SUMMARY:
EDITORIAL: Meeting the people’s expectations
1. THE ONGOING THREAT OF THE M23
2. A SECURITY ZONE AROUND GOMA
a. MONUSCO’s press release
b. Civil Society declarations and the Goma demonstrations
c. Local, civil and military authorities and MONUSCO talk things over
d. The Civil Society changes target and strategy
3. A LETTER from GOMA YOUTHS TO THE UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
4. REGIONAL NEWS
EDITORIAL: MEETING THE PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS
From hopes….
On 14th July the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (the FARDC) launched an effective offensive. This was in response to an attack on Mutaho in North Kivu by the Rwandan-Ugandan-Congolese M23 (March 23) rebel movement. This offensive means a new spirit has been born within the population, and it has helped the people regain confidence in the country’s armed forces. For them, the end is finally in sight for the period of terror and devastation.
The people have expressed their support of the FARDC who have helped the front-line troops by providing them with bottles of water, giving them information and taking to the streets on hearing of a potential replacement of the officers who are behind the previous victories, and by organising collections of supplies to support the soldiers.
Another reason to hope was given by the start of operations by the International Intervention Brigade at the end of the July. The Brigade was created by the UN resolution 2098, whose mission is to fight negative forces, including the M23.
… to fears
The Intervention Brigade is integrated into MONUSCO, whose declaration on 30th July was well received by the Congolese government. However, it confused the population and the civil society representing it. In this declaration, MONUSCO offers all armed groups – excluding the National Security Forces – 48 hours to surrender their arms and to create a demilitarised security zone around Goma and Sake, a territory already occupied by the national army.
Whilst waiting for the Intervention Brigade to begin their offensive against armed groups, particularly the M23, the population demonstrated its deep disappointment through the civil society’s declarations, and attacks against MONUSCO’s vehicles and structures. In a press release on 2nd August, the civil society gave eight days for the Intervention Brigade to become operational and to undertake offensive operations against the M23.
The governor of the North Kivu province, Julien Paluku, tried calming the population by saying that the creation of a security zone around Goma is purely the first step in a wider strategy which cannot be fully revealed. The strategy aims at increasing the security perimeter little by little as the Congolese forces, supported by MONUSCO, will advance on the land occupied by the M23. Colonel Mamadou N’Dala, who has become a myth for the population because of his decisive action against the M23, spoke in the same way as the governor and asked the population to let MONUSCO do its job.
Contacts with MONUSCO and internal reflection have lead the civil society, at the expiry of the ultimatum which had been given by MONUSCO, to instead propose popular demonstrations of mourning in memory of the war victims and to ask the President of the Republic to quickly relaunch military operations to work in collaboration with the UN’s Brigade to recover the zones under rebel control.
It is time for the international community to act.
The attitude of North Kivu’s population and its representatives shows that their suffering has reached heightened levels; fourteen months of oppression by the M23, specifically: all sorts of violence, looting, population displacement, murders… An international deployment of resources which has not yet brought about peace.
Yet, even with the limits and contradictions linked to the international policies which are echoed across MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade, we think that the UN presence plays a role in deterring the armed groups; it is also a way to attract attention on what is happening there.
The international community however needs to call upon MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade to be faithful to the mandate entrusted to them, particularly the resolution 2098 of the Security Council.
They also need to be able to ensure control of the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Rwanda and Uganda. Foreign military members must not be allowed to enter the DR Congo, and illegal traffic of arms and natural resources must be prevented. It is also necessary for the international community to take effective measures, such as sanctions and an arms embargo, against the governments of Rwanda and Uganda, which support the M23 in the east of the DR Congo.
It is also time for the Congolese government to act.
It is not easy to forget the “weakness” of the Congolese government, submitting to compromises and to the interests of individuals or certain groups. It was obvious during the previous election, amongst other situations, that there were limited opportunities for the public to participate. The unity of the country seems to be a common ideal, but the needs and interests of regional groups cannot be forgotten. The deterioration of the country’s social situation is also reflected on the FARDC.
Recently, however, potentially because of diverse international reports, there have been changes within the Congolese army, which have been able to demonstrate a clear and strong commitment to national identity. This has been supported by the majority of the population. It is important that the Congolese government continues training a genuinely republican national army so as to be capable of ensuring the defence and security of the population.
The Kampala talks between the Congolese government and the M23 should be fully closed, so as to apply the commitments to Addis Ababa.
No-one today considers the different armed groups as a declaration of resistance which is loyal to the people and to the highest office of the country. They are considered more as a consequence of the different wars incited by the DR Congo, and supported by the neighbouring countries (Rwanda, Uganda), for the purpose of a new political hegemony… The M23 is just a continuation of this logic of occupation and war in Kivu, which has been so costly in blood and humiliation.
1. THE ONGOING THREAT OF THE M23
Four Rwandans told the BBC, on the condition of anonymity, that the Rwandan army forcibly recruited them to fight for the M23 rebel group in the east of the DR Congo. The four said they were seeking asylum in Uganda after fleeing the fighting. The four deserters included a man who described himself a captain in the Rwandan army. He deserted after seeing many innocent people die, the man said. He described Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame as the commander-in-chief of the M23. “Whatever he says has to be done,” he added. Another deserter, who described himself as a medical student, told the BBC he was “kidnapped” by soldiers in the border town of Gisenyi in August 2012, and taken across the border where he treated more than 300 recruits wounded in fighting. “They took them to the frontline before finishing their training,” he said. Rwandan military spokesman Joseph Nzabamwita rejected their allegations and stated that he could only comment if the BBC divulged the names of their sources, adding the men concerned must have created the stories so as to claim asylum.[1]
On 31st July five vehicles, including buses, were intercepted one after another by the M23 at Kahunga (2.5 miles North of Kiwanja) as they travelled from Butembo to Goma. More than one hundred passengers on board had their money, mobile phones, jewellery and other high value items stolen. The M23 members even stole food provisions and other goods, claiming that everything that is stolen supports the war effort. Civil society representatives in North Kivu vehemently condemn these recent crimes committed by the M23 in North Kivu and call upon the ICC to open up investigation into the them.[2]
On 2nd August, in a press release from Bunagana, the M23 threatened to recapture Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province, if the government did not respect the declaration (of 24th November) of the Heads of State of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). “If the government does not comply with the ICGLR declaration (from 24th November), this allows us to alter our deployment and move positions back to Goma,” Bertrand Bisimwa said, before adding that his movement had respected their part of the contract, having withdrawn his troops from Goma which had been occupied for about ten days in November 2012. “We stuck to the positions we were assigned by the ICGLR. The Goma withdrawal happened. Yet the deployment of an M23 battalion at Goma International Airport never happened, nor did the city’s demilitarisation,” Bertrand Bisimwa said.[3]
In reality, during the summit on 24th November 2012 at Kampala (Uganda), the Heads of State of the African Great Lakes region had demanded the M23 to leave the positions that they had gained after their last offensive, to stop their advances and to no longer challenge the government of the DR Congo. More precisely, they demanded the M23 rebels to withdraw from Goma within 48 hours, and to take up new positions 20km (12 miles) to the North of Goma (near Kinumba). They decided on the deployment, at Goma International Airport, which is held by MONUSCO, of a composite force comprising an FARDC battalion, an M23 battalion and a neutral international force which has not yet been accurately defined. They decided to deploy a Congolese army battalion and a police battalion into Goma and to trust in MONUSCO’s security zone, which is considered neutral, between Goma and the new zones occupied by the M23.
In exchange, the Congolese government would have been ready to “listen, evaluate and take into account the legitimate claims” of the M23, concerning the implementation of the agreement which had been signed in March 2009 by the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and the government of Kinshasa.[4]
As could be imagined, Bertrand Bisimwa is distorting and manipulating the information concerning the declaration made by the Heads of State of the ICGLR on 24th November 2012 in the favour of the M23. In this declaration, the Heads of State make no reference to the demilitarisation of Goma. It actually orders the M23 to pull out of the city, although it had not been accepted by the Heads of State. Furthermore, the M23 never respected the order to withdraw their troops to 20km (12 miles) outside of Goma, as intended by the Heads of State. In fact, the M23 have kept their troops around 6 miles out of the city and they have continued to occupy the zones of Kanyarucinya, Mutaho and Kibati, where they were sent by the FARDC in mid-July 2013. With regards to the deployment of a an M23 battalion from Goma International Airport, this tactic calls to mind that of the Rwandan Patriotic Front who, in 1993, succeeded in introducing a battalion of 600 soldiers into Kigali, which allowed them to infiltrate the town and take up the war again. Likewise, with the deployment of an M23 battalion at Goma International Airport, it would be easy for them to retake Goma if it were demilitarised. Referring exclusively to the declaration of the Heads of State of the ICGLR on 24th November, the M23 seems to be ignoring the succeeding Addis Ababa agreement, signed on 24th February 2013 by the same Heads of State of the ICGLR, and the resolution 2098 which, issued by the UN Security Council at the end of April 2013, covers the creation of a new MONUSCO Intervention Brigade with a mandate to disarm, by force if necessary, all the armed groups in the Kivus, including the M23. The threat of the M23 retaking Goma if the Congolese government does not respect “its commitments” seems, in reality, specifically aimed at MONUCO’s new Intervention Brigade which recently defined a “security zone” around the city.[5]
On 3rd August, three people were killed during the night from Saturday to Sunday at Kiwanja, 43 miles to the North of Goma, in Rutshuru territory. At around 23:00 local time residents heard heavy gunfire and, on awaking the next morning, they discovered three bodies in the Buturande quarter. Although the M23 are presenting the victims as bandits who were looting the shops, the local residents say that they are detainees who were killed by the M23 in an attempt to clear their own name of the looting in Kiwanja of which they are accused. According to the representatives of the M23, the killings were of members of the FDLR and Mai-Mai who loot in the city. However, other sources explain that those murdered are not bandits. They believe the victims to be civilians who were arrested by the M23 in villages some distance from Kiwanja. The rebel movement could have created their version to help restore their image amongst the population who have identified members of the M23 as being behind the lootings in previous weeks in Kiwanja, on a number of occasions.[6]
2. A SECURITY ZONE AROUND GOMA
a. MONUSCO’s press release
On 30th July, MONUSCO published a press release entitled “MONUSCO Deploys to Support Security Zone in Goma – Sake Area”. Included in this press release is the following statement “In North Kivu, MONUSCO considers any individuals who are not members of the national security forces and who carries a firearm in Goma and its northern suburbs an imminent threat to civilians and will disarm them in order to enforce a security zone to protect the densely populated area of Goma and Sake”
According to the press release, “Over one million civilians live in the relatively small area of Goma and Sake, and along the road that connects them where amongst others the Mugunga IDP camps, temporary home to close to 70,000 people displaced by the conflict, are situated. Since mid-May, this area has seen repeated attacks by the M23 against FARDC positions in an apparent attempt to advance on Goma and Sake. In these attacks, the latest of which started on 14 July, the M23 has used indiscriminate and indirect fire, including by heavy weapons, resulting in civilian casualties…
In light of the high risk to the civilian population in the Goma – Sake area, MONUSCO will support the FARDC in establishing a security zone in Goma and its northern suburbs”. The press release also states “the security zone may be expanded and repeated elsewhere”.
The press release also states that “Any individuals in this area who are not members of the national security forces will be given 48 hours as of 4pm (Goma time) on Tuesday 30th July to hand in their weapon to a MONUSCO base and join the DDR/RR process. After 4pm on Thursday 1st August, they will be considered an imminent threat of physical violence to civilians and MONUSCO will take all necessary measures to disarm them, including by the use of force in accordance with its mandate and rules of engagement… The operation to enforce the security zone will for the first time involve elements of the MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade in an operation together with its North Kivu Brigade”. During this operation, the Force Intervention Brigade and the North Kivu Brigade will be working together with the Congolese army.
The new security zone starts at the large barrier between Goma and Gisenyi and continues onto the southern grouping of Kibati in the Nyiragongo territory, which is about 10 miles to the North. Towards the West, the security zone is between the large barrier at Goma and Sake, approximately 20 miles away.
The zone covers Goma, the groupings of Muja, Munigi, Rusayo, part of Buvira and a section of Kibati in the Nyiragongo territory, as well as Sake and a large proportion of the grouping of Manuronza in the territory of Masisi.
MONUSCO’s military spokesman, lieutenant-colonel Félix Basse, explained that after the 48-hour deadline “models of action will be implemented, such as the encircling and searching of areas and intensive patrolling”. When asked about the collection of arms, the lieutenant-colonel said that this was the bedrock for MONUSCO, Congolese police stations and the DR Congo’s armed forces.[7]
On 1st August, in a press briefing held in Goma, General Alberto Dos Santos Cruz (MONUSCO’s Force Commander) confirmed that the step to secure the Goma-Sake zone and its surrounding areas aims to protect more than a million civilians, amongst them are those who have been displaced. “This is only a first step. Each zone has its own particular conditions. We are going to adapt to the situation on the ground,” the General explained; according to him the creation of the security zone is just the strategic first step in recapturing North Kivu, zone by zone.[8]
That same day, the spokesperson for MONUSCO, Carlos Araujo, said that “the safety zone is not an offensive military operation and does not target specific armed groups. Its main objective is to ensure the protection of civilians in accordance with MONUSCO’s mandate,” before adding “The security area also aims to stabilize the situation around Goma to give a chance to find a political solution to the conflict”.[9]
The M23 is not concerned by MONUSCO’s ultimatum. “This measure does not concern us because we are neither in Goma nor on the Goma-Sake road,” Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23 chief, said before adding that “the M23 will defend ourselves and our positions”.[10]
According to the Reuters News Agency, the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, believes that MONUSCO’s ultimatum surprised the African leaders and could have easily derailed the peace talks in Kampala. It is of note that Rwanda is widely believed to support the M23 rebellion, which is denied by Kigali.[11]
b. Civil Society declarations and the Goma demonstrations
On 1st August, the North Kivu Civil Society said, in a declaration, that “the decision of MONUSCO is far from a response to the expectations of the population of North Kivu, prey to the activism of the M23, FDLR, ADF-NALU/AL-SHABAAB and other local militias.
The Civil Society considers that the MONUSCO intervention brigade, instead of striving to stalk Negative Forces in the Province, is trying to make us daydream and continues to waste time, forgetting that it only has a one-year term.
It denounces the position of the Congolese Government, which acknowledges this decision of MONUSCO, when it knows full well that the region targeted by the Mission has already been conquered by the FARDC.
The Coordination of the North Kivu Civil Society qualifies this action of the MONUSCO Force as delaying tactics and thereby invites all the population to be vigilant.
It denounces any possible truce attempt imposed on the FARDC, in favor of “so-called” talks with the M23, though known to be Negative Forces.
From that day, the North Kivu Civil Society gives one week to the Intervention Brigade (FIB) for it to begin its offensive action. Otherwise, it will ask the population to dissociate themselves from them and take large-scale actions to push them to act, and if not, to pack up.
The Vital Forces of the Province, in reiterating their support to the FARDC, call on Congolese at home as well as those in the Diaspora to provide moral, material and financial support in favor of troops engaged on the fronts and that testify these days their bravery, honoring the Congolese nation. Finally, the Coordination requests that Central government accelerate the training of recruits, so they may reinforce, a bit earlier, their elders in the action of liberating the national territory against the Rwandan-Ugandan aggression.”[12]
On 2nd August, some youths of the Goma city, many of whom were bikers, took to the streets to demand that the security zone imposed by MONUSCO be extended beyond Goma and Sake, especially towards Rutshuru. “That is where the [M23] rebels to disarm are found,” they said. In the morning, in the Birere neighborhood near the airport, stones were thrown at a MONUSCO convoy by demonstrators and the police intervened to disperse them with tear gas. According to the demonstrators, in deciding to establish the famous “security zone” in areas already controlled by the FARDC, MONUSCO revealed it implicitly acknowledges the M23 has the full right to administer the territories that have come under its control. An action that could be a further step in the plan to balkanize the DRC. According to the population, a security zone of 20 kilometers only around Goma is nonsense, because allowing the rebels the “right” to occupy, or even to administer certain zones, even temporarily, is equivalent to balkanizing the country by surreptitiously drawing a new border in the East. Also, according to the local population, the operations to conduct against all negative forces must, therefore, cover the entire Province.[13]
On 3rd August, the Civil Society of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo issued a statement entitled “Facing MONUSCO’s ultimatum to armed groups and the creation of a security perimeter on July 31, 2013,” in which it recalls that “the population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo has spent a year and four months under the servitude of the M23 with immeasurable consequences, including massacres of men, sexual abuse of women and young girls, torture, forced recruitment of children and youths, kidnappings, arbitrary arrests, looting, deliberate impoverishment by the introduction of ransom and illegal taxes, etc.”
The Civil Society recalls that “the population of Rutshuru and Nyragongo is being massacred with full knowledge of MONUSCO, as it was in the days of of the CNDP on November 5, 2008 under the chairmanship of Laurent Nkunda, where over 150 people were slaughtered in Kiwanja and 15 in Nyiragongo/Kibumba on December 8, 2008, in full view of Indian contingents based in those territories.” And added: “Today, with all the suffering that the M23 imposes on the population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo, and which is moreover described in the report of UN experts, we are witnessing multiple hesitations with respect to the application of the mandate of the intervention brigade, which concludes with multiple reports of the start of work conferred by the 2098 resolution. As if that were not enough, instead of the intervention brigade starting to stalk negative forces, including the M23, as described by the 2098 resolution, the brigade has just taken the place of the National Police, by creating a security perimeter in an area under the control of DRC forces of law and order, instead of creating it in Rutshuru and Nyiragongo, where people are dying like flies and without help.”
In view of the above, “the population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo notes that the international brigade spits on their dead and that it is suspicious of all their sufferings; that the mandate of the international brigade is no longer offensive, to free populations suffering in the hands of the negative force, the M23, but rather works in areas secured by the PNC and the FARDC; that the United Nations contradicts itself in asking the Congolese government to negotiate with an armed group which it equally qualifies as negative group; that the Congolese government has abandoned the people of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo, by yielding these two territories to the M23.”
