The language of the weapons
The east of the Congo is, roughly speaking, corroded for 12 years by a cruel war for its ground and fertile soil. The conflict has many facets, but finds its actual origin in the people assassination in neighboring country Rwanda, back in 1994.
After that and the following power seizure by the troops of the current Rwandan strong man Paul Kagame, there was a massive refugee flow to Congo.
The pictures of the enormous refugee camps in the district of Goma, where many people died of the impact of infection diseases such as cholera, have been burned on many people’s retina.
But among those Rwandan refugees were also many radical Hutu's, who have made themselves guilty to people assassination in their home country. The new regime in Kigali started in 1996 a cleaning operation in the refugee camps.
At the same time the regime of former Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko appeared awfully weak. A year later rebel leader Laurent Désiré Kabila would march, in some months time, from eastern Congo to Kinshasa in the west of the country.
As for Mobutu, the only possibility he had was to take off as soon as possible. Kabila became the new strong man in Kinshasa, with the support of its Rwandan allies. In the east of the Congo the peace returned, unfortunately not for too long.
The “Rwandans” stir themselves
In 1998, Kabila gave the Tutsi in his government the outside guard. As from then, “Rwandan” became a curse word in the Congolese capital. Later, this would turn its back on Kinshasa, because promptly two new rebel movements arose in the east of the country, supported by respectively Rwanda and Uganda.
War violence burst again. The rebels, but also Uganda and Rwanda, could finance their war with the turnovers of the Congolese soil.
The Congolese government could hardly offer capacitance and had call for the support of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.
During the period 2002-2003 peace agreements were signed which led to a true peace process, democratic elections in the Congo and a regime under the guidance of Joseph Kabila. The weapons seemed to be silent once and for all. Democracy yes, peace no.
The democratization process in Congo can be called a positive tale, but in the east the restlessness returned.
This time Laurent Nkunda and his rebel movement “Congrès National Pour la Défense du Peuple” (CNDP) raised their voices. Nkunda claims to represent the interests of the Congolese Tutsi population, but he also gets the support from Rwanda.
For its fueling, the CNCP can count on the regime of Paul Kagame in Kigali that it is also dominated by the Tutsi. According to some sources, there are also Rwandan troops on Congolese territory, but that is not confirmed by independent sources.
It is certain, however, that the over-populated Rwanda has the need for more agriculture ground and for that it looks in western direction. The presence of former Hutu-rebels form seems to be the ideal alibi for Kigali to fasten on the fight by means of Nkunda. The presence of minerals in the eastern Congolese soil have been nicely taken along.
How wealth can also mean poverty
The violence in eastern Congo has already made an estimated 5.5 million deadly victims: such as 250,000 Rwandan victims, 10 to 15,000 Congolese citizen deaths and such a 5.4 million indirect victims.
In other words, the major majority has not succumbed in under the war violence itself, but became the victim of infant mortality, epidemics, banal infections or malaria.
The region can perhaps be immensely rich under its soil, the Congolese population of North-Kivu undergoes only the negative impact of this wealth.
They came from the east
The Tutsi or Watutsi initially descend from eastern Africa, supposedly Ethiopia, and descended to Central-Africa in the 11th century. Today they live mainly in the area of the Great Lakes.
In the 16th century, the area Tutsi monarchies arose. The Tutsi were stock breeders and became the aristocratic class in current Rwanda and Burundi. Their king - the mwami - governed as an absolute monarch.
The ethnic tensions between the Tutsi and the local Hutu population are secular and are exploited during the colonial administration of the Belgians.
Even after the independence of Rwanda, Burundi and Congo, there have been regular conflicts. They frequently degenerated into true massacres where ten thousands or even hundred thousands of victims fell. The Rwandan people assassination of 1994 was the sad peak.
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