The FDLR: Anatomy of a conflict fueling group in the Great Lakes Region

CONTINUED 1.3. FDLR networks: the links with other political groups opposed to Rwanda After the military defeat, FDLR strategy has been to push for negotiations with the Rwanda Government; hence the continued search for what is now known as ‘Inter-Rwandese Dialogue’. Being known and exposed as a terrorist and genocide group, it is impossible for them to secure negotiations with Kigali. The Ex- FAR/INTERAHAMWE have, therefore, intensified propaganda and lobbying among the international community and DRC government for the so- called Inter-Rwandese dialogue. This is done in collaboration with its satellite non-armed groups, mainly operating in the Western countries. The most known of these non-armed groups is the Holland-based FDU-Inkingi20. This group is mainly composed of Rwandans eluding justice or army deserters with criminal records in Rwandan courts. They have been trying to come together, a long process that took them through RDR21, FRD22, ADR-Isangano23 up to the current FDU-Inkingi. The later is claiming to be succeeding as an organization in meeting the opposition’s unity challenge. Other political groups have been contacted, but have been reluctant to join the coalition due to internal problems and divergence on the would-be ideology of the coalition. Intwari Partnership24, PDR-Ihumure25, People’s Congress-AMAHORO and FDLR have been contacted in order to formally join the coalition. The FDLR, being the only group that has military power among other opposition groups, has attracted other non-armed groups which now compete for becoming its political wing. There have been consultations between the FDLR and FDU-Inkingi, which is the main political group coordinating anti-Rwandan Government activities in Europe, in order to form one strong politico-military group that would seek to overthrow the Rwanda government. Other splinter groups have also been trying to take over the FDLR. These are RUD-Urunana26, an FDLR splinter group led by Dr Jean Marie Vianney HIGIRO and Maj. Jean Damascene NDIBABAJE, alias MUSARE, leading political and military wings respectively, and FDLR-CMC. The short-term strategy for the FDLR is probably around controlling DRC territories but also planning and launching a military campaign against Rwanda. But what could be the FDLR mid- and long-term strategy? They may try to get together with these groupings and lobby for a special refugee status for the Ex-FAR/INTERAHAMWE commanders so that they may conduct a “long-term war”. In this regard, a few of them would be sent back to Rwanda as combatants who return voluntarily, in order to mobilize people and continue to work from inside. Those who will remain in DRC and other African countries would get refugee status and authorization of living where they are. This strategy would also allow them to have access to education and other benefits and to move easily inside and outside DRC, thus allowing them to plan the socalled “long- term war against Rwanda”. They may also plan to massively integrate into the FARDC, continue with their trainings and plan to attach Rwanda in their DRC uniforms again in years to come. Although based in DRC, it has antennas in Africa, Europe and America. Its members are very active in Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Sudan, Cameroon, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe28. In Europe, they are mainly in Germany, Belgium, France, Norway, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark, and in North America, Canada and USA.29 FDLR intends to discourage refugees from being repatriated back to Rwanda and hatred speeches and propaganda against Rwanda are among their strategy. It is quite possible that this group is partly composed of some young people who may not have participated in the genocide. However, they have been indoctrinated by their commanders and leaders who have internalized ideologies of difference and mass murder. These young men buy hatred speeches, have embraced the genocide ideology and it is them who kill innocent people. 2. FDLR AND REGIONAL INSTABILITY 2.1. FDLR and crimes against humanity in theregion The FDLR have not only committed atrocities in Rwanda but also continue to perpetrate them in foreign countries where they sought refuge. From the refugee camps, the genocidal forces purchased more weapons and conducted cross-border raids. In 1997 and 1998, soldiers and militia of the genocidal government, supported by thousands of new recruits, crossed from the DRC and led an insurrection in northwestern Rwanda. They had two targets: those Rwandans who they see as Tutsi, and those they called “Hutu -traitors who cooperate with the enemy (i.e. RPF/Rwandan Government)”. Between August and September 1997, insurgents from DRC massacred genocide survivors in Mutura, Rugerero, Giciye, and Nkuli (in former Gisenyi and Ruhengeri provinces, in Rwanda). The massive infiltrations of the Ex-FAR and Interahamwe militias aimed at reoccupying Rwanda and resulted into the destabilization of the northwestern part of Rwanda, and the killing of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese identified as Tutsis at Mudende refugee camp in Rwanda. On 11 December 1997, hundreds of RwandophoneCongolese (Tutsis) were again slaughtered in the same refugee camp by these negative forces. The 15 000 survivors were shifted to a new camp in Byumba. The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan declared that“these atrocities were the continuation of the 1994 genocide30”. Selective massacres by FDLR continued to target those they considered as Tutsis in the buses and schools and Hutus who refused to cooperate with the genocidaires. From 1994 to 2000, ALIR killed a number of civilians including Rwandans and foreign nationals. It is in this perspective that on 18 January 1997, ALIR attacked Medicos Del Mundo and