- In Congo, Indian
troops make up the biggest contingent of the biggest UN peacekeeping operation
in the world.
- The Indian army provides more than 4,000 of the 18,500
international troops who make up the UN peacekeeing force in Congo.
This makes it
important for us to understand the region its the disputes......also
internationally it is much discussed region.....here's a study of this region
!
- In Congo, Indian troops make up the biggest contingent of the biggest UN peacekeeping operation in the world.
- The Indian army provides more than 4,000 of the 18,500 international troops who make up the UN peacekeeing force in Congo.
This makes it
important for us to understand the region its the disputes......also
internationally it is much discussed region.....here's a study of this region
!
Understanding the Map of this region
Congo and Rwanda: Timeline
- April-June 1994: Genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda
- June 1994: Paul Kagame's Tutsi rebels take power in Rwanda, Hutus flee into Zaire
- Rwanda's army enters eastern Zaire to pursue Hutu fighters
- 1997: Laurent Kabila's AFDL, backed by Rwanda, takes power in Kinshasa
- 1998: Rwanda accuses Kabila of not acting against Hutu rebels and tries to topple him, sparking five years of conflict
- 2003: War officially ends but Hutu and Tutsi militias continue to clash in eastern DR Congo
- 2008: Tutsi-led CNDP rebels march on North Kivu capital, Goma - 250,000 people flee
- 2009: Rwanda and DR Congo agree peace deal and CNDP integrated into Congolese army
- 2012: Former CNDP fighters form new rebel group, the M23, allegedly with the backing of Rwanda and Uganda
- April-June 1994: Genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda
- June 1994: Paul Kagame's Tutsi rebels take power in Rwanda, Hutus flee into Zaire
- Rwanda's army enters eastern Zaire to pursue Hutu fighters
- 1997: Laurent Kabila's AFDL, backed by Rwanda, takes power in Kinshasa
- 1998: Rwanda accuses Kabila of not acting against Hutu rebels and tries to topple him, sparking five years of conflict
- 2003: War officially ends but Hutu and Tutsi militias continue to clash in eastern DR Congo
- 2008: Tutsi-led CNDP rebels march on North Kivu capital, Goma - 250,000 people flee
- 2009: Rwanda and DR Congo agree peace deal and CNDP integrated into Congolese army
- 2012: Former CNDP fighters form new rebel group, the M23, allegedly with the backing of Rwanda and Uganda
To
understand the conflict in Congo ...it becomes very essential to understand
first about the Tutsis and the Hutu !!!
- The bloody history of Hutu and Tutsi conflict stained the 20th century, from the slaughter
of 80,000 to 200,000 Hutus by the Tutsi army in Burundi in 1972 to the 1994
- Rwanda genocide in which Hutu militias targeted Tutsis, resulting in a 100-day
death toll between 800,000 and 1 million.
- But many observers would be surprised
to learn that the longstanding conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi has nothing
to do with language or religion -- they speak the same Bantu tongues as well as
French, and generally practice Christianity -- and many geneticists have been
hard-pressed to find marked ethnic differences between the two, though the
Tutsi have generally been noted to be taller.
- Generally, the Hutu-Tutsi strife
stems from class warfare, with the Tutsis perceived to have greater wealth and
social status (as well as favoring cattle ranching over what is seen as the
lower-class farming of the Hutus).
- The Tutsis are thought to have originally
come from Ethiopia, and arrived after the Hutu came from Chad.
- The Tutsis had a
monarchy dating back to the 15th century; this was overthrown at the urging of
Belgian colonizers in the early 1960s and the Hutu took power by force in
Rwanda.
- In Burundi, however, a Hutu uprising failed and the Tutsis controlled
the country and it goes on and on in other adjoining regions
Why is D.R. Congo important ?
- DR
Congo is extremely wealthy - and extremely big. Similar in size to Western
Europe, it is rich in diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt and zinc.
- The country
also has supplies of cottan, which is used in mobile phones and other
electronic gadgets, and cassiterite, used in food packaging.
- Unfortunately
for the people of DR Congo, its resource wealth has rarely been harnessed
for their benefit.
How was Congo expoited ?
- This
vast country has hardly any roads or railways, while the health and
education systems lie in ruins.
- Instead
the natural riches have attracted rapacious adventurers, unscrupulous
corporations, vicious warlords and corrupt governments, and divided the
population between competing ethnic groups.