Finally, the “Civil Society takes both the national and international community as witness to the unwillingness of the Congolese Government and intervention brigade to end the M23. For this, in face of their suffering which has lasted too long, the people of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo find it imperative to take responsibility of themselves if hunting down of the M23 does not begin within a short time. It denounces, moreover, any possible truce attempt imposed on the FARDC, in favor of so-called talks with the M23 known to be a negative force, and requests the departure and replacement without delay of Indian contingents in every territory, because they have proven their notorious inability to protect them.”
In conclusion, “the entire population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo inform both national and international opinion that it will undertake large-scale actions in the days to come, in order to free itself, because the attitude of the Congolese government and MONUSCO reminds us that a people cannot be freed, but a people frees itself “.[14]
c. Local, civil and military authorities and MONUSCO talk things over
Faced with this unrest, the governor of North Kivu, Julien Paluku, called for calm. “The safety zone is still flexible,” He said. “MONUSCO said there are three phases. The first phase is revealed to the general public. The other two phases are a matter of military secrecy. Today the units constituting the intervention brigade arrived in Goma; it is quite normal that the area where these units are established be first seen as an area of non-access to any rebel group because it will be the rear base for operations that will follow. […] When the operations begin, MONUSCO should make sure there are no disruptive elements in its rear base. That’s the tactic and strategy of MONUSCO,” said the governor, before adding: “The red line drawn by MONUSCO is flexible. Whenever two or three localities are conquered by the FARDC coalition and MONUSCO elements, the red line will have to be moved.“
Colonel Mamadou N’Dala, commander of the Congolese forces at the front, also explained that “MONUSCO was proceeding in stages and that it should be allowed to operate.” He also insisted that there was not to be ethnic tension: an allusion to the hostility of some people towards the Rwandophone community, to which a large part of the M23 rebels belongs. After these statements, the crowd dispersed and calm returned to Goma.
A relative calm has been observed since Thursday evening in the safety zone demarcated by MONUSCO. In the town of Goma, no gun shot was heard last night unlike two or three days ago. At Sake, a local authority also testified of this relative calm, adding that the local population was waiting to see the tangible effects of this ultimatum.[15]
On 4th August, reacting to the ultimatum of the Civil Society of North Kivu which had given up to Thursday, 8th August, 2013 for MONUSCO to execute its mandate to disarm the rebels and go further away from Goma or pack up, the head of the MONUSCO provincial office in Goma, Axel Queval, reaffirmed that MONUSCO is in charge of disarming the armed groups and that the security zone will be extended to other regions, but that it must be done when everything is ready, progressively, step by step, if we want to obtain a positive result. He added that “the Brigade is not yet complete, but we have nevertheless decided to begin with the operations. We will continue on a military schedule in full collaboration with the Congolese government and the FARDC. However, we can not reveal beforehand the military operations that we will undertake.” He asked the people not to attack MONUSCO, because this will prevent it from doing its job. “If we want MONUSCO to work better, we must not damage its equipment. It is obvious that the more we damage, the more we burn MONUSCO vehicles, the more it will benefit armed groups,” he said. He also stressed that “MONUSCO does not obey the orders of the civil society, but it is ready to discuss with them. By definition, its interlocutors are the Congolese Authorities, the FARDC and also the PNC.” In this regard, while discouraging vandalism against MONUSCO, some observers point out that it is the right of people to protest, when the behavior or ambiguity in the actions of MONUSCO do not please them.[16]
The Federation of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) calls on residents of Goma in North Kivu not to resort to violence to protest against MONUSCO. This call comes on the eve of the end of the one week ultimatum issued by the civil society in the province to the UN mission. The federal president of the UDPS, Rubens Mikindo says that the civil society missed the target, explaining that MONUSCO is only “invited” by the government. Deploring “the resignation of the Congolese government on the issue of security in the East of the country“, he rather invites the Civil Society “to make concerted efforts with the UN mission.” Moreover, Rubens Mikindo asks the people “not to fall into the trap of troublemakers in difficult waters” and not to use violence to assert their rights.
In addition, the Federal President of the UDPS thinks that MONUSCO should have communicated better on its strategy in order to prevent population uprising.[17]
After the anti-MONUSCO demonstrations of Friday, 2nd August and the ultimatum of the civil society, the commander of the Intervention Brigade, General James Aloisi Mwakibolwa, insisted on meeting with representatives of the Civil Society in North Kivu in order to try to dispel the misunderstandings between the two parties. The discussions were centered on the points contained in the civil society statement of 1st August. This press release denounced not only the limiting of the security zone to Goma and Sake, but also requested that the Brigade rapidly begin stalking armed groups, including the M23. The civil society delegation was composed of six people headed by its president, Thomas D’Acquin Mwiti. General Mwakibolwa told his interlocutors that “preventing MONUSCO‘s work would be doing the country’s enemies a favour.” This message finally convinced the civil society. Appointment was made for other discussion meetings. The delegation will report to its base before eventually making a new declaration.[18]
d. The Civil Society changes target and strategy
On 8th August, after previously threatening MONUSCO with “large-scale actions” if it does not expand the Goma-Sake security zone to territories occupied by armed groups, especially the M23, the Civil Society of North Kivu retracted and instead pointed to the “position of weakness” of the Congolese government’s strategy as responsible for the persisting insecurity in North Kivu. In the morning, on Radio KIVU1, the President of the North Kivu Civil Society, Thomas Aquinas Mwiti, said that “MONUSCO is doing its job, it is of good faith and would like to do something if and only if permission were given to it by the Congolese authorities“, adding that the ultimatum issued last week against it no longer had justification. He clarified the following: “Since our ultimatum, we have had five meetings with the civil and military authorities of MONUSCO. There has been, previously, a lack of communication between us. But now it is no longer a slogan of civil society for protests against MONUSCO“. According to him “it is the government that must do its part and it is to it that we must turn. We must be able to begin talks now, with our government that also has much to do.”[19]
In a press release signed by the same president Thomas Aquinas Mwiti and published in the afternoon, the North Kivu Civil Society decreed a one-day ghost town in North Kivu, on Tuesday, 13th August, 2013, in memory of the victims of this war, to ask the President of the Republic of the DRC to give renewed impetus to military action within 72 hours in order to recover the areas under rebel control, especially Rutshuru and Nyiragongo, with the support of the United Nations brigade. Following the M23 declaration of war to retake the city of Goma, the Civil Society calls on the Government to officially stop the negotiations in Kampala.
Other civil society organizations propose three days of mourning from 9th August, in memory of those “killed or abducted” by active armed groups in the region. “On Friday it will be like be ghost town throughout the province, on Saturday black clothes will be worn, and Sunday shall be a day of meditation characterised by religious services“, said an SCNK spokesman, Omar Kavota. “Other actions – rising higher and higher – may follow next week if there is no positive trend on MONUSCO’s side“, the UN Mission for the stabilization of the DRC, to which is integrated the intervention brigade, added Mr Kavota. He did not specify the nature of the actions that could be arranged.[20]
On 10th August, the urban coordination of the Goma Civil Society was convened in an extraordinary plenary. The population of the city of Goma demands the Civil Society to take actions on a larger scale in view of restoring security in North Kivu. During this meeting, a group of young bikers held a sit-in outside the room, waiting for a watchword for the launch of these actions. The Civil Society, for its part, says it directs the population towards peaceful and non-violent demonstrations. A segment of the population still threatens to demonstrate to put pressure, especially on MONUSCO, to force it to launch offensive operations against the M23. Conscious of this tension, the Goma urban Civil Society plans to raise the population’s awareness in order to prevent excesses.[21]
3. A LETTER from GOMA YOUTHS TO THE UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
On 25th July, young Congolese of North Kivu (students and employees of various occupations), activists in the citizen movement “Struggle for Change” (Lucha), addressed a letter to the United States representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, expressing “the impatience of the North Kivu population towards the lethargy of MONUSCO and towards the procrastinations of the international community”.
They are requesting from the Security Council and the entire international community:
– That pressure and any support for the “Kampala talks” between the Congolese government and the M23 be abandoned;
– Diplomatic pressure on the M23 and Rwanda so that the movement surrenders its weapons;
– The operationalisation of the intervention brigade and the end of its mission of neutralizing armed groups by March 2014 at the latest;
– The downsizing of MONUSCO and the allocation of the resources saved to the reforming DRC’s security sector, through a well-coordinated ad hoc mechanism and a clear plan;
– That a schedule for the short-term complete withdrawal (fourteen years already spent in DRC without peace is too much) be established;
– The end of impunity for crimes committed in the DRC for over 20 years by the arrest and trial of the main players, which includes some senior Congolese and Rwandan civil and military authorities;
– That severe sanctions be applied against Rwanda and its civil and military leaders for their proven involvement in the destabilization of the East of the DRC;
– The subordination of direct international cooperation and aid to the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi to concrete progress in the implementation of awaited reforms and to the respect of commitments made at regional and international levels.
1 – According to the youths, the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement for peace, security and cooperation for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the region, as well as the S/RES/2098 Resolution adopted by the UN Security Council United, have raised hopes of seeing security, stability and peace, of which the East of the DRC has been deprived for more than twenty years now, finally and permanently restored.
2 – However, it is obvious that so far, no concrete progress has been made: neither the beginning of military operations to “neutralize armed groups” by the Intervention Brigade, which is entering the fifth month of its twelve-month term, nor the implementation of the reforms for which the Congolese authorities committed themselves for the umpteenth time (reform of the security sector, decentralization, democratization, reforms in economic management…), not to mention the local elections awaited since 2006. Added to this, the recent promotions of Generals within the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have taken no account of the need to dismiss from this institution and bring before the court the alleged perpetrators of international crimes, embezzlement, illegal trafficking of all kind. Relevant provisions of the Framework Agreement are constantly violated by the signatory Parties. This is the case of Rwanda that continues to substantially support the M23 and hosts hundreds of members of the M23, of which the former President Runiga Lugerero, and officers like Ngaruye Baudouin who are under sanctions of the United Nations.
3 – Moreover, the declarations of Mr Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the UN, and those of Mrs Mary Robinson, Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, prioritising discussions of Kampala, do not meet our consent nor that of the Congolese majority. Firstly, because there have already been negotiations and agreements in the past which led more to the proliferation of armed groups and the distribution of bonuses to criminals than to the end of violence. Then, because it is clear that Rwanda is, right from the beginning, the main instigator of the M23 rebellion (the United States of America has just recently recognized that, quite clearly), of what use is it to negotiate with the M23 leaders who are only emissaries in this war? And finally, why hasten the resuming of talks with a movement that does not want to lay down its arms, hijacked millions of civilians and commits countless atrocities every day? This kind of standpoint of the UN officials increases doubt with respect to the willingness of the international community to effectively contribute to the restoration of lasting peace in our country.
4 – The events that occurred in the city of Goma on 18th and 19th July of this year, wherein the population openly attacked convoys of MONUSCO peacekeepers, can be diversely appreciated and judged. For our part, we do not approve any act of violence, wherever it comes from and whatever the motivations may be. However, these acts reflect the impatience of the people, for whom the presence of MONUSCO has lasted too long, without any concrete results, even after the reinforcement. If the international community is not careful, the impatience of the people could take unimaginable turns to face the lethargy of MONUSCO whose opulence of human and material resources can offend the sensitivity of a people that lacks everything.
5 – The call of July 23rd, 2013 of the United States of America to Rwanda to end its support to the M23 and withdraw its soldiers from the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a strong signal, although it arrived late. But the international community must go further and take severe sanctions against regimes and those who contribute to enduring conflicts, violence and looting of natural resources in the East of the DRC. Most of these regimes and these people are well-known, and their actions are well-documented both in the Mapping Project report and in various reports of the Expert Group of the United Nations (S/RES/2078), as well as multiple reports of credible international NGOs. There will be no lasting peace in the region as long the people who orchestrate these crimes for twenty years now remain unpunished and tolerated for whatsoever consideration.
6 – In the light of the above, we the young Congolese, activists in the Struggle for Change movement, are requesting from the UN Security Council and the entire international community the following:
– The Security Council must urgently ensure that the Intervention Brigade effectively apply its mandate to neutralize armed groups and enforce peace in accordance with the S/RES/2098 Resolution.
– The Security Council should set a deadline by which the Intervention Brigade and later MONUSCO must have fulfilled their mission and left the DRC, and thus act accordingly. We refuse to be permanently under the trusteeship of the international community;
– Kampala talks should definitely be abandoned because they are far from being a credible and long lasting solution to the crisis and they do unduly particularize an armed group;
– The significant downsizing of the regular force of MONUSCO should permit a net saving of resources that can be directed towards the reform of the security sector;
– Major sanctions against Rwanda and its civil or military leaders must be enforced by the Security Council and by the other States and international institutions, in order to put an end to the adventures of this country that believes it can do whatever it wishes in the East of the DRC;
– It is necessary to put an end to the impunity of the major direct or indirect perpetrators of the crimes committed in the DRC, including those who currently occupy important positions in the governments and armies of Rwanda, the DRC, Uganda and Burundi. They should be arrested and tried, beyond mere freezing of assets, to set an example. The international community has at its disposal many thorough reports that it would be time to exploit usefully (the Mapping project report, the reports of the Group of Experts, those of special rapporteurs… should not go unheeded);
– The continued cooperation and direct assistance of the international community to the Congolese, Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian governments should be conditioned by concrete progress in the implementation of awaited reforms, as well as the respect of different commitments made at regional and international levels.[22]
4. REGIONAL NEWS
On 17th July, the Executive Secretary of the ICGLR, Professor Ntumba Lwaba, was in Kampala before participating in an “Addis Ababa meeting with the world bank, Finance Ministers and with all the development partners, to see how to develop peace across regional integration projects”. He said that economic integration could stabilise the African Great Lakes Region. According to the Professor, “the region’s problem has a significant economic grounding. It is necessary to be aware that the persistence of conflicts in the African Great Lakes region is because it is a blessed region. People speak of the curse of natural resources, but they must also speak of the blessings. It must be seen how to build and consolidate together the region’s prosperity, by protecting what we can call the regional common goods. This is, for example, the case with the Ruzizi dam: During the conflicts, no-one attacked the dam. Regional common goods are, for example, petrol supplies at Lake Albert which we can exploit together, or the gas at Lake Kivu”.[23]
On 25th July, the Congolese government was said to have passed three international arrest warrants to the Republic of Rwanda through diplomatic means. These are for four of their citizens who are currently refugees on Rwandan land. All four are leaders past and present of the M23 movement: Jean-Marie Runiga, former President of the M23, Colonel Baudouin Ngaruye, Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Badege and Colonel Zimurinda Innocent. They are also being targeted by UN sanctions (a travel ban and a freezing of assets), and these M23 representatives are being pursued for “insurgency, war crimes and crimes against humanity”. They have been accused of: murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, sex slavery, persecution for ethical reasons, conscription and the use of minors aged 15 and younger. The Congolese government has reminded us that Rwanda ratified the Addis Ababa framework agreement last February; an agreement to neither take in, nor provide protection to people who have been accused of war crimes, or people with sanctions imposed upon them.[24]
On 31st July, meeting at a special summit in Nairobi, Kenya, the ICGLR Heads of State requested the Kampala talks between the Congolese government and the M23 to reach “fast conclusion”. Starting at the beginning of December 2012, the discussions have been at a stalemate for several months. The Heads of State of the African Great Lakes region have equally asked the committee of the Chiefs of Staff of the region to meet the commands of MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade, so as to establish a link between the brigade and the ICGLR safety net. The ICGLR Heads of State “urge the troop-contributing countries to expedite the deployment of the Intervention Brigade to be fully operationalized as soon as possible and not beyond 1 September 2013”. They equally called upon all ICGLR member states to “respect the Protocol of Non-Aggression and Mutual Defence, in particular not to support illegally armed groups operating in each other’s’ territory”. Kigali is accused of supporting the M23 rebellion which has been running rampant in the East of the DR Congo since May 2012. However, the Heads of State encourage the Rwandan and Congolese governments to continue bi-lateral discussions.[25]
[1] Cf BBC – Kampala, 1/08/2013 (via mediacongo.net) (quotation translated from French to English)
[2] Cf Omar Kavota – Société Civile du Nord Kivu, 01.08.’13 (translator’s title translation : Civil society of North Kivu)
[3] Cf Radio Okapi, 04.08.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[4] Cf Radio Okapi, 24.11.’12; AFP – Kampala, 24.11.’12 in the French version of Congo Actualité n. 168 on 05.12.’12 (quotation translated from French to English)
[5] Editor’s note
[6] Cf Radio Okapi, 04.08.’13
[7] Cf Radio Okapi, 31.07.’13; Full text of the news release:
[8] Cf Radio Okapi, 01.08.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[9] Cf Radio Okapi, 01.08.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[10] Cf Radio Okapi, 31.07.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[11] Cf Voice of America – Africatime, 01.08.’13: http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-rwanda-says-un-ultimatum-threatened-congo-peace-talks/1714694.html
[12] See Omar Kavota – Civil Society of North Kivu, August 1, 2013
[13] See Radio Okapi, 02.08.’13; RFI, 03.08.’13.
[14] Cf http://www.socinordkivu.com/index.php/207-declaration-des-societes-civiles-nyiragongo-et-rutshuru
[15] See Radio Okapi, 02.08.’13; RFI, 03.08.’13.
[16] See Radio Okapi, 04.08.’13; L’Avenir – Kinshasa, 07.08.’13
[17] See Radio Okapi, 07.08.’13
[18] See SY Koumbo / Monusco – Goma, 07.08.13
[19] See Daphné Lemelin – Le Potentiel – Kinshasa, 09.08.13; L’Avenir – Kinshasa, 09.08.13
[20] Belga – RTBF, 08.08.13
[21] See Radio Okapi, 10.08.13
[22] Seehttp://afrique.kongotimes.info/rdc/echos_provinces/6312-guerre-congo-liste-demandes-jeunes-congolais-representante-etats-unis-amerique-onu.html
[23] Cf L’Avenir – Goma, 18.07.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[24] Cf Radio Okapi, 26.07.’13
[25] Cf Radio Okapi, 02.08.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
SUMMARY
EDITORIAL: Meeting the people’s expectations
1. THE ONGOING THREAT OF THE M23
2. A SECURITY ZONE AROUND GOMA
a. MONUSCO’s press release
b. Civil Society declarations and the Goma demonstrations
c. Local, civil and military authorities and MONUSCO talk things over
d. The Civil Society changes target and strategy
3. A LETTER from GOMA YOUTHS TO THE UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
4. REGIONAL NEWS
EDITORIAL: MEETING THE PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS
From hopes….
On 14th July the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (the FARDC) launched an effective offensive. This was in response to an attack on Mutaho in North Kivu by the Rwandan-Ugandan-Congolese M23 (March 23) rebel movement. This offensive means a new spirit has been born within the population, and it has helped the people regain confidence in the country’s armed forces. For them, the end is finally in sight for the period of terror and devastation.
The people have expressed their support of the FARDC who have helped the front-line troops by providing them with bottles of water, giving them information and taking to the streets on hearing of a potential replacement of the officers who are behind the previous victories, and by organising collections of supplies to support the soldiers.
Another reason to hope was given by the start of operations by the International Intervention Brigade at the end of the July. The Brigade was created by the UN resolution 2098, whose mission is to fight negative forces, including the M23.
… to fears
The Intervention Brigade is integrated into MONUSCO, whose declaration on 30th July was well received by the Congolese government. However, it confused the population and the civil society representing it. In this declaration, MONUSCO offers all armed groups – excluding the National Security Forces – 48 hours to surrender their arms and to create a demilitarised security zone around Goma and Sake, a territory already occupied by the national army.
Whilst waiting for the Intervention Brigade to begin their offensive against armed groups, particularly the M23, the population demonstrated its deep disappointment through the civil society’s declarations, and attacks against MONUSCO’s vehicles and structures. In a press release on 2nd August, the civil society gave eight days for the Intervention Brigade to become operational and to undertake offensive operations against the M23.
The governor of the North Kivu province, Julien Paluku, tried calming the population by saying that the creation of a security zone around Goma is purely the first step in a wider strategy which cannot be fully revealed. The strategy aims at increasing the security perimeter little by little as the Congolese forces, supported by MONUSCO, will advance on the land occupied by the M23. Colonel Mamadou N’Dala, who has become a myth for the population because of his decisive action against the M23, spoke in the same way as the governor and asked the population to let MONUSCO do its job.
Contacts with MONUSCO and internal reflection have lead the civil society, at the expiry of the ultimatum which had been given by MONUSCO, to instead propose popular demonstrations of mourning in memory of the war victims and to ask the President of the Republic to quickly relaunch military operations to work in collaboration with the UN’s Brigade to recover the zones under rebel control.
It is time for the international community to act.
The attitude of North Kivu’s population and its representatives shows that their suffering has reached heightened levels; fourteen months of oppression by the M23, specifically: all sorts of violence, looting, population displacement, murders… An international deployment of resources which has not yet brought about peace.
Yet, even with the limits and contradictions linked to the international policies which are echoed across MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade, we think that the UN presence plays a role in deterring the armed groups; it is also a way to attract attention on what is happening there.
The international community however needs to call upon MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade to be faithful to the mandate entrusted to them, particularly the resolution 2098 of the Security Council.
They also need to be able to ensure control of the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Rwanda and Uganda. Foreign military members must not be allowed to enter the DR Congo, and illegal traffic of arms and natural resources must be prevented. It is also necessary for the international community to take effective measures, such as sanctions and an arms embargo, against the governments of Rwanda and Uganda, which support the M23 in the east of the DR Congo.
It is also time for the Congolese government to act.
It is not easy to forget the “weakness” of the Congolese government, submitting to compromises and to the interests of individuals or certain groups. It was obvious during the previous election, amongst other situations, that there were limited opportunities for the public to participate. The unity of the country seems to be a common ideal, but the needs and interests of regional groups cannot be forgotten. The deterioration of the country’s social situation is also reflected on the FARDC.
Recently, however, potentially because of diverse international reports, there have been changes within the Congolese army, which have been able to demonstrate a clear and strong commitment to national identity. This has been supported by the majority of the population. It is important that the Congolese government continues training a genuinely republican national army so as to be capable of ensuring the defence and security of the population.
The Kampala talks between the Congolese government and the M23 should be fully closed, so as to apply the commitments to Addis Ababa.
No-one today considers the different armed groups as a declaration of resistance which is loyal to the people and to the highest office of the country. They are considered more as a consequence of the different wars incited by the DR Congo, and supported by the neighbouring countries (Rwanda, Uganda), for the purpose of a new political hegemony… The M23 is just a continuation of this logic of occupation and war in Kivu, which has been so costly in blood and humiliation.
1. THE ONGOING THREAT OF THE M23
Four Rwandans told the BBC, on the condition of anonymity, that the Rwandan army forcibly recruited them to fight for the M23 rebel group in the east of the DR Congo. The four said they were seeking asylum in Uganda after fleeing the fighting. The four deserters included a man who described himself a captain in the Rwandan army. He deserted after seeing many innocent people die, the man said. He described Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame as the commander-in-chief of the M23. “Whatever he says has to be done,” he added. Another deserter, who described himself as a medical student, told the BBC he was “kidnapped” by soldiers in the border town of Gisenyi in August 2012, and taken across the border where he treated more than 300 recruits wounded in fighting. “They took them to the frontline before finishing their training,” he said. Rwandan military spokesman Joseph Nzabamwita rejected their allegations and stated that he could only comment if the BBC divulged the names of their sources, adding the men concerned must have created the stories so as to claim asylum.[1]
On 31st July five vehicles, including buses, were intercepted one after another by the M23 at Kahunga (2.5 miles North of Kiwanja) as they travelled from Butembo to Goma. More than one hundred passengers on board had their money, mobile phones, jewellery and other high value items stolen. The M23 members even stole food provisions and other goods, claiming that everything that is stolen supports the war effort. Civil society representatives in North Kivu vehemently condemn these recent crimes committed by the M23 in North Kivu and call upon the ICC to open up investigation into the them.[2]
On 2nd August, in a press release from Bunagana, the M23 threatened to recapture Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province, if the government did not respect the declaration (of 24th November) of the Heads of State of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). “If the government does not comply with the ICGLR declaration (from 24th November), this allows us to alter our deployment and move positions back to Goma,” Bertrand Bisimwa said, before adding that his movement had respected their part of the contract, having withdrawn his troops from Goma which had been occupied for about ten days in November 2012. “We stuck to the positions we were assigned by the ICGLR. The Goma withdrawal happened. Yet the deployment of an M23 battalion at Goma International Airport never happened, nor did the city’s demilitarisation,” Bertrand Bisimwa said.[3]
In reality, during the summit on 24th November 2012 at Kampala (Uganda), the Heads of State of the African Great Lakes region had demanded the M23 to leave the positions that they had gained after their last offensive, to stop their advances and to no longer challenge the government of the DR Congo. More precisely, they demanded the M23 rebels to withdraw from Goma within 48 hours, and to take up new positions 20km (12 miles) to the North of Goma (near Kinumba). They decided on the deployment, at Goma International Airport, which is held by MONUSCO, of a composite force comprising an FARDC battalion, an M23 battalion and a neutral international force which has not yet been accurately defined. They decided to deploy a Congolese army battalion and a police battalion into Goma and to trust in MONUSCO’s security zone, which is considered neutral, between Goma and the new zones occupied by the M23.
