The DRC: Rwandan troops in eastern Congo

An estimated 5.4 million people have died since 1998 in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite the technical end of war in 2003, rape, torture, fighting and killing continue in the eastern regions of the country today. Recent reports of Rwandan troops in Eastern Congo suggest impending political or military changes that will like result in increased civilian casualties.

Bordering nine countries and possessing a disastrous history of imperial rule, the DR Congo has long suffered at the hands of not just its own government but also at those of neighboring countries and distant powers as well. The Congolese state was first established in the late 1800s by King Leopold II of Belgium, who killed an estimated four million Congolese while plundering the country for ivory and rubber. After a rushed independence and the assassination of Congo’s Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Mobutu came to power via a Western- backed coup. Mobutu reigned for 30 years, draining the Congo of any hope for wealth, development, or stability. In 1996, Laurent Kabila, backed by Rwanda and Uganda, invaded, initiating Congo the first Congo War, which ended with Mobutu’s overthrow in 1997. Kabila then expelled troops from Rwanda and Uganda; as a result, Rwanda and Uganda reinvaded in 1998, starting the second war. Many of the underlying causes of these conflicts (overflow from the Rwandan genocide, a collapsing weak state, competition over natural resources, and local ideological grievances) continue to provoke the violence in the east today.

Rwandan involvement in the Congo has been particularly strong and particularly devastating. Rwandan government and paramilitary troops have been in and out of the DRC for the last two decades, profiting from Congo’s minerals and killing and raping large numbers of its people. A recentUN mapping report even suggests that Rwanda’s documented killing of Hutu refugees between 1993 and 2003 could potentially be considered genocide. The Rwandan government also supported the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a notorious Tutsi-dominated rebel group that operated in eastern DR Congo, terrorizing civilians, exploiting minerals, and destabilizing the region. But a 2008 UN report documenting Rwanda’s support of the CNDP led to severe international criticism. President Paul Kagame then traded his support of the CNDP for a compromise with Kinshasa. The result was a joint military operation against the Hutu-extremist Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which contains some of perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. After those efforts to attack the FDLR and integrate the CNDP into the Congolese national army—both of which had severe civilian casualties—came to an end, Rwandan troops officially left the country in February of 2009.

Recent information from DR Congo, however, suggests a renewed Rwandan presence as well as an impending spike in violence. Many sources have reported Rwandan troops wearing Congolese uniforms in the east. After meeting with Rwandan president Paul Kagame recently in Kinshasa, Joseph Kabila announced a mining ban in eastern Congo. The CNDP’s relationships with the two governments have also become increasingly hostile. Despite a technical integration into the Congolese national army, CNDP command structures and loyalties remain largely unaffected by the change in uniform. Rumors of ex-CNDP troops being forced to move out of the Kivu regions have also been circulating. This potential redeployment has enraged CNDP members because they fear a move away from their family, ethnic kin, and historic stronghold would cost them the considerable amount of legitimacy and authority they’ve established in the Kivus.

So why are Rwandan troops in the Congo? They could be there to help Kabila clean up the mining business by fighting rebel groups and criminal gangs that curr

ently roam eastern DR Congo. The FDLR, Rwanda’s traditional enemy rebel force, still operates in Congo, possibly prompting Rwandan troops to re-enter the area. The huge mineral deposits in the area are another potential lure. Yet many observers, including CNDP officers themselves, believe that the troops are actually there to keep the CNDP officers in check after the upcoming redeployment. Rumors that Rwanda is worried about a CNDP alliance with other anti-Kigali forces are also circulating, which would make Kagame’s desire to move the CNDP away from the Rwandan border and its historic stronghold all the more understandable.

CNDP officials have reportedly said that they will “set the region on fire” if deployed out of the Kivus region. The presence of Rwandan troops will likely intensify the conflict, generating numerous civilian casualties. Whether as a result of abusive local leaders, meddling foreigners, or conflict between the two, Congolese civilians have suffered time and time again throughout the conflict in the DRC. Unfortunately, the newest developments in the Congo show that that trend is far from over.

Images courtesy of Initiative For Central Africa's "L'économie minière au Kivu et ses implication régionales" and usaid.gov.