- In
the early 20th Century, Belgian forces arrived and enslaved millions,
while King Leopold ruled the country as his personal fiefdom.
Independence struggle and unification of
D.R. Congo -- >> JOSEPH
MOBUTU's Zaire !!!
- During
a painful
independence struggle in the 1960s, the vast country almost
disintegrated as regions fought each other.
- But Joseph Mobutu seized power in 1965 and set about crushing
internal rebellions and unifying the nation - eventually changing its name
to Zaire.
- However,
Mobutu was soon seduced by wealth and once he controlled most of the
country and achieved a level of stability and prosperity, he began using
the country's riches for one thing - to ensure he remained in power.
- As
his rule went on, his
plunder continued and the country gradually slipped out of his
control.
- The
1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda hastened his downfall and helped
plunge DR Congo into the deadliest conflict in African history.
Why did Rwanda's genocide affect DR Congo so badly?
- Eastern
DR Congo has porous
borders.
- After
Rwanda's genocidal Hutu regime was overthrown, more than two million Hutus are thought
to have fled into DR Congo fearing reprisals against them by the
new, Tutsi-dominated government.
- Among
them were many of the militiamen responsible for the genocide.
- They
quickly allied
themselves with Mobutu's government and began to attack DR Congo's sizeable
population of ethnic Tutsis, who had lived in the country for
generations.
How did Rwanda interferred ? -->> Kabila’s regime !!!
- Rwanda's
Tutsi government started to back rival militias, fighting both the Hutu
militias and Congolese government troops.
- The
Tutsi militias, allied to other local groups backed by Uganda, eventually
marched on Kinshasa and overthrew Mobutu's government.
- They
installed Laurent
Kabila as president and he once again renamed the country - from
Zaire to DR Congo.
The rule of Kabila and the war !
- Mr
Kabila failed to
expel the Hutu militia and tiny Rwanda, which had put him in power,
soon sent a new force to oust him.
- Mr
Kabila then called in help from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola,
and for the next five years all six countries, and others, fought a proxy
war on Congolese land.
- All
sides were accused of using the cover of the war to loot the country's
riches.
- More
than five million people died in the war and its aftermath - mostly from
starvation or disease.
- Although
the war was declared
over in 2003, the east of the country continues to be unstable.
Entry of Democracy ?
- The first democratic elections in more than four decades,
which saw the late Laurent Kabila's son,
Joseph, elected as president.
- But a proxy war between Rwanda and the Kinshasa government
continued in the east until the end of 2008.
- Notorious Tutsi warlord
Gen Laurent Nkunda - who most analysts believe was
backed by Rwanda - waged a campaign to destroy Hutu rebels from the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
- He accused the government of backing the FDLR.
Change in the story -->> DR Congo and
Rwanda join hands against FDLR !
- A
sea-change in the conflict came about in late 2008 when Rwanda and DR Congo joined
forces to combat the FDLR in the provinces of North and South Kivu.
- As
part of the deal, Gen
Nkunda was taken out of the country and put under house arrest in Rwanda
- where he remains.
- But
the bitter conflict has continued unabated and Congolese government
troops, backed by thousands of UN peacekeepers, have failed to defeat the
FDLR rebels.
- Reports
of mass rapes, killings and other atrocities committed by rebels and
government troops continue.
Rise of M23 -->> Bitterness between
DR Congo and Rwanda...entry of Uganda in the picture
- The
deal between DR Congo and Rwanda has also collapsed, with a new rebel
group, the M23, largely
made up of former Nkunda loyalists, becoming increasingly active in
eastern DR Congo in 2012.
- The
DR Congo government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing the M23.
- The
group was initially said to have been led by Bosco "Terminator" Ntaganda, who is
wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges.
- Its
claims have been given credence by a UN panel investigating the conflict.
- It
says M23 leaders
"receive direct military orders" from Rwanda's chief of defence
staff, Gen Charles Kayonga, "who in turn acts on instructions
from the minister of defence", Gen James Kabarebe.
- It
also says Kigali has supplied the M23 with heavy weapons and stepped up
recruitment for the group - allegations that President Paul Kagame's
government has strongly denied.
- The
UN panel also accuses Rwanda's
regional rival, Uganda, of backing the rebels.
- Ugandan
army commanders "sent troops and weapons to reinforce specific M23
operations and assisted in M23's recruitment and weapons procurement
efforts in Uganda", the report says.
- Uganda
has dismissed the allegations as "hogwash".
What is the UN doing to end the conflict?
- The
UN's peacekeeping mission has been in DR Congo since 1999.
- It
is one of the biggest peacekeeping operations in the world, with almost
20,000 personnel on the ground.
- It
is mandated to protect civilians and also help with the reconstruction of
the country.
- It
has played a key role in organising democratic elections in DR Congo and
has launched military operations against various rebel groups.
- But
a 2009 report by UN-commissioned experts said UN involvement had done
nothing to quell the violence - with rebels continuing to kill and plunder
natural resources with impunity, and claims that the rebels are supported
by an international crime network stretching through Africa to Western
Europe and North America.
- And
the campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has suggested the UN risks
becoming complicit in atrocities against civilians.
- In
August 2010, the UN force was accused of not doing anything to stop the
rape of more than 150 women and children within miles of their base near
Luvungi, saying they only heard about the attacks 10 days afterwards.
- The
Congolese government has said it is now capable of maintaining law and
order, and wants the UN force to leave the country.
- To
reflect its changing status, the force changed its name from the UN Organisation
Mission in DR Congo - known by its French acronym Monuc - to the UN
Organisation Stabilisation Mission - Monusco.
*********************************************************************************
- The
Lord’s Resistance Army is a rebel group led by leader Joseph Kony.
- The
group originated in Northern Uganda as a movement to fight for the rights
of the Acholi people.
- The
group has been fighting the Ugandan army for years and has been driven out
of Uganda and is now scattered across Congo, Central African Republic and
Southern Sudan, where it conducts brutal attacks
- Spread
of LRA activity = Uganda, Congo, South Sudan, CAR.
Why has the International Criminal
Court issued arrest warrants against Joseph Kony ?
- The
LRA under Kony’s command has been accused of abducting children and
turning them into vicious child soldiers.
- Most
of these children are abducted from various villages, those who do not
cooperate with LRA has either killed or mutilated.
- The
able bodied children are taken away and used as soldiers, weapons
carriers, cooks, porters and even sex slaves.
- Numerous
attempts have been launched to reach a peace agreement with the LRA, but
Kony has thwarted such attempts, however the Ugandan Army claims that it
has weakened the LRA significantly.
- However
the LRA has spread its tentacles to Congo where the MONUSCO is
under-staffed and has had problems to contain it.
- The
International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Joseph
Kony and his men but he has not been arrested till now.
- Moreover
100 US Special Forces operatives are aiding and advising the armies of 4
African nations which are pursuing the LRA.
- DR
Congo is extremely wealthy - and extremely big. Similar in size to Western
Europe, it is rich in diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt and zinc.
- The country
also has supplies of cottan, which is used in mobile phones and other
electronic gadgets, and cassiterite, used in food packaging.
- Unfortunately
for the people of DR Congo, its resource wealth has rarely been harnessed
for their benefit.
How was Congo expoited ?
- This
vast country has hardly any roads or railways, while the health and
education systems lie in ruins.
- Instead
the natural riches have attracted rapacious adventurers, unscrupulous
corporations, vicious warlords and corrupt governments, and divided the
population between competing ethnic groups.
- In
the early 20th Century, Belgian forces arrived and enslaved millions,
while King Leopold ruled the country as his personal fiefdom.
Independence struggle and unification of
D.R. Congo -- >> JOSEPH
MOBUTU's Zaire !!!
- During
a painful
independence struggle in the 1960s, the vast country almost
disintegrated as regions fought each other.
- But Joseph Mobutu seized power in 1965 and set about crushing
internal rebellions and unifying the nation - eventually changing its name
to Zaire.
- However,
Mobutu was soon seduced by wealth and once he controlled most of the
country and achieved a level of stability and prosperity, he began using
the country's riches for one thing - to ensure he remained in power.
- As
his rule went on, his
plunder continued and the country gradually slipped out of his
control.
- The
1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda hastened his downfall and helped
plunge DR Congo into the deadliest conflict in African history.
Why did Rwanda's genocide affect DR Congo so badly?
- Eastern
DR Congo has porous
borders.
- After
Rwanda's genocidal Hutu regime was overthrown, more than two million Hutus are thought
to have fled into DR Congo fearing reprisals against them by the
new, Tutsi-dominated government.
- Among
them were many of the militiamen responsible for the genocide.
- They
quickly allied
themselves with Mobutu's government and began to attack DR Congo's sizeable
population of ethnic Tutsis, who had lived in the country for
generations.