killed three Spanish Nationals31. In October 1997, ALIR attacked Mudende refugee camp in Gisenyi and killed 300 people injuring 200 others. On 1 March 1999, at Bwindi in the Gorilla Park covering parts of DRC and Uganda, 8 tourists were killed: 5 British, 2 Americans and 1 New Zealander. On 23 May 2005, 19 civilians were hacked to death in Nindja, near Kaniola, by an FDLR militia group. A UN report in May 2005 detailed more than summary executions, rapes and hostage-taking committed by the FDLR in 2004. On 13 August 2004, Burundi’s FNL rebels and Ex-FAR/Interahamwe targeted Congolese civilians, killing at least 160 and injuring over 100 others. The majority of victims were women and children who had fled fighting and insecurity in the DRC’s South Kivu province in June 2004. On March 15, 2007 a United Nations agency said reported that about 226,000 civilians living in the Walungu area in South Kivu suffer atrocities meted out almost daily by Rwandan Hutu rebels operating in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In a news release, MONUC confirmed that on the night of 26 May 2007, a group of 10 to 12 FDLR/ Rastas militiamen attacked the villages of Nyabuluze and Muhungu in the South Kivu Province, killing 18 civilians, among them women and children, and wounding 27. A dozen and a half people were also abducted in the same incident. The attackers used machetes, spears and hammers in the killings reminiscent of the weapons used in 1994 Rwandan genocide. FDLR and other groups identified to them are seenas a band of criminals by the Congolese people. “Rastas are a hodgepodge of FDLR factions. This group kill, kidnap for ransom, and rape civilians around Walungu, South Kivu. There have been rapes, deaths and looting carried out by FDLR elements in the zones of Walungu, Equatorial Forest and Kahuzi Biega Park - just 50 km out of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province and this has resulted in civilians being displaced. The FDLR hide in the forest and take civilians hostage and commit other exactions”. FDLR/FOCA commits atrocities against the Congolese local population and has created frustration and fear wherever they operate. They are involved in violent actions. The Congolese population in their area of operation is coerced to cooperate with them for fear of being killed. There are several cases of harassments and exactions perpetrated by elements of the FDLR against the civilian populations, in particular the illegal collection of taxes and the cases of rapes. 2.2. FDLR: Source of DRC major wars and thedestabilization of entire region In 1996, Rwanda and Uganda intervened militarily into the then Zaire. By that time, despite Rwanda’s early calls for the camps to be shut down, the international attention was focused more on caring for the refugees than separating the genocidaires from ordinary refugees. The few attempts that were made to shut down the camps met with resistance from the refugees who had been told by the extremists that they would face retribution in Rwanda. In 1998,Rwandan and Ugandan regular forces were involved again in a major war on Congo soil. In both cases, this came as a response to security concerns for both countries and originating from the Congo. The major security threat was and is still caused by FDLR. In both cases, the international community and DRC to meet government failed the obligation to counter the threat to international peace and security, and the threat of genocide, posed by the ex-FAR/Interahamwe and other militias using DRC soil as a base from which to launch attacks into neighboring countries. In 1996, Rwanda wanted to preempt a major attackby the former Rwandan army and militia who were reorganizing and re-arming with the support of Mobutu regime and countries. The second Congo war in 1998 at one point involved six African nations and a host of rebel movements. Despite the evidence of security threat caused by FDLR to Rwanda and inaction of the International Community, Rwanda’s intervention in DRC were de-legitimized by some allegations from some countries arguing that Rwanda had territorial and economic ambitions in the Congo. The presence of the ALIR forces and their regular incursions on the Rwandan territory forced the government of Rwanda to attack their bases in the DRC to disarm them. This move made DRC a battle ground. In 2000, following numerous agreements and protocols, Rwandan forces were requested to leave DRC territory and this was implemented in 2002. Years after the RDF departure from DRC, FDLR still operates from there. The ethnic and genocidal ideology and resultant conflict have had a negative impact in many African countries. These include: the People’s Republic of Angola, the Republic of Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of Uganda and Zimbabwe. Tanzania and Zambia have also been affected by the inflow of refugees. The rebels loyal to the former army chief of staff and the current CAR President Francois Bozize, said they had been defeated by virtue of the involvement of the MLC fighters. They affirmed that MLC rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, sent troops to shore up CAR Ex- President Ange-Felix Patasse by fighting Bozizé troops on the ground in 2003 alongside 400 to 500 Ex FAR and Interahamwe. In the Congo Brazzaville conflict, Interahamwe militia and Ex-Rwandan government soldiers who had fled to Congo were involved in fighting on both sides. Even after his victory, Sassou Nguesso claimed the Ex- FAZ, Ex-FAR, and DSP elements were welcomed by Lissouba. The continued presence of FDLR in Congo and the dissemination of their ideology in the region continue to pose a threat to regional and international peace and security. It is a potential cause of conflict and humanitarian crisis not only for the DRC and Rwanda but also for the greater region. TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW