KNOW NKUNDA CONGO
To Orwell Today,
I send the following page from Virunga News to you.
-Mitali Yves
Congo's General Laurent Nkunda: Standing to Protect His Own People
by El Memeyi Murangwa, Nov 27, 2006, Fort Worth, TX, USA
Survivor of Kokolo Camp in Kinshasa, Congo (Aug. 1998)
It can be hard for anyone to understand what is really going on in “Democratic” Republic of Congo, known also as Zaire (Belgian Congo). Let me take you back in history before Congo was colonized by Belgians. Located in center of Africa this huge land was formed by different Kingdoms: Congo at the west, Lunda in the south west, Luba in the south east; Azande in the northern part and Rwanda at the east part of the unknown land. Others tribes were living under small sultanates. After the Portuguese Diego Cao discovered the embouchure of Congo River, in 1482 sent by King João II (= John II) of Portugal who revived interest in the quest for a sea route around Africa to India (see: stone pillar (padroe) dedicated to St. George at São Antonio de Zaire). After came Belgians to colonize the new territory and King Leopold II called it Congo, because of the long river crossing the country from south east to the west, before falling in the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1885, Europeans divided Africa, separating members of the same family by making unnatural borders between them, creating new countries for their own benefits. In the Congo, The old Kingdom of Kongo was divided, the west part became Congo Brazzaville (French), the east goes to the actual Province of Bas-Congo in DRC, and the South formed the northern of Angola. The Lunda Empire was divided between Zambia (British), Congo (Belgium) and Angola (Portuguese). The Azande Kingdom went to Centrafrique (French), Sudan (British) and Congo (Belgian). For the Kingdom of Rwanda, parts of it went to Congo (Belge): Goma, Masisi, Rutshuru, Kalehe, Buzi, Nyalukemba, Nyawera, katana, Idjwi and Bukavu, another to Uganda, the Kigezi Province and the south part to Tanzania (the Buha).
The first step of Belgians was to reduce the dimension of Rwanda. Belgians played an important role in 1885 during the Berlin conference and after the World War II, taking over the Kingdom from Germany in 1916. The second step was to overthrow many Traditional Chiefs (Nturo ya Nyilimigabo, Muligo, Mpeta, Barinda, Byandagara, Nshizirungu, Ntamuhanga and Kabangu) replaced by Ndiyo Bwana (Yes Sir!) chiefs from others tribes (Ndeze, Kalinda, Gahembe, Bukavu etc…) more flexible and cooperative with colonialists. The last step was the eviction of the King Musinga of Rwanda; he was deported to Moba (Katanga in DRC) in 1930, where he died in detention. This marked the beginning of a xenophobia and huge plan of persecution against the Banyarwanda, unwelcoming the colony and loyal to the King. The same situation occurred in the South Kivu, where the Congolese Tutsi known as banyamulenge lost their leadership given to others tribes by the colonialist.
Since that time the relation between colonialist and Banyarwanda was going deep and when Congo got his independence in June 1960, Belgians trained new leaders to hate Banyarwanda. They were surprised seeing many Banyarwanda from the politic party CEREA (Centre de Regroupement Africain) winning the first election in 1959, forming a cartel with the MNCL (Patrice Lumumba) with many seats in the first Senate and government (Marcel Bisukiro, Damien Budogo, Cyprien Rwakabuba, Francois Mvuyekure, Jean de Nepomcene Rwiyereka, and Joseph Midiburo). Banyarwanda will remain well represented in political institutions at the national level until November 1965 when Mobutu took over and installed a dictatorship, dividing to reign. The two last wars and other tension in the east part of the Congo are the result of many frustrations that occurred in the past from the Belgian Colonialist and successive dictatorial regimes (Mobutu and Kabila) to Joseph Kabila, that encourage xenophobia and intolerance against Congolese Banyarwanda, sharing the same language and culture with Rwanda.
The beginning of Mobutu reign was calm, but when he tried to organize elections at different levels, the struggle began among tribes challenging Banyarwanda leadership in the Kivu Province. Ignoring the Fundamental Law: constitution of independence, the decree-law No 72-002 of Feb 5, 1972, the Parliament voted the law No 81-002 of Jun 2, 1981, confiscating the citizenship of many Congolese Kinyarwanda speakers. Tied at this particular time to the Rwandan Dictator Juvenal Habyarimana who wants to exterminate all Tutsi and moderated Hutu from the Great Lakes Region, Sekimonyo wa Magango, Anzuluni Bembe and Vangu Mambweni were the ones pushing members of the Parliament to do such horrible things and used the Congolese Army to persecute Banyarwanda in the Kivu.
