This week a United Nations aid convoy reached the rebel-held city of Rutshuru, bringing much-needed food and medical supplies to the tens of thousands of displaced people in the town.
But aid agencies operating in North Kivu indicate that the humanitarian situation remains dire and that insecurity continues to prevent them from providing assistance to the vast majority of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled the latest round of fighting in this chronically volatile part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The province of North Kivu has been the scene of violent clashes between at least five different armed groups for the past four years and many people have been repeatedly displaced from their homes. Since fighting between dissident General Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese army surged again in August, about 250 000 people have been displaced, 50 000 of them in the past 10 days.
Many of the displaced have fled towards Goma, the provincial capital, which is now under siege by Nkunda’s forces, and aid agencies have been overwhelmed by the numbers. Tens of thousands of others are scattered in the bush, left to fend for themselves in areas where humanitarian aid cannot reach. There they remain extremely vulnerable to attacks from rival armed groups which prey on the civilian population.
Although this is the first time in two years that Nkunda has come this close to Goma, the scene is all too familiar. Desperate IDPs, overwhelmed aid agencies, an inadequate number of UN peacekeepers, hurried visits by senior diplomats from the West and renewed calls for talks – it has all happened so many times before and yet the situation continues to worsen (see box for background).
For the moment Nkunda maintains the upper hand. He declared a unilateral ceasefire last week, which halted his forces’ march on Goma and which remains in place. The situation in Goma, although tense, has calmed somewhat, but his troops remain less than 20km outside the town.
Meanwhile, the flurry of diplomatic activity has led to little tangible progress; the European Union is still divided over whether to send an EU force to Goma. This would undoubtedly be the most sensible thing to do, but EU diplomats contend that the solution to the crisis must be a negotiated, not a military, one. There is no question that the issues between Nkunda and the Congolese government must be negotiated, but this will inevitably take time.
An EU force could deploy within two weeks, neutralise the military situation and provide the security that would allow much-needed humanitarian assistance to resume. Such a deployment would also level the playing field ahead of negotiations. Although the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) has requested reinforcements, analysts say that an EU intervention will be significantly more militarily robust. There is also some precedent: in 2003 the EU deployed French-led forces to Ituri to halt fighting in the city of Bunia and in 2006 EU troops were deployed alongside Monuc troops in the capital, Kinshasa.
International attention has also been turned to neighbouring Rwanda, which, although it steadfastly denies that it supports Nkunda, nonetheless plays a key role in security matters in the region.
This week Monuc said that its peacekeeping troops had witnessed Rwandan forces firing heavy artillery and tank shells across the border into the DRC. A Monuc military official also said that it possessed intelligence reports that ”indicate that there are soldiers from that country [Rwanda] integrated in the rebel forces”.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, both of whom have travelled to the DRC in the past week, also stopped off in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, to hold talks with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
But two days after their visit the Rwandan government issued a statement saying that ”the prevailing assumption that the crisis is a matter between Rwanda and the DRC is wrong, contrary to what some in the international community continue to say”.
Kagame subsequently accused the international community of attempting to shift responsibility for the insecurity in the eastern DRC: ”For me it’s a way of running away from the problem. I am not the leader of the Congo. How can I be of influence?”
Nonetheless, both Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila have agreed to attend a regional summit, which is scheduled to be held in Nairobi at the end of this week. But back in the DRC the situation remains stalemated: the Congolese government has rejected Nkunda’s demand for direct talks, saying that it will engage in talks only with rebel and militia groups fighting in eastern DRC.
Nkunda’s spokesperson, Bertrand Bisimwa, responded: ”Apart from dialogue, all that remains is war.”
Four years on and going strong
Nkunda has been fighting his war since 2004. After a period of relative calm during the 2006 national elections, he stepped up his campaign again in late 2006. This prompted an ill-fated peace agreement between the Congolese army and Nkunda’s forces in early 2007, according to which Nkunda’s forces were to be integrated into the Congolese army. The agreement collapsed into overt fighting between the two groups six months later when it became clear that Nkunda’s troops had no intention of adhering to a central military command. By this time the agreement allowed Nkunda’s forces to receive equipment, uniforms and salaries and to extend their territorial control.
In late 2007 the fighting escalated, prompting the international community to intervene. The result was a peace conference that culminated in the adoption of Programme Amani, a key aim of which was the disarmament of all the armed groups in the region. Amani has made little progress and has since been repudiated by Nkunda.
Who is Nkunda?
Nkunda, a former commander in the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) and an ethnic Congolese Tutsi, claims to be fighting for the rights and protection of his community. He is believed now to command up to 10 000 troops, many of which hail from his ethnic background.
What is Rwanda’s role?
Rwanda denies that it supports Nkunda in any way, but it is known that Nkunda regularly travels across the Congolese border into Rwanda, recruiting some of his troops in the Congolese refugee camps on Rwandan territory. Although the West and the United Nations Mission in the DRC (Monuc) have been loath to speak publicly of Rwanda’s role in the insecurity in eastern DRC, this is beginning to change. It is an unspoken secret that without Rwandan backing Nkunda would not enjoy the military strength he does.
Tense relations between Rwanda and the DRC
Insecurity in the region lies at the heart of the tensions between the two countries. In November last year Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Congolese President Joseph Kabila signed a new security agreement, which stipulates that Rwanda may not provide support to Congolese rebels and that the DRC government must disarm the Rwandan Hutu militia responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which continues to operate in eastern DRC. As with previous accords on the same issues, there has been little actual progress.
The Congolese army’s failure to forcibly disarm the Rwandan Hutu militia – now known as the Forces Democratiques pour la liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) – is another key point of friction between Nkunda and the Congolese government, which used the FDLR as fighting forces during the 1998 to 2003 war. Although the Congolese government officially cut all ties with the FDLR in 2002 there are indications that links remain and that FDLR forces still sometimes fight alongside the Congolese army.
Even if they do not, the FDLR’s presence in eastern DRC will always dog relations between Rwanda and the DRC, with Rwanda arguing that the FDLR represents a threat to Rwandan security. Both sides have to have the political will and good faith to address fundamental issues: DRC will have to cut any ties to the FDLR and Rwanda will have to halt its support to anti-government rebels. – Stephanie Wolters