In exchange, the Congolese government would have been ready to “listen, evaluate and take into account the legitimate claims” of the M23, concerning the implementation of the agreement which had been signed in March 2009 by the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and the government of Kinshasa.[4]
As could be imagined, Bertrand Bisimwa is distorting and manipulating the information concerning the declaration made by the Heads of State of the ICGLR on 24th November 2012 in the favour of the M23. In this declaration, the Heads of State make no reference to the demilitarisation of Goma. It actually orders the M23 to pull out of the city, although it had not been accepted by the Heads of State. Furthermore, the M23 never respected the order to withdraw their troops to 20km (12 miles) outside of Goma, as intended by the Heads of State. In fact, the M23 have kept their troops around 6 miles out of the city and they have continued to occupy the zones of Kanyarucinya, Mutaho and Kibati, where they were sent by the FARDC in mid-July 2013. With regards to the deployment of a an M23 battalion from Goma International Airport, this tactic calls to mind that of the Rwandan Patriotic Front who, in 1993, succeeded in introducing a battalion of 600 soldiers into Kigali, which allowed them to infiltrate the town and take up the war again. Likewise, with the deployment of an M23 battalion at Goma International Airport, it would be easy for them to retake Goma if it were demilitarised. Referring exclusively to the declaration of the Heads of State of the ICGLR on 24th November, the M23 seems to be ignoring the succeeding Addis Ababa agreement, signed on 24th February 2013 by the same Heads of State of the ICGLR, and the resolution 2098 which, issued by the UN Security Council at the end of April 2013, covers the creation of a new MONUSCO Intervention Brigade with a mandate to disarm, by force if necessary, all the armed groups in the Kivus, including the M23. The threat of the M23 retaking Goma if the Congolese government does not respect “its commitments” seems, in reality, specifically aimed at MONUCO’s new Intervention Brigade which recently defined a “security zone” around the city.[5]
On 3rd August, three people were killed during the night from Saturday to Sunday at Kiwanja, 43 miles to the North of Goma, in Rutshuru territory. At around 23:00 local time residents heard heavy gunfire and, on awaking the next morning, they discovered three bodies in the Buturande quarter. Although the M23 are presenting the victims as bandits who were looting the shops, the local residents say that they are detainees who were killed by the M23 in an attempt to clear their own name of the looting in Kiwanja of which they are accused. According to the representatives of the M23, the killings were of members of the FDLR and Mai-Mai who loot in the city. However, other sources explain that those murdered are not bandits. They believe the victims to be civilians who were arrested by the M23 in villages some distance from Kiwanja. The rebel movement could have created their version to help restore their image amongst the population who have identified members of the M23 as being behind the lootings in previous weeks in Kiwanja, on a number of occasions.[6]
2. A SECURITY ZONE AROUND GOMA
a. MONUSCO’s press release
On 30th July, MONUSCO published a press release entitled “MONUSCO Deploys to Support Security Zone in Goma – Sake Area”. Included in this press release is the following statement “In North Kivu, MONUSCO considers any individuals who are not members of the national security forces and who carries a firearm in Goma and its northern suburbs an imminent threat to civilians and will disarm them in order to enforce a security zone to protect the densely populated area of Goma and Sake”
According to the press release, “Over one million civilians live in the relatively small area of Goma and Sake, and along the road that connects them where amongst others the Mugunga IDP camps, temporary home to close to 70,000 people displaced by the conflict, are situated. Since mid-May, this area has seen repeated attacks by the M23 against FARDC positions in an apparent attempt to advance on Goma and Sake. In these attacks, the latest of which started on 14 July, the M23 has used indiscriminate and indirect fire, including by heavy weapons, resulting in civilian casualties…
In light of the high risk to the civilian population in the Goma – Sake area, MONUSCO will support the FARDC in establishing a security zone in Goma and its northern suburbs”. The press release also states “the security zone may be expanded and repeated elsewhere”.
The press release also states that “Any individuals in this area who are not members of the national security forces will be given 48 hours as of 4pm (Goma time) on Tuesday 30th July to hand in their weapon to a MONUSCO base and join the DDR/RR process. After 4pm on Thursday 1st August, they will be considered an imminent threat of physical violence to civilians and MONUSCO will take all necessary measures to disarm them, including by the use of force in accordance with its mandate and rules of engagement… The operation to enforce the security zone will for the first time involve elements of the MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade in an operation together with its North Kivu Brigade”. During this operation, the Force Intervention Brigade and the North Kivu Brigade will be working together with the Congolese army.
The new security zone starts at the large barrier between Goma and Gisenyi and continues onto the southern grouping of Kibati in the Nyiragongo territory, which is about 10 miles to the North. Towards the West, the security zone is between the large barrier at Goma and Sake, approximately 20 miles away.
The zone covers Goma, the groupings of Muja, Munigi, Rusayo, part of Buvira and a section of Kibati in the Nyiragongo territory, as well as Sake and a large proportion of the grouping of Manuronza in the territory of Masisi.
MONUSCO’s military spokesman, lieutenant-colonel Félix Basse, explained that after the 48-hour deadline “models of action will be implemented, such as the encircling and searching of areas and intensive patrolling”. When asked about the collection of arms, the lieutenant-colonel said that this was the bedrock for MONUSCO, Congolese police stations and the DR Congo’s armed forces.[7]
On 1st August, in a press briefing held in Goma, General Alberto Dos Santos Cruz (MONUSCO’s Force Commander) confirmed that the step to secure the Goma-Sake zone and its surrounding areas aims to protect more than a million civilians, amongst them are those who have been displaced. “This is only a first step. Each zone has its own particular conditions. We are going to adapt to the situation on the ground,” the General explained; according to him the creation of the security zone is just the strategic first step in recapturing North Kivu, zone by zone.[8]
That same day, the spokesperson for MONUSCO, Carlos Araujo, said that “the safety zone is not an offensive military operation and does not target specific armed groups. Its main objective is to ensure the protection of civilians in accordance with MONUSCO’s mandate,” before adding “The security area also aims to stabilize the situation around Goma to give a chance to find a political solution to the conflict”.[9]
The M23 is not concerned by MONUSCO’s ultimatum. “This measure does not concern us because we are neither in Goma nor on the Goma-Sake road,” Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23 chief, said before adding that “the M23 will defend ourselves and our positions”.[10]
According to the Reuters News Agency, the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo, believes that MONUSCO’s ultimatum surprised the African leaders and could have easily derailed the peace talks in Kampala. It is of note that Rwanda is widely believed to support the M23 rebellion, which is denied by Kigali.[11]
b. Civil Society declarations and the Goma demonstrations
On 1st August, the North Kivu Civil Society said, in a declaration, that “the decision of MONUSCO is far from a response to the expectations of the population of North Kivu, prey to the activism of the M23, FDLR, ADF-NALU/AL-SHABAAB and other local militias.
The Civil Society considers that the MONUSCO intervention brigade, instead of striving to stalk Negative Forces in the Province, is trying to make us daydream and continues to waste time, forgetting that it only has a one-year term.
It denounces the position of the Congolese Government, which acknowledges this decision of MONUSCO, when it knows full well that the region targeted by the Mission has already been conquered by the FARDC.
The Coordination of the North Kivu Civil Society qualifies this action of the MONUSCO Force as delaying tactics and thereby invites all the population to be vigilant.
It denounces any possible truce attempt imposed on the FARDC, in favor of “so-called” talks with the M23, though known to be Negative Forces.
From that day, the North Kivu Civil Society gives one week to the Intervention Brigade (FIB) for it to begin its offensive action. Otherwise, it will ask the population to dissociate themselves from them and take large-scale actions to push them to act, and if not, to pack up.
The Vital Forces of the Province, in reiterating their support to the FARDC, call on Congolese at home as well as those in the Diaspora to provide moral, material and financial support in favor of troops engaged on the fronts and that testify these days their bravery, honoring the Congolese nation. Finally, the Coordination requests that Central government accelerate the training of recruits, so they may reinforce, a bit earlier, their elders in the action of liberating the national territory against the Rwandan-Ugandan aggression.”[12]
On 2nd August, some youths of the Goma city, many of whom were bikers, took to the streets to demand that the security zone imposed by MONUSCO be extended beyond Goma and Sake, especially towards Rutshuru. “That is where the [M23] rebels to disarm are found,” they said. In the morning, in the Birere neighborhood near the airport, stones were thrown at a MONUSCO convoy by demonstrators and the police intervened to disperse them with tear gas. According to the demonstrators, in deciding to establish the famous “security zone” in areas already controlled by the FARDC, MONUSCO revealed it implicitly acknowledges the M23 has the full right to administer the territories that have come under its control. An action that could be a further step in the plan to balkanize the DRC. According to the population, a security zone of 20 kilometers only around Goma is nonsense, because allowing the rebels the “right” to occupy, or even to administer certain zones, even temporarily, is equivalent to balkanizing the country by surreptitiously drawing a new border in the East. Also, according to the local population, the operations to conduct against all negative forces must, therefore, cover the entire Province.[13]
On 3rd August, the Civil Society of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo issued a statement entitled “Facing MONUSCO’s ultimatum to armed groups and the creation of a security perimeter on July 31, 2013,” in which it recalls that “the population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo has spent a year and four months under the servitude of the M23 with immeasurable consequences, including massacres of men, sexual abuse of women and young girls, torture, forced recruitment of children and youths, kidnappings, arbitrary arrests, looting, deliberate impoverishment by the introduction of ransom and illegal taxes, etc.”
The Civil Society recalls that “the population of Rutshuru and Nyragongo is being massacred with full knowledge of MONUSCO, as it was in the days of of the CNDP on November 5, 2008 under the chairmanship of Laurent Nkunda, where over 150 people were slaughtered in Kiwanja and 15 in Nyiragongo/Kibumba on December 8, 2008, in full view of Indian contingents based in those territories.” And added: “Today, with all the suffering that the M23 imposes on the population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo, and which is moreover described in the report of UN experts, we are witnessing multiple hesitations with respect to the application of the mandate of the intervention brigade, which concludes with multiple reports of the start of work conferred by the 2098 resolution. As if that were not enough, instead of the intervention brigade starting to stalk negative forces, including the M23, as described by the 2098 resolution, the brigade has just taken the place of the National Police, by creating a security perimeter in an area under the control of DRC forces of law and order, instead of creating it in Rutshuru and Nyiragongo, where people are dying like flies and without help.”
In view of the above, “the population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo notes that the international brigade spits on their dead and that it is suspicious of all their sufferings; that the mandate of the international brigade is no longer offensive, to free populations suffering in the hands of the negative force, the M23, but rather works in areas secured by the PNC and the FARDC; that the United Nations contradicts itself in asking the Congolese government to negotiate with an armed group which it equally qualifies as negative group; that the Congolese government has abandoned the people of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo, by yielding these two territories to the M23.”