After the Genocide in Rwanda, The Hutu Rwandan Power, and the Interahamwe helped by the French (Operation Turquoise), authors of the genocide took refuge in the Kivu Province and started killing Congolese Banyarwanda with the complicity of Congolese Army (http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR620261996?open&of=ENG-316). This pushed the Banyarwanda (North Kivu) and Banyamulenge (South-Kivu) to organize a self defense which overthrew President Mobutu in 1997. The AFDL mistakenly gave the Presidency to a sanguinary rebel known as Laurent Desire Kabila, later killed by his own body guard after he killed many Tutsi-Congolese (3000 persons one night, August 12-13, 1998 in Kokolo Camp). He was the one to invite Interahamwe to be a part of Congolese Army up to now (http://hrw.org/reports/1999/congo/Congoweb-02.htm).
Joseph Kabila is following his father's plan to exterminate Banyarwanda and has demonstrated such xenophobia during his recent campaign. He is trying hard to send more than three battalions to clean the Kivu from insects (Banyarwanda) as he said in Goma in July 2006. He did in Bukavu in 2004 and many were rescued by general Nkunda when he intervened in the town. Joseph Kabila plans to complete the task after or before the second round of the election. The international community needs to be aware. Many Congolese are still refugees in neighborhood countries and didn’t participate in the recent vote. There is no plan from the Congolese Government to let them back; recently some of them were killed in Burundi on 13 August 2004, when armed combatants attacked Gatumba transit camp close to the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Today only the part of Congo controlled by Nkunda is peaceful, I mean without Congolese Army, robbing and raping citizens, Mayi-Mayi, and interahamwe militia killing so easily. MONUC recognize the fact and admire CNDP soldier’s discipline. Everywhere else in east Congo, Interahamwe, and Mayi- Mayi militia are killing citizens everyday. Congolese are not pleased to see 17,000 UN “peacekeepers” without specific mission to protect the population, spending most of their time, drinking beer and raping young girls (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7116468/).
That is why the CNDP and General Laurent Nkunda stand to protect Banyarwanda (Tutsi and Hutu), preaching reconciliation among communities. A wise man said: Strongest minds are often those of whom the noisy world hears last.
Greetings Mitali,
I very much appreciate your sending that excellent narrative of Congo's history and Nkunda's place in making it. It greatly helps put current Congo events into perspective.
All the best,
Jackie Jura
Nkunda loyalists in Congo army warn war (humanitarian situation in Kivu catastrophic), Daily Nation Kenya, Oct 25, 2009
Nkunda secret book unveiled. Kenya Daily Nation, Oct 19, 2009 (A political manifesto allegedly written by former Congolese warlord Laurent Nkunda just days before he was arrested by the Rwandan Government surfaced for the first time last week. In the manifesto, Gen Nkunda details his political and military ambitions, past relations with Rwanda, and his determination to rearrange national borders in the region....
Congo president Kabila on spot over mass misery (thousands civilians killed/raped/homes burned; Congo & UN armies refuse to fight killers), Daily Nation Kenya, Oct 14, 2009
RWANDA KING NOT AT HOME, Email, Oct Oct 25, 2009
REMINISCING DISCOVERY NILE & CONGO (John Speke & Morton Stanley). Email, Oct 24, 2009
VISION DU CNDP: RESTAURER LA DIGNITE DES CONGOLAIS ET DU CONGO, Par le Général-Major Laurent NKUNDA MIHIGO, Chairman (La cohésion nationale en danger). CNDP, Oct 10, 2009
Nkunda lawyers still not heard from Kagame (to discuss solution to this deadlock). CNDP, Oct 4, 2009
NKUNDA SEEKING KAGAME MEETING (illegally detained in Rwanda)
The Judicial Saga of Laurent Nkunda Continues in Rwanda. CNDP-Congo.org, Sep 26, 2009
New Motion Seeking the Release of Laurent Nkunda. CNDP-Congo.org, Sep 23, 2009
District 9 film warns of a dangerous future (millions of aliens not just in South Africa), Guardian, Sep 7, 2009. Go to SOUTH AFRICA A SCI-FI SLUM & DISTRICT 9 HERO GOOD OLD SMITHY
& 7.Systems & 10.Rulers
China's boom hits Congo (resentful of communist country's business practices; a sense of racism between Congolese & Chinese). SeattleTimes, Aug 23, 2009
South Africa rips asylum for white man in Canada (communist ANC gov't says it perpetrates racism). TorontoStar, Sep 7, 2009
South Africa's poor renew tradition of protest (water/electricity/unemployment, nothing gets better) & South Africa lambasts "Chinese tsunami" (stifling industry, wiping out jobs, low wages). NewYorkTimes, BuesinessDay, Sep 7, 2009
CHINA RAILROADING CONGO RAILROAD
NKUNDA ARREST PUTS GORILLAS AT RISK
REMEMBERING MUTWARE THE ELEPHANT
KAGAME-KABILA-NKUNDA SUMMITEERING
LAMENTING RWANDA CONGO GENOCIDES (even innocent smiles of babies doesn't soften their hearts)
CONGO ARMY NEEDS NKUNDA (training soldiers for the nation)
ASSANI ESSENCE OF NKUNDA (...I hope some day the REAL Nkunda will return to Congo and resume his proper place in history - the hero of a successful rebellion against a corrupt government facilitating genocide against a group of its own people....)
