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Strategies & Market Trends : Africa and its Issues- Why Have We Ignored Africa? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (1002)	1/20/2009 12:46:00 PM
From: Stephen O	Respond to of 1267

I think that this is very good news for the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda Rwandan Troops Enter Congo to Hunt for Hutu Militia 2009-01-20 12:19:02.620 GMT By Franz Wild Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- As many as 2,000 Rwandan soldiers crossed into the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo to hunt a Rwandan Hutu militia accused of fomenting violence in eastern Congo. The troops entered Congo at 6:30 a.m. local time at Monigi, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Goma, the capital of the eastern North Kivu province, United Nations Mission in Congo military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich said. Congo invited Rwandan troops to enter its territory as part of an agreement to disarm the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, an ethnic Hutu militia. Members of the rebel group fled to Congo after taking part in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, in which at least 800,000 people died. “This is a development you really wouldn’t have believed a few weeks ago,” Dietrich said in an interview from Kinshasa, Congo’s capital. “It’s a brave step by the Congolese.” Rwanda invaded Congo twice in the 1990s, sparking conflicts that have killed more than 5 million people since 1998. The two countries agreed on Dec. 5 to break up the Rwandan Hutu militia, which the Tutsi-led Rwandan government says is a threat to its national security. Before last month’s thaw in relations, both nations accused each other of backing enemy rebel groups. Collaborators A report by UN investigators in December supported claims by Congo’s government that Rwanda backs the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, a Tutsi-led militia which last year routed Congo’s army. The report also said Congo collaborates with the FDLR, which remains active in North and South Kivu provinces. Both countries deny the allegations. Congo’s Communications Minister Lambert Mende said the Dec. 5 agreement paved the way for Rwanda’s troops to cross the border. “We hope this will encourage the FDLR to put down their arms,” Mende said today in a phone interview in Kinshasa. ”If not we’ll force them.” Rwandan Foreign Minister Rosemary Museminali would be in meetings all day and was unlikely to comment, her personal assistant, Wilson Karamaga, said by phone today from Kigali, the Rwandan capital. General Vainqueur Mayala, Congo’s military chief in North Kivu, said it was too early to comment. “Let’s see the things evolve first,” Mayala said in a phone interview. “We’ll speak about it afterwards.” Heavy Weaponry Congo’s army moved heavy weaponry including tanks and anti- aircraft artillery to the north of Goma in anticipation of the Rwandan’s arrival, Dietrich said. The troops were moving towards Rutshuru, 70 kilometers north of Goma, he said. The mobile phones of FDLR spokesmen Colonel Edmond Ngarambe and Laforge Fis were switched off when Bloomberg News tried to contact them today for comment. Up to 7,000 FDLR fighters control gold mines and other businesses including the trade in charcoal, used as a cooking fuel. While the rank and file of the militia are too young to have participated in the genocide, senior FDLR officers say they will only return to Rwanda if they are allowed to participate in the country’s politics. No army has ever succeeded in defeating the FDLR and it is difficult to see the operation being any different, said Onesphore Sematumba, a researcher with the Goma-based Pole Institute. “These are highly skilled fighters and they know the terrain very well,” Sematumba said by phone from Goma. “They can also just disappear into the bush. This country’s huge.” Supporting the Hunt The CNDP and rival rebel group from the Congolese Patriotic Resistance, or Pareco, last week announced they would support the hunt for FDLR members. Rwandan cooperation will ensure the operation succeeds, Mende said. “This is the first time the two countries are fighting them together and with good intelligence,” he said. “Before this the countries were working against each other.” Sematumba said Congo’s civilians will suffer as they are put in the middle of fighting. “If there is no mechanism to protect the population from any collateral effects this is very dangerous,” he said. Clashes between the CNDP and Congo’s army last year forced a 250,000 people to flee their homes, according to the UN. Congo last month invited Ugandan troops into the northern Orientale province to track down members of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army. The LRA has killed at least 620 civilians since the failed operations according to campaigners Human Rights Watch.