Dissident DRC officer seeks refuge in Rwanda Helen Vesperini

CYANGUGU, Rwanda – A dissident Congolese army officer yesterday was in neighbouring Rwanda with some 300 men, a day after regular troops chased them from a town in the east of the former Zaire, a powder keg region to where Kinshasa has sent massive reinforcements.

Colonel Jules Mutebusi, who crossed the frontier on Monday, told reporters near the border town of Cyangugu that he would stay in Rwanda until the transition government in Kinshasa “solved problems to allow us to return” to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Rwandan army spokesman Colonel Patrick Karegeya said Mutebusi and his men had arrived from the Congolese town of Kamanyola, retaken by government forces Monday, and that all had been disarmed.”I have received no support” from Kigali, said Mutebusi, dressed in uniform but without officer’s stripes or any sign of belonging to the DRC army.Rwanda has repeatedly denied Kinshasa’s allegation that it backed dissident troops in eastern DRC.On Monday, the Congolese army said it had retaken Kamanyola, about 40 kilometres south of Bukavu, the Sud-Kivu provincial capital which men led by Mutebusi and a fellow dissident officer captured and held for a week earlier this month.The other officer, General Laurent Nkunda, justified the takeover saying fellow Congolese Tutsis in the area were victims of a “genocide” perpetrated by government forces.A UN investigation found no grounds for the claim.After peacefully pulling out of Bukavu on June 9, Nkunda’s men headed to Minovoa, a town about 50 kilometres to the north.Monday’s clashes involved the dissident troops, most of whom, like their leaders, are drawn from the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), a former rebel group which Rwandan troops backed during DRC’s 1998-2003 war and which is now in a unity government.The recent unrest led South African President Thabo Mbeki to express concern over a “potentially catastrophic” new conflict between the two states.Some 30,000 Congolese have fled clashes in the area for neighbouring Burundi since June 9.Congolese President Joseph Kabila has accused Rwanda of backing the takeover of Bukavu to try to “prevent the effective reunification of (the DRC) and the restoration of state authority across the national territory.”DRC Defence Minister and RCD veteran Jean-Pierre Ondekane said Monday that more than 10,000 government troops massed in the eastern corner of DRC did not constitute a threat for its neighbours.He said that between 9,000 and 12,000 extra troops were needed, including “5,000 men to be sent by air” to deal with the situation in the east.Residents of three eastern DRC towns, Uvira, Kindu and Beni, told AFP they had seen the troop reinforcements.”This certainly constitutes a threat to our security,” said the Rwandan army spokesman.Nkunda claimed that the reinforcements were looking for a fight.”They are coming, as it were, to liberate Nord-Kivu, they want to fight,” Nkunda told AFP, dismissing the official explanation that the reinforcements had been deployed to push ahead with the troubled process of integrating former rebels and regular troops into DRC’s new national army.Most of the soldiers based in Nord-Kivu are former RCD fighters.- Nampa-AFPRwandan army spokesman Colonel Patrick Karegeya said Mutebusi and his men had arrived from the Congolese town of Kamanyola, retaken by government forces Monday, and that all had been disarmed.”I have received no support” from Kigali, said Mutebusi, dressed in uniform but without officer’s stripes or any sign of belonging to the DRC army.Rwanda has repeatedly denied Kinshasa’s allegation that it backed dissident troops in eastern DRC.On Monday, the Congolese army said it had retaken Kamanyola, about 40 kilometres south of Bukavu, the Sud-Kivu provincial capital which men led by Mutebusi and a fellow dissident officer captured and held for a week earlier this month.The other officer, General Laurent Nkunda, justified the takeover saying fellow Congolese Tutsis in the area were victims of a “genocide” perpetrated by government forces.A UN investigation found no grounds for the claim.After peacefully pulling out of Bukavu on June 9, Nkunda’s men headed to Minovoa, a town about 50 kilometres to the north.Monday’s clashes involved the dissident troops, most of whom, like their leaders, are drawn from the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), a former rebel group which Rwandan troops backed during DRC’s 1998-2003 war and which is now in a unity government.The recent unrest led South African President Thabo Mbeki to express concern over a “potentially catastrophic” new conflict between the two states.Some 30,000 Congolese have fled clashes in the area for neighbouring Burundi since June 9.Congolese President Joseph Kabila has accused Rwanda of backing the takeover of Bukavu to try to “prevent the effective reunification of (the DRC) and the restoration of state authority across the national territory.”DRC Defence Minister and RCD veteran Jean-Pierre Ondekane said Monday that more than 10,000 government troops massed in the eastern corner of DRC did not constitute a threat for its neighbours.He said that between 9,000 and 12,000 extra troops were needed, including “5,000 men to be sent by air” to deal with the situation in the east.Residents of three eastern DRC towns, Uvira, Kindu and Beni, told AFP they had seen the troop reinforcements.”This certainly constitutes a threat to our security,” said the Rwandan army spokesman.Nkunda claimed that the reinforcements were looking for a fight.”They are coming, as it were, to liberate Nord-Kivu, they want to fight,” Nkunda told AFP, dismissing the official explanation that the reinforcements had been deployed to push ahead with the troubled process of integrating former rebels and regular troops into DRC’s new national army.Most of the soldiers based in Nord-Kivu are former RCD fighters.- Nampa-AFP