send us the bill. We’ll pay it, and they can go home. If there is a contract between Kabila and Rwanda then they should tell people what’s in it.”
An alliance organiser, Bossassi-Epole Bolya Kodya, dismissed concerns about Rwandan involvement as misplaced. “People make a lot of noise about this for nothing. The majority of soldiers who look Tutsi are Zairean, I mean Congolese, and sometimes there are Rwandan Tutsis just here to give technical help,” he said.
Still, many people are not convinced. Suspicion of foreign forces is fuelled by Kabila’s failure to make any significant public appearances or a television address since the alliance seized Kinshasa a fortnight ago. “Maybe he’s a kind of hostage. We want him to listen to people. That’s why it’s important for Kabila to come out and talk. We wish he would,” Okitaloma said.
In Rue de la Plaine, opinion is divided over Tshisekedi’s demand to become prime minister and Kabila’s decision to exclude him from the government, a move supported by Nelson Mandela because of the opposition leader’s failure to throw his weight behind the alliance’s campaign.
Neither is there a shortage of sympathy for Tshisekedi’s call for strikes and demonstrations. But among other members of the Rue de la Plaine committee, there is concern at the ban on political activity and the two-year wait for elections.
“Tshisekedi is wrong to cause problems,” said Hector Ngabado. “Now we need stability so we can revive the economy and people can have jobs. But we shouldn’t wait two years for elections. Mobutu promised us many, many things and after some time he let us down. I would like Kabila to bring in all political parties.”
Political dissent is far from banned. Tshisekedi-supporting newspapers continue vigorously to denounce Kabila and Rwandan Tutsis in openly racist terms, so far without interference.
But Congo’s Information Minister Raphael Ghenda suggested the government will take a hard line. “Some people take pleasure from trying to discredit our movement … It’s a political swindle,” he said. “This campaign is being led by foreigners who have nothing in common with the people’s aspirations.”
The capital’s residents are also growing weary of the behaviour of some alliance soldiers. While on the whole they do not strike the terror of Mobutu’s troops, some are accused of drunkenness and looting.
Others from rural areas who have never seen anything like cosmopolitan Kinshasa have taken it upon themselves to enforce a dress code which bans women from wearing miniskirts and tight leggings. The shootings of several street prostitutes have been blamed on Kabila’s forces.
“They come into houses and ask for money, and there is a problem with drinking. They take beer and they don’t pay. But we are not against them. They liberated us,” Okitaloma said.
In response to criticism, Kabila has ordered troops to stay off the streets unless ordered to be there.