RWANDA SOLDIERS IN DRC: AN UNDOUBTABLE REALITY

The Rwandan army has intervened in eastern DR Congo in recent months, directly and in support of armed groups, according to a report by experts commissioned by the United Nations. This report is corroborated by testimonies of populations neighboring the border between Rwanda and DRC either Rwandan or Congolese who perceived columns of troops crossing Kabuhanga border entering the soil of the DRC. It is confirmed by some medical staff from Kanombe Military Hospital, Ruhengeri Reference Hospital and Rubavu Hospital who could not bear to keep secret with regard to the parents of the victims having to mourn theirs without being able to bury them given that it’s them who daily take care of military seriously injured, corpses to burry in the greatest secrecy far from foreign observers. Who really benefits from this war? Why do Rwandan children continue to shed their blood there without the knowledge of the international community still deceived by the Rwandan political lie?

Facts 

Since November 2021, the Rwandan army has “launched military interventions against Congolese armed groups and positions of the Congolese Armed Forces”, according to this report sent to the UN Security Council and consulted Thursday August 4 by AFP.

Experts say Kigali also “provided troop reinforcements to the M23 for specific operations, particularly when these aimed to seize cities and strategic areas”. The March 23 Movement (M23) is a former Tutsi-dominated rebellion defeated in 2013, which took up arms again at the end of last year to demand the application of an agreement signed with Kinshasa. Since the end of March, the frequency and intensity of the fighting has increased drastically: the M23 has taken over parts of Rutshuru territory, up to tens of kilometers north of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. This report of the group of experts refutes the denials of the Rwandan authorities and details, with supporting evidence, the direct involvement of Rwanda “unilaterally or jointly with the combatants of the M23” in the east of the DR Congo.

On June 13, the strategic town of Bunagana (50 km north of Goma), a commercial crossroads on the Ugandan border, was taken by the M23 after clashes. Drone images provided by Monusco, amateur videos and photos and eyewitnesses establish the presence of the Rwandan armed forces and/or the transfer of their equipment to the M23, in and around the town of Bunagana, the day before and the day before the attack. The Group adds that “eyewitnesses and researchers reported minimal passive complacency by the Ugandan army at the border, which allowed M23 fighters to cross the border” to attack the town.

Columns of Rwandan soldiers observed “repeatedly”

The report states that “on several occasions, aerial images showed large columns of up to 500 armed men near the borders of the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, moving in a very organized manner and carrying a uniforms and standardized military equipment (uniforms and helmets very similar to those of the RDF)”, the Rwandan armed forces. Two weeks before the assault on Bunagana on May 25, the largest Congolese military base in Rutshuru was under heavy fire from mortars and automatic weapons. The Group writes that “the M23 and the RDF jointly attacked the FARDC camp at Rumangabo”.

Made up of 900 to 1,000 men according to estimates, the Rwandan columns “cut the RN2 for several days” and “attacked and dislodged the FARDC from their positions” along this road, vital for Goma. At the same time, “combatants from armed groups supported by some members of the FARDC launched a counterattack on May 26, 2022”, notes the Group. A video filmed that day and shared on social networks shows militiamen singing and dancing in the Rumangabo camp after its reconquest. On 9 June, during a visit to this camp, the experts were able to observe and photograph members of armed groups alongside the FARDC.

Benevolent gaze of Congolese army officers

An ad hoc coalition of armed groups – including some enemies – formed in May under the benevolent gaze of Congolese army officers, the report said. Contacted by the Group, “leaders of armed groups, combatants and ex-combatants confirmed their involvement – alone or jointly with some FARDC soldiers – in fighting against M23 and/or RDF troops” and confirmed having “received arms and ammunition from certain members of the FARDC on several occasions”. The report adds that at the end of May and the beginning of June 2022, nearly 300 Rwandan soldiers carried out operations on Congolese soil against predominantly Hutu armed groups: the FDLR and the CMC/FDP (Collective of movements for change/Forces de Défense People). The FDLR, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda, is an armed group founded in Congo by former dignitaries of the Rwandan genocidal regime on the run. Presented as a threat by Kigali, the existence – and the violence – of this militia has justified past Rwandan interventions in Congolese territory and its support for the rebellions that were fighting them.

Analysis of facts 

The culture of lies that often marked the Rwandan diplomacy is progressively unmasked by undoubted facts.

Position of Rwanda

The Rwandan authorities shamelessly castigate this accusation by denying their role in the conflict but while defending the cause of the rebels.”Through our Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as our Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Rwanda has made its position clear, we have no interest in a crisis and will not respond to baseless accusations,” he told AFP in Kigali Yolande Makolo, government spokesperson. “We don’t comment on rumors,” Rwandan army spokesman Colonel Ronald Rwivanga also said. The government of Rwanda says that it is a mistake to confuse the measures Rwanda has put in place to protect the security of its borders and to help armed groups in the DRC.

The Government of Rwanda has announced that this way of accusing it of supporting armed groups is an old game aimed at weakening the efforts made by the country leaders to seek lasting peace through the talks in Nairobi and Luanda, which Rwanda has expressed its support for. Rwanda declares that it has the right to the security of the country and to protect its borders and people to avoid cross-border attacks.

The statement says “Rwanda’s sovereignty has been threatened in recent years by the Congolese FARDC and FDLR forces, including the indiscriminate attack that took place in October 2019 in Kinigi, a tourist area in the north of Rwanda, which killed 14 citizens innocent.

Rwanda declares that trying to solve difficult problems by submitting false accusations to the Kinshasa State does not produce stable results, as it has been achieved by fabricating lies as evidenced by actions by the Kinshasa State such as the Killing of Kishishe, the Government of the DRC called M23, which is spread quickly without investigation by any credible agency, although it was revealed that the incident was a war between the M23 and armed groups allied with the FARDC. The Government of Rwanda declares that these false allegations published by the Government of Kinshasa are full of chaos. Rwanda accuses the international community of not being willing to deal with the conflict in the East of the DRC, and calls for a real role for the government and donors, especially the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).), has been operating in Eastern DRC for 22 years, spending billions of US dollars a year, but has yet to find a solution to the security situation in Eastern DRC.

Indirect confession of Kagame: si vis pacem para bellum 

It was during an interview where different journalists from many African countries were invited, and it is an interview there has been recalled that the Rwandan army is restoring peace in Mozambique and the Central African Republic. President Kagame was asked about information according to which the leaders of the DRC are planning to attack Rwanda and he replied quoting a Latin maxim meaning that if you want peace you prepare war adding: it is what Congolese want but it seems as a dream; we are stronger than what they can imagine “. He continues to say that regional leaders continue to advise Congolese to opt for negotiations, but as such leaders do not know what they want and remain stubborn I will retaliate violently and without any excuse.

He finally unclosed to the journalist who was asking him: “Go and sleep quietly, nothing will trouble you because Rwanda has been prepared for a long time and nothing not disturb its security”.

Towards instauration of Hima Empire 

When the war in Mozambique ended, Sudan’s ended, and Uganda’s ended. Uganda was captured in 1986 supported by Rwandan refugees. In 1990, Rwanda followed to invade and it was occupied four years later. One year later, Zaire was attacked but after it was captured, Kabila driven by patriotism began to expel Rwandans who were in the Congolese government. The act of expelling the Rwandans seemed to weaken the plan to continue to rule the Congo. After Kabila was killed due to Rwandan conspiracy, Rwanda continued to wage war in the east under the pretext of fighting the FDLR. The little brains of Museveni and Kagame fooled by an excessive thirst for power and naively think that the Whites supported them because they love them. However, evidence has shown that both Museveni and Kagame who are currently in power are tools for the personal interests of some of the politicians in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Where did the idea of ​​Pan-Africanism come from? It was just words mixed with the colors of the womb. Museveni admitted having assassinated John Garang because he had already shown that he would not facilitate the Americans in the plan to drill for oil in South Sudan. At that time Museveni resolved to compromise Laurent Désiré Kabila as diversion because he was starting to fail. Museveni is doing all this in the profit of the Americans and the British because they threatened him that they will support the “opposition” that will remove him now that Ugandans are already scared and tired of Museveni.

For Kagame, it is still difficult for Rwandans to rise up and fight against him because he terrorized them since 1990 when he showed himself as a ruthless killer of people by torturing children, disemboweling women, hanging men, strangling veterans and the elderly. This increased when he took power where he continued to hurt people by using bones hanging all over the place and speeches that make Rwandans feel that they are worthless, that to be valuable you have to kneel down and applaud him. So now the Rwandans in the country undergo a great crisis, which caused a generalized famine and put them constantly under stress of life without having time to think about how to deal with the tyranny. So again, they say that if you don’t eat it (the hunger) you won’t get rid of it. You don’t wait until you are hungry to work and food comes from working, that is, we should be poor and continue to fight against tyranny if we want to recover.

Who backs Kagame? 

Westerns who supported the RPF to take power in 1994 are still behind the Kigali regime tolerating its flagrant violations of international law whereby it dares aggressing its neighbors.