Finally, the “Civil Society takes both the national and international community as witness to the unwillingness of the Congolese Government and intervention brigade to end the M23. For this, in face of their suffering which has lasted too long, the people of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo find it imperative to take responsibility of themselves if hunting down of the M23 does not begin within a short time. It denounces, moreover, any possible truce attempt imposed on the FARDC, in favor of so-called talks with the M23 known to be a negative force, and requests the departure and replacement without delay of Indian contingents in every territory, because they have proven their notorious inability to protect them.”
In conclusion, “the entire population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo inform both national and international opinion that it will undertake large-scale actions in the days to come, in order to free itself, because the attitude of the Congolese government and MONUSCO reminds us that a people cannot be freed, but a people frees itself “.[14]
c. Local, civil and military authorities and MONUSCO talk things over
Faced with this unrest, the governor of North Kivu, Julien Paluku, called for calm. “The safety zone is still flexible,” He said. “MONUSCO said there are three phases. The first phase is revealed to the general public. The other two phases are a matter of military secrecy. Today the units constituting the intervention brigade arrived in Goma; it is quite normal that the area where these units are established be first seen as an area of non-access to any rebel group because it will be the rear base for operations that will follow. […] When the operations begin, MONUSCO should make sure there are no disruptive elements in its rear base. That’s the tactic and strategy of MONUSCO,” said the governor, before adding: “The red line drawn by MONUSCO is flexible. Whenever two or three localities are conquered by the FARDC coalition and MONUSCO elements, the red line will have to be moved.“
Colonel Mamadou N’Dala, commander of the Congolese forces at the front, also explained that “MONUSCO was proceeding in stages and that it should be allowed to operate.” He also insisted that there was not to be ethnic tension: an allusion to the hostility of some people towards the Rwandophone community, to which a large part of the M23 rebels belongs. After these statements, the crowd dispersed and calm returned to Goma.
A relative calm has been observed since Thursday evening in the safety zone demarcated by MONUSCO. In the town of Goma, no gun shot was heard last night unlike two or three days ago. At Sake, a local authority also testified of this relative calm, adding that the local population was waiting to see the tangible effects of this ultimatum.[15]
On 4th August, reacting to the ultimatum of the Civil Society of North Kivu which had given up to Thursday, 8th August, 2013 for MONUSCO to execute its mandate to disarm the rebels and go further away from Goma or pack up, the head of the MONUSCO provincial office in Goma, Axel Queval, reaffirmed that MONUSCO is in charge of disarming the armed groups and that the security zone will be extended to other regions, but that it must be done when everything is ready, progressively, step by step, if we want to obtain a positive result. He added that “the Brigade is not yet complete, but we have nevertheless decided to begin with the operations. We will continue on a military schedule in full collaboration with the Congolese government and the FARDC. However, we can not reveal beforehand the military operations that we will undertake.” He asked the people not to attack MONUSCO, because this will prevent it from doing its job. “If we want MONUSCO to work better, we must not damage its equipment. It is obvious that the more we damage, the more we burn MONUSCO vehicles, the more it will benefit armed groups,” he said. He also stressed that “MONUSCO does not obey the orders of the civil society, but it is ready to discuss with them. By definition, its interlocutors are the Congolese Authorities, the FARDC and also the PNC.” In this regard, while discouraging vandalism against MONUSCO, some observers point out that it is the right of people to protest, when the behavior or ambiguity in the actions of MONUSCO do not please them.[16]
The Federation of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) calls on residents of Goma in North Kivu not to resort to violence to protest against MONUSCO. This call comes on the eve of the end of the one week ultimatum issued by the civil society in the province to the UN mission. The federal president of the UDPS, Rubens Mikindo says that the civil society missed the target, explaining that MONUSCO is only “invited” by the government. Deploring “the resignation of the Congolese government on the issue of security in the East of the country“, he rather invites the Civil Society “to make concerted efforts with the UN mission.” Moreover, Rubens Mikindo asks the people “not to fall into the trap of troublemakers in difficult waters” and not to use violence to assert their rights.
In addition, the Federal President of the UDPS thinks that MONUSCO should have communicated better on its strategy in order to prevent population uprising.[17]
After the anti-MONUSCO demonstrations of Friday, 2nd August and the ultimatum of the civil society, the commander of the Intervention Brigade, General James Aloisi Mwakibolwa, insisted on meeting with representatives of the Civil Society in North Kivu in order to try to dispel the misunderstandings between the two parties. The discussions were centered on the points contained in the civil society statement of 1st August. This press release denounced not only the limiting of the security zone to Goma and Sake, but also requested that the Brigade rapidly begin stalking armed groups, including the M23. The civil society delegation was composed of six people headed by its president, Thomas D’Acquin Mwiti. General Mwakibolwa told his interlocutors that “preventing MONUSCO‘s work would be doing the country’s enemies a favour.” This message finally convinced the civil society. Appointment was made for other discussion meetings. The delegation will report to its base before eventually making a new declaration.[18]
d. The Civil Society changes target and strategy
On 8th August, after previously threatening MONUSCO with “large-scale actions” if it does not expand the Goma-Sake security zone to territories occupied by armed groups, especially the M23, the Civil Society of North Kivu retracted and instead pointed to the “position of weakness” of the Congolese government’s strategy as responsible for the persisting insecurity in North Kivu. In the morning, on Radio KIVU1, the President of the North Kivu Civil Society, Thomas Aquinas Mwiti, said that “MONUSCO is doing its job, it is of good faith and would like to do something if and only if permission were given to it by the Congolese authorities“, adding that the ultimatum issued last week against it no longer had justification. He clarified the following: “Since our ultimatum, we have had five meetings with the civil and military authorities of MONUSCO. There has been, previously, a lack of communication between us. But now it is no longer a slogan of civil society for protests against MONUSCO“. According to him “it is the government that must do its part and it is to it that we must turn. We must be able to begin talks now, with our government that also has much to do.”[19]
In a press release signed by the same president Thomas Aquinas Mwiti and published in the afternoon, the North Kivu Civil Society decreed a one-day ghost town in North Kivu, on Tuesday, 13th August, 2013, in memory of the victims of this war, to ask the President of the Republic of the DRC to give renewed impetus to military action within 72 hours in order to recover the areas under rebel control, especially Rutshuru and Nyiragongo, with the support of the United Nations brigade. Following the M23 declaration of war to retake the city of Goma, the Civil Society calls on the Government to officially stop the negotiations in Kampala.
Other civil society organizations propose three days of mourning from 9th August, in memory of those “killed or abducted” by active armed groups in the region. “On Friday it will be like be ghost town throughout the province, on Saturday black clothes will be worn, and Sunday shall be a day of meditation characterised by religious services“, said an SCNK spokesman, Omar Kavota. “Other actions – rising higher and higher – may follow next week if there is no positive trend on MONUSCO’s side“, the UN Mission for the stabilization of the DRC, to which is integrated the intervention brigade, added Mr Kavota. He did not specify the nature of the actions that could be arranged.[20]
On 10th August, the urban coordination of the Goma Civil Society was convened in an extraordinary plenary. The population of the city of Goma demands the Civil Society to take actions on a larger scale in view of restoring security in North Kivu. During this meeting, a group of young bikers held a sit-in outside the room, waiting for a watchword for the launch of these actions. The Civil Society, for its part, says it directs the population towards peaceful and non-violent demonstrations. A segment of the population still threatens to demonstrate to put pressure, especially on MONUSCO, to force it to launch offensive operations against the M23. Conscious of this tension, the Goma urban Civil Society plans to raise the population’s awareness in order to prevent excesses.[21]
3. A LETTER from GOMA YOUTHS TO THE UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
On 25th July, young Congolese of North Kivu (students and employees of various occupations), activists in the citizen movement “Struggle for Change” (Lucha), addressed a letter to the United States representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, expressing “the impatience of the North Kivu population towards the lethargy of MONUSCO and towards the procrastinations of the international community”.
They are requesting from the Security Council and the entire international community:
– That pressure and any support for the “Kampala talks” between the Congolese government and the M23 be abandoned;
– Diplomatic pressure on the M23 and Rwanda so that the movement surrenders its weapons;
– The operationalisation of the intervention brigade and the end of its mission of neutralizing armed groups by March 2014 at the latest;
– The downsizing of MONUSCO and the allocation of the resources saved to the reforming DRC’s security sector, through a well-coordinated ad hoc mechanism and a clear plan;
– That a schedule for the short-term complete withdrawal (fourteen years already spent in DRC without peace is too much) be established;
– The end of impunity for crimes committed in the DRC for over 20 years by the arrest and trial of the main players, which includes some senior Congolese and Rwandan civil and military authorities;
– That severe sanctions be applied against Rwanda and its civil and military leaders for their proven involvement in the destabilization of the East of the DRC;
– The subordination of direct international cooperation and aid to the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi to concrete progress in the implementation of awaited reforms and to the respect of commitments made at regional and international levels.
1 – According to the youths, the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement for peace, security and cooperation for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the region, as well as the S/RES/2098 Resolution adopted by the UN Security Council United, have raised hopes of seeing security, stability and peace, of which the East of the DRC has been deprived for more than twenty years now, finally and permanently restored.
