UN Panel of Experts Report on DR Congo: War promoted chaos, increased hardship, looting, and alliances among rebellions
Monday, November 29, 2010
Picture: General Gabriel Amisi Kumba, akaTango Fort, Second in Command of FARDC accused of enriching himself in the war.
In a lengthy report published on November 29, 2010 with number S/2010/596 (see here) and of which AfroAmerica Network has obtained a copy, UN Panel of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) affirm that the war against rebels has failed and only provoked chaos, increased hardship on the population and enriched Congolese government military (FARDC) officers, especially General Gabriel Amisi Kumba aka Tango Fort, Second in command of FARDC.
“ President Joseph Kabila has publicly recognized that the involvement of
criminal networks within the Forces armées de la République démocratique du
Congo (FARDC) in the illegal exploitation of natural resources has created a conflict
of interest with the army’s constitutional security mandate. This involvement has led
to pervasive insubordination, competing chains of command, failure to actively
pursue armed groups, amounting in certain cases to collusion, and neglect of civilian
protection. Criminal involvement can range from illegal taxation, protection rackets
and indirect commercial control, to more direct coercive control. Taken together, the
consequences of this involvement in the exploitation of natural resources by
networks within FARDC are an important cause of insecurity and conflict in the
eastern part of the country,” says the Report in its introduction.
The report also points to the increased repression within Rwanda and especially to the flight of former Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) high ranking military officers and attempts by various Rwandan rebellions to form alliances:
Para 73. Several independent sources, including one in Kampala and one within FPLC,
informed the Group that FRF had agreed to join the FPLC coalition, all alleging,
without providing further details, that those contacts may have been facilitated by
Kayumba Nyamwasa, the dissident former Rwandan general
Para 163. Another challenge to the CNDP integration process has been the collaboration
of certain former CNDP officers with armed groups. MONUSCO debriefings with
former combatants repatriated to Rwanda indicate communication and collaboration
between certain elements within CNDP and FDLR in 2010 (see paras. 87 and 88).
164. In addition, according to credible testimony from various sources, former
CNDP officers have been in contact with Rwandan political dissidents in South
Africa, including Patrick Karegeye, the former head of Rwandan intelligence, and
Lieutenant General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who survived an assassination
attempt in June 2010 in Johannesburg. The Group directly witnessed a conversation
between Karegeye and former CNDP FARDC officers in the eastern part of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo in September. According to United Nations
sources and combatants interviewed by the Group, Kayumba may have sent an
emissary to meet with FDLR, FPLC and Mai Mai leaders in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo in February.
Para 102. The Group has received numerous credible reports of contacts aiming to
reunite FDLR-FOCA and RUD-Urunana initiated by Kanyamibwa, who is based in
New Jersey. His brother, Emmanuel Munyaruguru, who is the RUD representative in
Norway, was chosen to mediate between the parties. A former FOCA combatant
close to “Colonel” “Kalume” Nzabamwita, commander of the reserve brigade,
confirmed that FOCA-RUD reconciliation was the main topic of a week-long
meeting of commanding officers held in April 2010.
On the basis of the report, UN Security Council adopted a resolution, SC/10096 extending sanctions and the mendate of the UN Experts to November 30, 2017 (Here)
©AfroAmerica Network, November 2010.
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