The National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) of Nkundabatware and the Hutu rebel group FDLR (Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda) remain the central causes of the current insecurity eastern Congo.   Nkunda’s profile is long.   In short, he joined the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) in Uganda to prepare for the 1990-1994 Hutu-Tutsi Rwandan war and then participated in the Rwanda-Congo war that begun in 1996.  With financial and military support from the Rwandan government, Nkunda’s army continues to kill, loot and rape. The discovery of mass graves in Rubare where Nkunda’s forces were stationed highlights the seriousness of situation.  Nkunda’s killings, his refusal to join the Congolese army and his continued collaboration with the Rwandan Tutsi regime justifies the growing anti-Tutsi sentiments among the Congolese.  These sentiments are another layer of the conflict that is yet to be acknowledged and addressed by Congolese. 

At the moment, the Congolese government’s plan is to establish a ceasefire.  It is our hope that when guns are silenced there will be peace talks to address the hate relationship between the people of Congo, particularly the Congolese relationship with the Tutsi ethnic group.  So much has happened since the 1996 Rwanda invasion of the Congo: the massacres of Kasika, Makobola, Kanyola, Katale and Kahindo and all other massacres and abuses lost in the memory of its witnesses   and victims.   Like in Rwanda, there will never be genuine and lasting peace if many Congolese feel that their stories have not been told or their grievances addressed.  

 Nkundabatware protecting his tribe against its enemies

 Nkunda argues that his people (the Tutsi tribe in the east) are not secured by the Congolese government.  So, who is the threat?  

There have been complaints that the Tutsi who integrated into the Congolese army were mistreated by their Congolese colleagues.  In his article Tutsi in the Troubled Equation , Zachary Ochieng highlights some of Nkunda’s concerns. “ ‘We have no confidence in the army,’ Nkunda told Human Rights Watch in August 2006. …In an incident in Kindu in 2004, the 51st Battalion (8th brigade) was disbanded after its officers - who were Tutsi - were told by their superiors that they were not Congolese. …The increase in the political prominence of Congolese Tutsi sparked negative reactions from other Congolese, particularly those who suffered from abuses and exploitation by Rwandan troops during the wars of 1996-97 and 1998-2003…”, Overall, the Congolese army has a bad reputation .  It needs systematic reform because it terrorizes, rapes, steals, and kills those it is supposed to protect.  

The other enemies of the Tutsi in eastern Congo are the Rwandan Hutu rebels who were defeated in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.    The Congolese Tutsi then became Hutu FDLR’s (Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda) enemies because of their participation in 1994 Rwandan war. The FDLR Hutu rebels, whose goal is to go back to Rwanda and take back the political and military power they lost in 1994, are not only Tutsi’s enemies, but also enemies of every Congolese.  They are equally responsible for committing many crimes of rape, looting and killing.  As a result of their presence in the Congo, Rwanda built a case to invade Congo in 1996 and continues to be one of Rwanda’s reasons to support Nkunda.  This is why the first response to the insecurity in eastern Congo must be to quell Rwanda’s concerns about the FDLR.    Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, declared in an interview with ENOUGH PROJECT that, “The FDLR is not a strategic threat as long as there is no one behind them, supporting them. They become a strategic threat only if someone uses them.”  

 Many more are to be blamed for insecurity in DR Congo

There many other foreign forces operating on the Congolese territory who are responsible for the current instability.   On a long list, we have: 1. Rwandan Liberation Army (RLiA) based in North Katanga and South Kivu; 2. Rwandan Liberation Army (ALiA ) based in North Kivu; 3. National Congress for the Defense of Democracy/Font for the Defense of Democracy (NCDD-FDD ), a Burundian rebel group; 4. Combatant Forces Abacunguzi (CFOA ), an armed brach of FDLR; 5. National Liberation Forces–Party for the Liberation of Hutu People (NLF-PALIHUTUPE ) from Burundi; 6. Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) from northern Uganda; 7. Allied Democratic Forces (ADF ) from western Uganda; 8. People’s Redemption Army (PRA ) from Uganda and 9. National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU ) from the North and western Uganda, 10. Rally for Unity and Democry (RUD) a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in Mashute, North -west of Kanyabayonga in the Lubero territoy and lead by Moussare.     These groups are still able to conduct combat operations and human rights abuses due to the illegal arms flow from Congolese neighboring countries.   For a lasting peace in D.R. Congo, these countries, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia, must establish the infrastructure to safeguard their borders against arms trafficking.    Some of the arms entry posts are the Ubwira peninsula and the Mitumba mountains in Tanzania, as well as Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda.