-
Source: Reuters -
Related
The massive UN peacekeeping effort in eastern Congo has failed
to deliver a knockout blow to Rwandan rebels while local insurgents
have seized new territory under its nose, United Nations experts
said.
Far from resolving the root causes of the violence, the presence of
the world's biggest peacekeeping mission has aggravated the
conflict in North and South Kivu provinces, the report said.
"Military operations have...not succeeded in neutralising the FDLR
(Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), have exacerbated
the humanitarian crisis in the Kivus and have resulted in an
expansion of CNDP military influence in the region," the group
said, referring to Congolese Tutsi CNDP insurgents.
Congo's army, backed by the 25,000-strong UN force, launched an
offensive against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of
Rwanda earlier this year as part of a deal to improve ties with
neighbouring Rwanda, its enemy during a 1998-2003 war.
In return for Congo's pledges to stamp out the Hutu rebels, some of
whom helped orchestrate Rwanda's 1994 genocide, Kigali arrested
General Laurent Nkunda, whose CNDP insurgents were then integrated
into the army.
While the UN Security Council has twice voted to continue
peacekeeper support for the operations, rights groups and aid
agencies have decried the displacement of more than a million
villagers, thousands of rapes, and hundreds of killings.
Despite the surrender of more than 1,200 of its estimated
6,000-to-8,000 fighters, the FDLR continues to replenish its ranks
through the active recruitment of both Congolese and Rwandan Hutus,
the group said.
The rebels benefit from support networks in Africa, Europe and
North America, as well as financing from its control of the east's
lucrative tin deposits despite the army's efforts to push them out
of mining areas.
"The Group calculates that the FDLR could earn at least several
hundred thousand dollars and up to a few million dollars a year
from this trade," said the report, which is due to be discussed by
the Security Council.
The most aggressive operations against the FDLR have been
spearheaded by hastily integrated former CNDP units, some of which
are under the command of General Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted for
war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
Officials from Congo's UN mission, known as MONUC, have repeatedly
denied Ntaganda's involvement in the operations, which it is
backing with logistical and operational support including
helicopter firepower.
However, the group found that Ntaganda had ordered troop
deployments, has established a parallel taxation scheme in
CNDP-controlled areas taking in $343,227 per month and has
centralised control of hidden weapons caches.
"General Bosco Ntaganda was enforced by both Kinshasa and Kigali as
the de facto military head of the CNDP, with specific instructions
to manage and control former CNDP elements integrated in the
(army)," the report said.
Under Ntaganda's management, integrated CNDP units are accused by
the group of experts of widespread abuses including killings, rape,
torture, forced labour, looting and extortion.
"Ex-CNDP units have also forcibly displaced large numbers of
civilians...in order to find grazing areas for cattle being brought
in from Rwanda," the report said.
Militias grow
As CNDP-controlled units have advanced into new territory,
ethnically-based Mai Mai militias, who claim to protect local
villagers, have grown in numbers and allied themselves with the
FDLR, forming a united front against the army operations.
CNDP commanders have reacted by murdering civilians they accuse of
collaborating with the Mai Mai and FDLR.
Earlier this month, the UN suspended its support to army units it
believed were responsible for killing around 60 civilians in
operations against the Mai Mai.
The group of experts suggested this may not be enough.
"The Group...underlines the possible contradiction within MONUC's
mandate to protect civilians on a priority basis, and that of
providing logistic support the (army), while the latter continues
to commit abuses against the civilian population," the report
said.