National Geographic Update, April 2009
Last July National Geographic reported on a dire situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Virunga National Park. In 2007, as a warning to the warden who'd thwarted a thriving illegal charcoal trade, local men killed seven of the park's mountain gorillas. Only 720 of the animals are left in the world. Soon additional violence in the park between rebels and government troops drove out Virunga's rangers entirely, and the mountain gorillas were left unprotected. Now the rangers are back. Virunga park director Emmanuel de Merode negotiated their return with rebel leader Laurent Nkunda. "It's a case of conservation ahead of politics," says photographer Brent Stirton, who has long covered the conflict. And the conservation news is good. Rangers discovered that five goirlla babies had been born in the 15 months since they'd last seen their charges.
KAGAME, PLEASE PLAY NKUNDA ACE
A TRIBUTE TO COMMANDANTE NKUNDA
NKUNDA SAY CONGO OWNS RESOURCES
NKUNDA SAY UN CRIMINALS IN CONGO
KABILA KILLS, RAPES & BLAMES NKUNDA
COMPATRIOTS DEMAND NKUNDA RELEASE
FREE NKUNDA TO FIGHT FOR CONGO
NKUNDA GEURRILLA GORILLA TOURS
Nkunda didn't flee, he was lured ("for consultations" by erstwhile ally Rwanda). Independent, Jan 23, 2009
Congo war enters new phase without Nkunda (demanded Kabila cancel China contracts that are unfair to Congo people). Monsters & Critics, Jan 23, 3009
Rwanda joined Congo against Nkunda (after UN report & donors cut aid). NPR, Jan 23, 2009
Laurent Nkunda's spectacular fall (loyal & capable military leader protecting Congo from Rwandan Hutus). BBC, Jan 23, 2009
Rwanda arrests Congo rebel leader Nkunda (impediment to Rwanda's plans in region). BBC, Jan 23, 2009
Rwandan, Congolese troops heading for Nkunda stronghold. AFP, Jan 22, 2009
Kabila decides to embrace Rwanda. AFP, Jan 22, 2009
Nkunda demands Kabila cancel China contracts (benefits gov't officials not Congo citizens). VOA, Jan 8, 2009
Nkunda would fight African peacekeepers if they were sent to Congo to back government troops. Guardian, Nov 10, 2009
GENOCIDAL HUTUS NEVER EXTRADITED
INTERVIEW NKUNDA ("We have to liberate Congo....Congo has to be free and develop"). BBC, Nov 10, 2008
Nkunda would fight African peacekeepers if they were sent to Congo to back government troops. Guardian, Nov 10, 2009
The Tutsi rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, today warned he would fight African peacekeepers if they were sent to back government troops in fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A regional summit of African leaders said yesterday they would "not stand by" and watch the violence which has displaced about 250,000 people and led to UN accusations of war crimes over the systematic killing of civilians. Countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Angola, agreed to send in "peacemaking forces" to the region of North Kivu "if and when necessary". Nkunda, whose rebel forces sparked the current violence, said his troops would fight peacekeepers if they were deployed alongside Congolese government soldiers. "If SADC engages like this, they will have made a mistake. I am ready to fight them," Nkunda told Reuters by telephone....The scale of Angolan military support for Congo is not clear but it appears to have emboldened the government's army. However, it carries the risk of widening the conflict. Angolan forces played a crucial role in stopping the advance of the second Rwandan invasion of Congo, in 1998. Rwanda denies that it continues to support Nkunda after backing him immediately after its invasion. But it may not stand by if the Angolan military swings the conflict against Nkunda while Hutu extremist rebels, comprising members of the forces that led the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, continue to operate unhindered from Congo.
