Congo’s mass killing fields

Congo alleges that Rwanda, whose president, Paul Kagame, had Nkunda in his army, backs him now. Rwanda accuses Congo of being in cahoots with the Hutu militias. Both deny the charges.

Because Rwanda and Congo distrust each other, neither is willing to act against the rebel groups that the other side fears, according to Arthur Kepel, Congo analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

Sinamenye, who grew up herding cattle in Nkunda’s native village of Jomba, says that the violence has shredded relations between Tutsis and other communities in Congo.

“I grew up with Tutsis, we were cow-herders together.” he said. “Now I can’t trust them. Always when they come they just come to kill.” While not all Tutsis agree with Nkunda’s rebellion, many complain of being considered foreigners and the targets of discrimination because they speak Rwanda’s national language. The state has backed several persecutions, they say. Since 1994, Hutu extremist militias that escaped Kagame’s forces by fleeing to Congo have repeatedly attacked and killed Tutsis in both Rwanda and Congo.

Makeshift Tents

Within two days of the fighting for Kiwanja, 5,000 people crowded together in a settlement of makeshift tents made from donated plastic sheeting wedged between a rice paddy and a base of the UN peacekeeping force in the town.

Until a settlement in eastern Congo is reached, farmers such as Sinamenye are too scared to return to their land, where the beans, corn and peanuts they once produced helped North Kivu export produce to the capital, Kinshasa, 1,700 kilometers to the west. Now his seven surviving children go hungry.

Outside his square mud house with a red corrugated iron roof a pot bubbled away as two of Sinamenye’s children played in the dust. His wife was away looking for food.

“We eat roots now,” he said. “They are for pigs, but we have to eat them.”

Sinamenye said he doesn’t know when he will be able to walk the roughly 10 kilometers to retrieve the body of Maisha, whom he described as a bright boy and eager learner, and bury him.

“There were so many people who were killed,” Sinamenye said. “I can’t go over there and risk my life.”

1|2

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email