Congolese conundrum
The Congolese peace accord rested on assumptions that are now being questioned because of the eruption of factional fighting in northeastern Congo, writes Gamal Nkrumah
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Congolese refugees fleeing fighting in the northeastern Congo town of Bunia arrive in boats in southwest Uganda. At least 56 people have been killed since the latest fighting erupted last Wednesday in Bunia
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Fighting intensified between rival factions and militias representing different ethnic groups in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last week. The fighting ensued amid reports of the massacre of more than 1,000 Congolese civilians in the Ituri region of the northeast. Human rights groups and humanitarian relief agencies have raised the alarm, but the sinister spectre of ethnic cleansing and war-induced famine stalks the land. The French are considering sending troops to Congo to stop the fighting.
Militiamen from two armed opposition Congolese groups, the Union of Congolese Patriots and the Party for Unity and Safeguard of the Integrity of Congo -- better known by their French acronyms UPC and PUSIC respectively -- descended on the provincial market town of Bunia in northeastern Congo less than two weeks after the withdrawal of some 6,000 Ugandan troops from the strategic Congolese town. The two heavily-armed militias, UPC and PUSIC, comprising mainly the Hema people, are opposed to Ugandan intervention in northeastern Congo and complain that the Ugandans were aligned to their ethnic rivals, the Lendu people.
The Ugandans are in Congo under the pretext of defending Ugandan borders, and making sure that the Congolese civil war does not spill over into Uganda. Upon their departure, the Ugandans left Bunia in the hands of tribal Lendu militias and a tiny contingent of United Nations troops. Human rights groups have stepped up complaints that the UN is not doing enough in Congo to stop the vicious fighting and campaigns of ethnic cleansing.
Thousands of Congolese civilians have fled their homes and the security situation is fast deteriorating. Widespread looting and destruction of both private and public property has led to a humanitarian disaster as clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed and medical and food supplies running out.
Ethnic fighting between the Hema and the Lendu people in northeastern DRC has been going on since 1999. The conflict over grazing rights between the Hema, mainly pastoralists, and the Lendu, settled cultivators, has claimed tens of thousands of lives and resulted in the displacement of an estimated 500,000 people. Human Rights Watch warned that, "with an agenda of apparent ethnic purification, the people of one group have massacred people of the other, yielding a spiral of deadly reprisal attacks."
The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila signed a peace accord with the main Congolese armed opposition groups to end the Congolese civil war. But the current spate of fighting threatens to ruin chances for lasting peace in the Congo. Kabila dispatched Congolese Human Rights Minister Katu Luaba to assess the situation, but the armed militias captured Luaba instead and are holding him hostage.
Human Rights Watch issued a strongly- worded statement urging the United Nations Observer Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (known by its French acronym MONUC) to, "urgently protect civilians threatened by renewed violence in the war-torn region".
The warring groups in northeastern Congo had agreed in principle to the Ituri Pacification Commission, a spin-off of the Congolese peace accords. The fighting not only threatens to derail the Congolese peace process, but also to drag neighbouring countries into the fighting. Troops from seven neighbouring African countries were involved at different stages of fighting in the Congolese civil war. In the recent spate of bloodletting, Rwanda threatened to re-deploy its troops in Congo if Ugandan forces remain in the country.
South African President Thabo Mbeki urged UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to redouble efforts to stop the dangerous slide into chaos in northeastern Congo. Annan for his part expressed "deep alarm" at the rapidly deteriorating situation. "My heart goes out to the innocent civilians who once again find themselves at the mercy of unruly militia." But human rights groups protest that the UN is not doing enough. "Actions speak louder than words. There are not enough UN peacekeeping troops on the ground and resources are insufficient to meet the people's security and humanitarian needs," an official of Amnesty International who spoke on condition of anonymity told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Amnesty International is also critical of the Ugandan authorities. "There must be no hiding place for those who are alleged to have committed serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Ituri or elsewhere in the DRC," the official stressed. "Suspected perpetrators, of whatever nationality, found on Ugandan territory or in areas of the DRC under Ugandan control should be investigated and brought to justice".
Amid mounting international criticism of the ineptitude of the UN and its affiliate agencies, Annan called on the international community to make every effort to "quickly address this dire situation", calling on the Ugandan government to "use its influence over the militia forces in Ituri to maintain calm".
The five-year Congolese conflict has so far claimed the lives of an estimated 2.5 million people and rendered millions more homeless. This week, the UN Security Council debated sending more peace-keepers to help contain ethnic violence in northeast Congo. Security Council members are undecided whether to reinforce the existing UN contingency or sanction the deployment of a more vigorous foreign force. Beefing up security in the area has emerged as a top priority.
The Rwandan-supported Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) and the Ugandan- backed Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), the two main Congolese opposition groups, have signed the peace accord. Neither Congolese President Kabila nor Jean-Pierre Bemba, leader of the MLC, personally signed the peace accord. The accord, however, includes a new Congolese constitution and a power-sharing arrangement -- a transitory government of national unity set up for a two-year period specifically to oversee the first democratic elections in Congo since independence from Belgium in 1960. Leaders of certain factions are concerned about the security situation in the Congolese capital Kinshasa. And it is still not clear precisely how fighters of rival militias and armed factions will be incorporated into a new national army or who will head the army.
The MLC currently holds sway in the northern third of Congo leaving the RCD to control the eastern and central parts of the country. But divisions are rife within the Congolese opposition forces. Over the years, the RCD has split into rival, sometimes warring groups. The RCD-ML (Liberation Movement) group of Mbusa Nyamisi and the RCD-National group of Roger Lumbala split from the mainstream Rwandan-backed RCD. Eastern Congo is currently riveted by bitter fighting between the Rwandan-backed RCD and the Banyamulenge militia of Patrick Masunzu.
The Congolese government controls western and southern parts of the sprawling country the size of Western Europe, including much of the mineral-rich southern province of Katanga.
Under the Congolese peace accord, Kabila keeps the presidency while the armed opposition and the civilian opposition get separate vice-presidential posts in the two-year transitional authority.
The countries of southern, central and eastern Africa are yearning for peace and stability in Congo and, led by South Africa, want a speedy end to the Congolese political impasse. South Africa, in particular, has been instrumental in bringing the warring Congolese factions to the negotiation table. At the signing ceremony the South African president urged the Congolese signatories to compromise and work for peace together. "You know that the implementation of the historic agreements you have entered into will not be easy," cautioned Mbeki, who witnessed the signing ceremony along with the leaders of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. "To overcome [problems] you will require a single-minded determination," Mbeki added.