1) The British:

One of Kagame’s advisers is the former British prime minister, Tony Blair. It is amazing to see a country like the UK that teaches other respect for the principles of democracy and it keeps quiet while Rwandan politicians are daily being killed and imprisoned for nothing. It is sad and deplorable to see a person like Tony Blair remain silent while the Rwandan president whose he is a consultant and a special advisor is involved in countless reports accused of violating the sovereignty of another country. Could it be due to the fact that Congo doesn’t speak English? Great Britain went too far when it supported Rwanda’s acceptance into the Commonwealth of Nations. However, among the principles of this organization there is an important one called “Agreeing to disagree”. It is surprising that a country like Rwanda violates this principle and no one raises a finger. This can be considered as if what Kagame is doing has been advised by Tony Blair. The fact is that Tony Blair did not publicly say that he was different from Kagame!

 The newspaper The Daily Telegraph returned to the extreme silence of the British nation on the war in Congo. Van Woudenberg, head of research at Human Rights Watch in the East Africa region, told this newspaper that it is frightening to see how higher British politicians who have ties to Kagame are silent while the war that was started by Rwanda and that keeps on raging in the region, Woudenberg added that the fact that Rwanda is denying what it is accused of is baseless because it denied it in 1996, it denied it in 1998, it denied it in 2008 in 2012 and then everything was found to be false.

2) Americans

Even though the Americans go through and rebuke Kagame, it’s pure theory with no tangible result because they don’t take any effective measures against him. From shortly before Ingabire Victoire was imprisoned and his lawyer was imprisoned, President Obama gave a great speech in Ghana that had given many Africans (especially the youth) the confidence that Africa needs strong administrative structures, that it does not need rulers who become giants (Africa needs strong institutions not strong leaders). Kagame was among those Obama was talking to. After Ingabire’s lawyer Prof Peter Erlinder was arrested by Kagame’s police and imprisoned, the United States put pressure on Kagame until Erlinder was released. However, no pressure has been placed on Ingabire’s dossier and it is known that it was groundless. It is evident that the Obama administration did not support Kagame, but it lacked the courage to exert a pressure on their politicians who backed Kagame to stop supporting this tyrant. These are especially the former president Bill Clinton and Pastor Rick Warren. Even if these two men, Clinton and Warren, did not say anything, visiting Rwanda (now that Warren was granted citizenship) means taking Kagame’s back, and protecting him when he is there and oppresses the people of the country unjustly. In law, this is called complicity, therefore, the punishment to be inflicted to Kagame should be extended to them too.

The United States of America built its embassy in Kigali a few meters away from President Kagame’s office. So, it is well known that the intelligence of the United States of America in the embassy attracts everything that is said and done in the office of His Excellency Kagame. To say that the United States of America did not know for sure that Rwanda is the one who started the war in Congo would be a black joke. However, Kagame is a person who sometimes wants to be independent and hates to be used. This made the Americans start blackmailing Kagame.

The first threat to Kagame is the Mapping report that accuses Kagame of having committed genocide that was published on 1/10/2010, so that Kagame starts to panic and thus realizes that his life is in the hands of the Americans. In order to silence this report, Kagame went to the United States of America for “negotiations” from where he took a second breath.

The second threat is the case of Charles Taylor. In this case, Taylor was accused exactly like what Kagame is accused of. Before it was read, the press announced that it should be read by presidents like Taylor.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper of then reported that the United States of America has said that it is ready to reduce some of the military aid given to Rwanda in order to weaken Kagame’s war in Congo. But if you look closely, they are also just words. If it is true, there will be an “arms embargo” that will have a way.

These threats added to the previous ones such as arrest warrants of the French and those of Spain and the information held by the security agencies of the United States of America regarding the shooting down of President Habyarimana’s plane, make Kagame no longer a free person. Even if he seems apparently independent, but he became a fearful person because he feels that his fate is in the hands of the superpowers of this world. The party or the rhetoric of self-respect and anti-colonialism that was spoken now turned into a demand for the value and replacement of French-speaking colonialism with English-speaking subservience. Therefore, a ruler who does not have the independence of the parliament is no longer able to rule the country even if he takes it by force.

Conclusion

While the Rwandan leaders of the country admit internally that they have sent troops to the DRC to fight the FDLR; while the so-called M23 is really known as the RDF; while we are surrounded by parents whose children were sent to the east of the DRC at the battle field and where ones have started to succumb to enemy’s bullets there and others seriously wounded and hospitalized  in the Hospital of Rubavu; and in the Reference Hospital of Musanze because the military hospital of Kanombe is overloaded of casualties; Rwandan authorities deliver another version of facts when affording external audience whereby they are accused of being part of M23 in the DRC and deny any support to those rebels who are nothing but battalions from Rwanda Defense Forces. Moreover, very recently when he had just closed the national conference when he was answering questions from journalists, the Rwandan head of state confirmed that they had been preparing for this war for a long time. Is it conceivable to prepare for a war which does not concern you? In law without interest no action. Belligerents from both sides daily die; but if FARDC fall on the battlefield defending their country against the aggressor; for which cause are succumbing RDF soldiers on the DRC soil?