Rebel Nkunda threatens to extend fighting to Congo capital (unless gov't agrees to talks). Guardian, Nov 4, 2008
"If they refuse to negotiate, it will mean they will be ready to only fight and we will fight them because we have to fight for our freedom," Nkunda told Reuters. Speaking at his hilltop headquarters in North Kivu province, he said his forces would not stop at the provincial capital, Goma, but would go on to Kinshasa, almost a 1,000 miles (1,600km) to the west. "Goma is just a place to pass through. When they force us to come down to Goma we won't stop there. People must be serious, otherwise there's no turning back," he said. The government responded by again refusing to engage in direct talks with Nkunda. Lambert Mende, a government spokesman, said President Joseph Kabila's administration was "open for dialogue" with all rebel and militia groups in the region, but would not meet Nkunda's group alone. The rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisima said: "Apart from dialogue, all that remains is war." Nkunda leads up to 10,000 rebels who began fighting government troops in North Kivu at the end of August. He called a halt to the rebel offensive last week after threatening to take Goma. The violence, which has displaced up to 250,000 people, is fuelled by tensions left over from Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Nkunda claims to be protecting Tutsis from Hutu extremists, whose presence dates from the Rwandan genocide when they were driven into Congo, accused of killing 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates....
Beijing keeps its interest in Congo. Guardian, Nov 3, 2008
It may be half a world away, but China will be closely watching the conflict in eastern Congo, aware of the risks the chaos poses to its involvement in the region. Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda has declared strong objections to a £5bn mining-for-infrastructure pact which is China's biggest deal in Africa. The deal, and the dissent it arouses, are typical of China's rapidly growing investment across the continent - direct aid in exchange for raw resources to fuel its economy. "It is very simple. We need the raw materials and these countries need access to capital," Wu Zexian, China's ambassador to Congo, said this year. "I do not know why the west is so afraid." Critics inside and outside Africa say it is neo-colonialism. But others question the west's high moral tone, given its bloody history in Congo. Besides, China is simply offering more. One-third of the £5bn will develop mines; the rest will fund desperately needed infrastructure: sewers; universities; housing; 177 hospitals and health centres and thousands of miles of roads. Congo will gradually repay China from the profits of a mining joint venture - and supply it with copper and cobalt. There is certainly resentment in Africa at the profits China is making and the working conditions in Chinese-run mines; as there has been with other foreign investors. But Tom Cargill, director of the Africa programme at Chatham House, suspects Nkunda may hope to use China as a smokescreen. "He has some quite sophisticated PR people and they may be saying: the west is very suspicious of China - maybe we can break down some opposition to us by saying we are standing up for Congolese people against the Chinese," he said. Beijing's policy of non-interference in internal affairs leaves it limited options in Congo. "In terms of boots on the ground, if it's to do anything, it would be under UN auspices - and the UN mission in the DRC appears to be in complete collapse," said Alexander Neill, head of the Asia security programme at the Royal United Services Institute.
Mugabe backing Kabila against Nkunda in Eastern Congo. NewTimes, Nov 2, 2008
Congo groups re-arming against Nkunda (6 planeloads weapons to Goma for Kabila helping Rwandan Hutus kill Tutsis). BBC, Aug 1, 2008
National Geographic, July 2008
Rebel general Nkunda, who prefers to be called the "Chairman," wages war against the Congolese army and Hutu militias from a farmhouse near Kirolirwe, just west of Virunga Park. Accused of using child soldiers and other war crimes, Nkunda claims he is protectng the Congolese Tutsi from genocide at the hands of the Hutu. He also claims he is a conservationist.
ZIMBABWE SPADE RED CHINA ("...I asked myself is there justice in this world? The super power is continuing strengthening Mugabe’s regime. Just like the way the Chinese are strengthening him and Kabila with lucrative deals. Will we never see the back of him?...")
'We have to kill Tutsis wherever they are'. Guardian, May 16, 2008
The roots of war in Eastern Congo. Guardian, May 16, 2008
KNOW NKUNDA CONGO
UN PEACEKEEPING NOT KEEPINGPEACE
JFK CRIED FOR CONGO and JFK PEACE FOR ALL TIME
6.Disputed Territories and 2.Big Brother and 12.Ministry of Peace (War) and 11.Ministry of Plenty (Starvation)
Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~
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