Fighting Continues in East Congo, Despite Peace Treaty

Adriana Vaca
29-08-08

On Thursday the 28th of August there was a violent confrontation in the province of Nord-Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), between Laurent Nkunda's rebels and the government's forces. This was the most violent confrontation in months, and is part of the
Despite having signed a peace treaty in January of this year, the conflict has hardly been resolved, and the government states that they'd been suspecting an attack from Nkunda for weeks.

The conflict has its roots in the Second Congo War. Nkunda fought on behalf of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (CRD), a rebel group conformed of the ethnically Tutsi Banyamulenge and backed by the Tutsi Rwandan government as well as a variety of Rwandan-allied african countries, and based in the Nord-Kivu province town of Goma. After the war, which ended in the Banyamulenge rebels being subdued, Nkunda joined the DRC's transitional government army, and was promoted to general by 2004. However, he soon reneged on the the DRC army, and with several CRD - Goma troops, fell back to Nord Kivu. The CRD troops began clashing with the DRC army, under Nkunda's command, claiming that they were defending the Banyamulenge, who were allegedly being attacked by Hutus who had escaped from Rwanda after having participated in the genocide. The United Nations rejected this claim.

The conflict has taken its toll on the civilian population as well. Civilians are being displaced from their homes, and reports of human rights violations abound, including recruitment of child soldiers, sexual abuse against women and girls, and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians who are caught between the two sides.

Although the peace accord has been in place since January, there is still continual fighting between the two sides, each of which blames the other for instigating it.

I think that the fact that this conflict is so complex in its origins makes it extremely hard to solve. The ceasefire, of course, should have done just that, only obviously no one seems to remember this, and each attack at the other side is merely a retaliation for a previous attack, to the point where it's a vicious cycle.

What surprised me was how little I had heard of all that's going on in this country. The casualties over the last decade from this conflict (together with the Second Congo War) rival those of WWII, and I feel the media attention is HAS received doesn't really do justice to the atrocities that have been committed.

At this point, I think the conflict has gone beyond Nkunda and his handful of CRD-Goma troops defending sporadic attacks against the Banyamulenge Tutsis.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080828/wl_nm/congo_democratic_fighting_dc?=&submit=Done

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/world/africa/10congo.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1 (background information)