2 – However, it is obvious that so far, no concrete progress has been made: neither the beginning of military operations to “neutralize armed groups” by the Intervention Brigade, which is entering the fifth month of its twelve-month term, nor the implementation of the reforms for which the Congolese authorities committed themselves for the umpteenth time (reform of the security sector, decentralization, democratization, reforms in economic management…), not to mention the local elections awaited since 2006. Added to this, the recent promotions of Generals within the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have taken no account of the need to dismiss from this institution and bring before the court the alleged perpetrators of international crimes, embezzlement, illegal trafficking of all kind. Relevant provisions of the Framework Agreement are constantly violated by the signatory Parties. This is the case of Rwanda that continues to substantially support the M23 and hosts hundreds of members of the M23, of which the former President Runiga Lugerero, and officers like Ngaruye Baudouin who are under sanctions of the United Nations.
3 – Moreover, the declarations of Mr Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the UN, and those of Mrs Mary Robinson, Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, prioritising discussions of Kampala, do not meet our consent nor that of the Congolese majority. Firstly, because there have already been negotiations and agreements in the past which led more to the proliferation of armed groups and the distribution of bonuses to criminals than to the end of violence. Then, because it is clear that Rwanda is, right from the beginning, the main instigator of the M23 rebellion (the United States of America has just recently recognized that, quite clearly), of what use is it to negotiate with the M23 leaders who are only emissaries in this war? And finally, why hasten the resuming of talks with a movement that does not want to lay down its arms, hijacked millions of civilians and commits countless atrocities every day? This kind of standpoint of the UN officials increases doubt with respect to the willingness of the international community to effectively contribute to the restoration of lasting peace in our country.
4 – The events that occurred in the city of Goma on 18th and 19th July of this year, wherein the population openly attacked convoys of MONUSCO peacekeepers, can be diversely appreciated and judged. For our part, we do not approve any act of violence, wherever it comes from and whatever the motivations may be. However, these acts reflect the impatience of the people, for whom the presence of MONUSCO has lasted too long, without any concrete results, even after the reinforcement. If the international community is not careful, the impatience of the people could take unimaginable turns to face the lethargy of MONUSCO whose opulence of human and material resources can offend the sensitivity of a people that lacks everything.
5 – The call of July 23rd, 2013 of the United States of America to Rwanda to end its support to the M23 and withdraw its soldiers from the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a strong signal, although it arrived late. But the international community must go further and take severe sanctions against regimes and those who contribute to enduring conflicts, violence and looting of natural resources in the East of the DRC. Most of these regimes and these people are well-known, and their actions are well-documented both in the Mapping Project report and in various reports of the Expert Group of the United Nations (S/RES/2078), as well as multiple reports of credible international NGOs. There will be no lasting peace in the region as long the people who orchestrate these crimes for twenty years now remain unpunished and tolerated for whatsoever consideration.
6 – In the light of the above, we the young Congolese, activists in the Struggle for Change movement, are requesting from the UN Security Council and the entire international community the following:
– The Security Council must urgently ensure that the Intervention Brigade effectively apply its mandate to neutralize armed groups and enforce peace in accordance with the S/RES/2098 Resolution.
– The Security Council should set a deadline by which the Intervention Brigade and later MONUSCO must have fulfilled their mission and left the DRC, and thus act accordingly. We refuse to be permanently under the trusteeship of the international community;
– Kampala talks should definitely be abandoned because they are far from being a credible and long lasting solution to the crisis and they do unduly particularize an armed group;
– The significant downsizing of the regular force of MONUSCO should permit a net saving of resources that can be directed towards the reform of the security sector;
– Major sanctions against Rwanda and its civil or military leaders must be enforced by the Security Council and by the other States and international institutions, in order to put an end to the adventures of this country that believes it can do whatever it wishes in the East of the DRC;
– It is necessary to put an end to the impunity of the major direct or indirect perpetrators of the crimes committed in the DRC, including those who currently occupy important positions in the governments and armies of Rwanda, the DRC, Uganda and Burundi. They should be arrested and tried, beyond mere freezing of assets, to set an example. The international community has at its disposal many thorough reports that it would be time to exploit usefully (the Mapping project report, the reports of the Group of Experts, those of special rapporteurs… should not go unheeded);
– The continued cooperation and direct assistance of the international community to the Congolese, Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian governments should be conditioned by concrete progress in the implementation of awaited reforms, as well as the respect of different commitments made at regional and international levels.[22]
4. REGIONAL NEWS
On 17th July, the Executive Secretary of the ICGLR, Professor Ntumba Lwaba, was in Kampala before participating in an “Addis Ababa meeting with the world bank, Finance Ministers and with all the development partners, to see how to develop peace across regional integration projects”. He said that economic integration could stabilise the African Great Lakes Region. According to the Professor, “the region’s problem has a significant economic grounding. It is necessary to be aware that the persistence of conflicts in the African Great Lakes region is because it is a blessed region. People speak of the curse of natural resources, but they must also speak of the blessings. It must be seen how to build and consolidate together the region’s prosperity, by protecting what we can call the regional common goods. This is, for example, the case with the Ruzizi dam: During the conflicts, no-one attacked the dam. Regional common goods are, for example, petrol supplies at Lake Albert which we can exploit together, or the gas at Lake Kivu”.[23]
On 25th July, the Congolese government was said to have passed three international arrest warrants to the Republic of Rwanda through diplomatic means. These are for four of their citizens who are currently refugees on Rwandan land. All four are leaders past and present of the M23 movement: Jean-Marie Runiga, former President of the M23, Colonel Baudouin Ngaruye, Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Badege and Colonel Zimurinda Innocent. They are also being targeted by UN sanctions (a travel ban and a freezing of assets), and these M23 representatives are being pursued for “insurgency, war crimes and crimes against humanity”. They have been accused of: murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, sex slavery, persecution for ethical reasons, conscription and the use of minors aged 15 and younger. The Congolese government has reminded us that Rwanda ratified the Addis Ababa framework agreement last February; an agreement to neither take in, nor provide protection to people who have been accused of war crimes, or people with sanctions imposed upon them.[24]
On 31st July, meeting at a special summit in Nairobi, Kenya, the ICGLR Heads of State requested the Kampala talks between the Congolese government and the M23 to reach “fast conclusion”. Starting at the beginning of December 2012, the discussions have been at a stalemate for several months. The Heads of State of the African Great Lakes region have equally asked the committee of the Chiefs of Staff of the region to meet the commands of MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade, so as to establish a link between the brigade and the ICGLR safety net. The ICGLR Heads of State “urge the troop-contributing countries to expedite the deployment of the Intervention Brigade to be fully operationalized as soon as possible and not beyond 1 September 2013”. They equally called upon all ICGLR member states to “respect the Protocol of Non-Aggression and Mutual Defence, in particular not to support illegally armed groups operating in each other’s’ territory”. Kigali is accused of supporting the M23 rebellion which has been running rampant in the East of the DR Congo since May 2012. However, the Heads of State encourage the Rwandan and Congolese governments to continue bi-lateral discussions.[25]
[1] Cf BBC – Kampala, 1/08/2013 (via mediacongo.net) (quotation translated from French to English)
[2] Cf Omar Kavota – Société Civile du Nord Kivu, 01.08.’13 (translator’s title translation : Civil society of North Kivu)
[3] Cf Radio Okapi, 04.08.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[4] Cf Radio Okapi, 24.11.’12; AFP – Kampala, 24.11.’12 in the French version of Congo Actualité n. 168 on 05.12.’12 (quotation translated from French to English)
[5] Editor’s note
[6] Cf Radio Okapi, 04.08.’13
[7] Cf Radio Okapi, 31.07.’13; Full text of the news release:
[8] Cf Radio Okapi, 01.08.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[9] Cf Radio Okapi, 01.08.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[10] Cf Radio Okapi, 31.07.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[11] Cf Voice of America – Africatime, 01.08.’13: http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-rwanda-says-un-ultimatum-threatened-congo-peace-talks/1714694.html
[12] See Omar Kavota – Civil Society of North Kivu, August 1, 2013
[13] See Radio Okapi, 02.08.’13; RFI, 03.08.’13.
[14] Cf http://www.socinordkivu.com/index.php/207-declaration-des-societes-civiles-nyiragongo-et-rutshuru
[15] See Radio Okapi, 02.08.’13; RFI, 03.08.’13.
[16] See Radio Okapi, 04.08.’13; L’Avenir – Kinshasa, 07.08.’13
[17] See Radio Okapi, 07.08.’13
[18] See SY Koumbo / Monusco – Goma, 07.08.13
[19] See Daphné Lemelin – Le Potentiel – Kinshasa, 09.08.13; L’Avenir – Kinshasa, 09.08.13
[20] Belga – RTBF, 08.08.13
[21] See Radio Okapi, 10.08.13
[22] Seehttp://afrique.kongotimes.info/rdc/echos_provinces/6312-guerre-congo-liste-demandes-jeunes-congolais-representante-etats-unis-amerique-onu.html
[23] Cf L’Avenir – Goma, 18.07.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
[24] Cf Radio Okapi, 26.07.’13
[25] Cf Radio Okapi, 02.08.’13 (quotation translated from French to English)
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Thanks to PerMondo and the translators Stacey Pearce and Alvin Ngole Sone-Ngole, this translation has been possible. The PerMondo project was created by the translation agency Mondo Agit with the aim of supporting NGOs with free translations.
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