Trying to understand and give some context to the renewal of conflict in the DRC is extremely difficult. I recently spoke briefly with Dieudonné Wedi who is a DRC national and a human rights defender who has written on the violence perpetrated on women and children, for his thoughts on the present crisis.

SE: What is your thoughts on the origins of the conflict?

DW: When in 1996, the Rwandese president Paul Kangame backed the rebellion led by the Laurent Desire Kabila who latter overthrew Mobutu one of the former Congolese president and become president, the reason was that Rwanda was backing Laurent desire Kabila in order to eradicate the presence of those responsible of genocide in 1994 in Rwanda, but later on it was shown that Rwanda was looting Congolese natural resources.

Indeed, Rwanda with RCD a rebellion backed by Rwanda occupied the Eastern DRC for three years where those responsible of genocide are based but they could not eradicate them because they (Rwanda and RCD) were more busy looting natural resource than fighting those criminal. Thus the real origin of the conflict is the need of access and exploitation of the mineral resource and the land occupation.

SE: Do you think the mining multinationals have any contribution to the conflict

DW: Yes, indeed, many reports released by ONGs and UN panel have confirmed the involvement of multinational and mining,

SE: What are your thoughts on the UN - the reports we get is that they are not doing enough by far:

DW: The current problem of the UN peacekeeper is the mandate. Instead of being a peacemaker force, the current is a peacekeeper. Those who are supposed to make peace in DRC case are those who are fighting and none of them are willing any peace. Indeed, peace in Eastern seems not to be a common concern. The conflict allows the looting of Congolese natural resource, traffic of weapon and other illegal practice through which multinational, arm groups, neighbouring countries as well as individual are earning a lot of money. Thus, instead of waiting for those involved in conflict to make peace the better way will be for international community to oppose peace because the main objective of those who perpetuate conflict in Eastern DRC is to keep this area in state of a no man land..

SE: You have written many times child soldiers and violence such as rape against women. Are these kind of violence still taking place in the present conflict?

DW: Unfortunately once again sexual violence remains a weapon in conflict in eastern DRC. The impunity is one of reason encouraging the practice ; The recruitment of child soldier is one of the worse thing happening in conflict in DRC. But we have to distinguish two kinds of recruitment of child soldier.

Those who abduct children as soldier and those who recruit them through promise of money and other advantage they can get by being soldier. But all those recruitments have to be condemned and those responsible prosecuted.

SE: Do you think this is a problem from the Tutsi fighting the Hutu in DRC or more complex

DW: The problem is more complex than Tutsi fighting Hutu because the real reason of conflict is the looting of natural resource of DRC and the research to occupy the land .The current rebellion is backed by Rwanda which is interested by land and natural resource of DRC. Of course there are those who committed genocide in Rwanda but their presence becomes a pretext for Rwanda to explain his presence in DRC because the same Rwanda and the previous rebellion backed by Rwanda the RCD had occupied the eastern DRC for three years where are based those responsible of genocide without ending their presence.

In my opinion, Nkunda is just playing a role: To create and maintain a state of conflict in Eastern DRC in order to allow Rwanda to loot and try to gain a piece of land which will be one day claimed like Kosovo was. The RCD, the previous rebellion played the some role.

Dieudonné Wedi is an expert in the transitional justice field. He is research and publishing peace building, conflict resolution, reconciliation and implementation of democracy.

Tags:
DRC

Park Ranger, Benjamin Mujinya from the Virunga National Park recounts how the rebels killed his father.

DRC;
Virunga National Park;

“Half-baked software” or not Ushahidi makes a timely deployment to map the conflict in the DRC

The mobile number to send SMS reports to is +243992592111.

For more on the “fight for DRC resources” see this piece by Mandisi Majavu

It is reported that the cutback on tin production, which has forced tin buyers to rely on the metal from the DRC, is likely to remain in effect until the rest of the year. According to Reuters, the renewed fighting in the DRC has had a ‘disproportionately large effect on tin prices as international buyers increasing rely on the relatively small producer’ - the DRC as major producer Indonesia cuts output. “Benchmark tin prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed at $15,225 per tonne on Wednesday, up 31 percent since Oct. 27, the day after heavily-armed rebel troops began marching toward major eastern city and tin trading centre Goma” says Reuters.

AFP reports that what prevented Laurent Nkunda and his men from completely taking over Goma was the UN peacekeeping forces, which used helicopter gunships to stall the rebel advance. The idea of Laurent Nkunda capturing the city of Goma makes global capitalists anxious to say the least Continued………………. .

TAGS:
DRC
Ushahidi

Today’s BBC reports rapes and killings by rebels and DRC forces as 250,000 people are displaced hiding in the bush or simply trekking along roads to nowhere. One only has to listen to stories by asylum seekers and refugees in the UK to know what horrors women, children and men are faced with. Most of the reports in the media explain the conflict in terms of rebels and Congolese forces, Tutsis, Hutus - yet more African tribal warfare and unspeakable acts of violence. These simplistic explanations are easy and do not require much thought just use the copy from a few years ago or from some other conflict.

Sidebar
I listened to a report from the DRC on photographer Rankin who has documented life in the DRC with his exhibition of people. Asked why, he responds that people don’t want to hear about doom and gloom so happy photos instead. Well surprise surprise there are real people in the DRC - they laugh, love, fight, have babies, go to work, work the farms, fish, go to school - that is the reality as much as the reality is that right now and for the last 20 years hundreds of thousands have lived in an almost constant state of terror. We don’t need happy photos to know people live!

Back to the conflict. Take this Q&A from the BBC site

What is the conflict about?

For years fighting in DR Congo has been fuelled the country’s vast mineral wealth.

DR Congo is about the size of western Europe, but with no road or rail links from one side of the country to the other. That makes it easy for all sides in a conflict to take advantage of any anarchy and plunder natural resources.

And

Why has the fighting broken out again?

It is not entirely clear.

But Gen Nkunda has always said he is fighting to protect his Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide.

The Congolese government has often promised to stop the Hutu forces from using its territory, but has not done so.

But the truth is far more complex and much deeper than these cheap explanations. Johann Harris provides some real depth and home truths. We are all culpable in the conflict and the West’s uabated greed and desire for the many mineral resources in the Eastern Congo. Describing those involved as the “armies of business” whose aim it is to “seize the metals that make our 21st-century society zing and bling”. The BBC and other media present what Harris calls the “official story” quoted above, one that conveniently ignores Western complicity and the true story, one which has been around for 200years.
[Read more…]

“Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms,”

Links: Playstation Wars

Tags:
Coltan
Sony Play Station
DRC