Congolese Citizens Caught in Crossfire of Battle for Region’s Lucrative Resources

A quarter of a million people have been displaced in fighting between government forces and rebel militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where reports of rape, looting and murders of civilians continue to rise. We speak to Maurice Carney of Friends of the Congo about the varying regional and international actors fueling the conflict.

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: The United Nations is poised to send an additional 3,000 troops to the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where reports of rape, looting and murders of civilians by both government and rebel forces continue to rise. A quarter of a million people have been displaced since rebel forces led by General Laurent Nkunda advanced towards the provincial capital of Goma this August.

The United Nations has accused both the Congolese army and Nkunda’s forces of committing war crimes during the latest violence. Goma is now ringed with refugee camps, but rebel leaders ordered displaced people staying near the United Nations peacekeeping compound to return to their homes. Many are scared of going back. MAMY CHIBALONZA: [translated] We are afraid to go back, because they rape women, and they rob us, too. They rape women of all ages. DISPLACED CONGOLESE WOMAN: [translated] The new occupants told us to go home, and if we don’t go home, they will shoot at us.


AMY GOODMAN: The UN Secretary-General called for a ceasefire Monday to allow aid workers to reach refugees in rebel-held areas. But it’s unclear when the fighting will stop.

Neighboring Angola has announced it will send troops to assist the Congolese army, and rebel leader Nkunda has vowed to attack any foreign troops that enter the conflict. Some reports indicate Rwandan army soldiers have been fighting alongside General Nkunda, but Rwanda denies backing the rebel leader.

Meanwhile, Congolese activists in Belgium protested outside the US embassy Wednesday, calling on the US to end its support for the governments of both Rwanda and the DRC. HENRI MUKE: [translated] We are asking the US to officially condemn Kagame and to try to get more troops in the DRC in order to stabilize, because today the Congolese government is not able to ensure the security of the population and the integrity of the territory. So we need the help of the foreign troops to end all of that.


AMY GOODMAN: I am joined now here in Washington, D.C. by Maurice Carney. He’s the co-founder and executive director of the advocacy group Friends of the Congo.

Maurice, welcome to Democracy Now! Tell us the latest, and especially in a country like ours that is so insulated, even though the global power in the world. Just explain where the Congo is, and set this in a geopolitical context for us.

MAURICE CARNEY: Certainly. Thank you for having us on today, Amy, to talk about this very vital situation. The Congolese people are on the verge of experiencing another humanitarian catastrophe, one that they’ve really experienced over the last twelve years.

Congo itself is located in the heart of Africa. It’s literally and figuratively the fulcrum on which Africa swings. It’s the size of western Europe, bordered by nine other African countries. So, when something happens in the Congo, it affects not only its neighbors, but the entire African continent. And it’s the geostrategic storehouse of minerals that are central or vital to the functioning of modern technology, as well as the US and Western aerospace and military industries. So it’s a critical country not only for the African continent, but for the world as a whole.

AMY GOODMAN: So, explain the latest developments right now in the Congo, in eastern Congo, and the role of Rwanda. And then I’ll ask you about the United States.

MAURICE CARNEY: Well, the latest development is a result of what’s been transpiring for the last twelve years or so. The central question that we see in the Congo is, who’s going to control Congo’s wealth, and for whose benefit? Wangari Maathai, the Nobel laureate, said that these wars, when you look at them, it’s about who’s going to control the resources. And this conflict in the Congo that we see today is a resource conflict.

And the latest expression of this resource conflict is Laurent Nkunda’s rebel group, that is trying to capture and control resource-rich areas in eastern Congo, that’s backed up by the Rwandan government, who has invaded the Congo twice, first in 1996 and again in 1998, with the full backing of the United States and other Western nations. And this is according to congressional testimony that was held in 2001 when Cynthia McKinney and Tom Tancredo had hearings on the situation in the Congo, where you had experts under oath documenting US involvement or backing of the invasions.

AMY GOODMAN: What is the scope of the killings right now, and who is actually doing them? Who is Nkunda?

MAURICE CARNEY: Nkunda is a former member of the Rwandan m

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