How did Rwanda interferred ? -->> Kabila’s regime !!!
- Rwanda's
Tutsi government started to back rival militias, fighting both the Hutu
militias and Congolese government troops.
- The
Tutsi militias, allied to other local groups backed by Uganda, eventually
marched on Kinshasa and overthrew Mobutu's government.
- They
installed Laurent
Kabila as president and he once again renamed the country - from
Zaire to DR Congo.
The rule of Kabila and the war !
- Mr
Kabila failed to
expel the Hutu militia and tiny Rwanda, which had put him in power,
soon sent a new force to oust him.
- Mr
Kabila then called in help from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola,
and for the next five years all six countries, and others, fought a proxy
war on Congolese land.
- All
sides were accused of using the cover of the war to loot the country's
riches.
- More
than five million people died in the war and its aftermath - mostly from
starvation or disease.
- Although
the war was declared
over in 2003, the east of the country continues to be unstable.
Entry of Democracy ?
- The first democratic elections in more than four decades,
which saw the late Laurent Kabila's son,
Joseph, elected as president.
- But a proxy war between Rwanda and the Kinshasa government
continued in the east until the end of 2008.
- Notorious Tutsi warlord Gen Laurent Nkunda - who most analysts believe was backed by Rwanda - waged a campaign to destroy Hutu rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
- He accused the government of backing the FDLR.
Change in the story -->> DR Congo and
Rwanda join hands against FDLR !
Rise of M23 -->> Bitterness between
DR Congo and Rwanda...entry of Uganda in the picture
- The
deal between DR Congo and Rwanda has also collapsed, with a new rebel
group, the M23, largely
made up of former Nkunda loyalists, becoming increasingly active in
eastern DR Congo in 2012.
- The
DR Congo government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing the M23.
- The
group was initially said to have been led by Bosco "Terminator" Ntaganda, who is
wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges.
- Its
claims have been given credence by a UN panel investigating the conflict.
- It
says M23 leaders
"receive direct military orders" from Rwanda's chief of defence
staff, Gen Charles Kayonga, "who in turn acts on instructions
from the minister of defence", Gen James Kabarebe.
- It
also says Kigali has supplied the M23 with heavy weapons and stepped up
recruitment for the group - allegations that President Paul Kagame's
government has strongly denied.
- The
UN panel also accuses Rwanda's
regional rival, Uganda, of backing the rebels.
- Ugandan
army commanders "sent troops and weapons to reinforce specific M23
operations and assisted in M23's recruitment and weapons procurement
efforts in Uganda", the report says.
- Uganda
has dismissed the allegations as "hogwash".
What is the UN doing to end the conflict?
- The
UN's peacekeeping mission has been in DR Congo since 1999.
- It
is one of the biggest peacekeeping operations in the world, with almost
20,000 personnel on the ground.
- It
is mandated to protect civilians and also help with the reconstruction of
the country.
- It
has played a key role in organising democratic elections in DR Congo and
has launched military operations against various rebel groups.
- But
a 2009 report by UN-commissioned experts said UN involvement had done
nothing to quell the violence - with rebels continuing to kill and plunder
natural resources with impunity, and claims that the rebels are supported
by an international crime network stretching through Africa to Western
Europe and North America.
- And
the campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has suggested the UN risks
becoming complicit in atrocities against civilians.
- In
August 2010, the UN force was accused of not doing anything to stop the
rape of more than 150 women and children within miles of their base near
Luvungi, saying they only heard about the attacks 10 days afterwards.
- The
Congolese government has said it is now capable of maintaining law and
order, and wants the UN force to leave the country.
- To
reflect its changing status, the force changed its name from the UN Organisation
Mission in DR Congo - known by its French acronym Monuc - to the UN
Organisation Stabilisation Mission - Monusco.
*********************************************************************************
What is the Lord's Resistance Army ?
- The
Lord’s Resistance Army is a rebel group led by leader Joseph Kony.
- The
group originated in Northern Uganda as a movement to fight for the rights
of the Acholi people.
- The
group has been fighting the Ugandan army for years and has been driven out
of Uganda and is now scattered across Congo, Central African Republic and
Southern Sudan, where it conducts brutal attacks
- Spread
of LRA activity = Uganda, Congo, South Sudan, CAR.
Why has the International Criminal
Court issued arrest warrants against Joseph Kony ?
- The
LRA under Kony’s command has been accused of abducting children and
turning them into vicious child soldiers.
- Most
of these children are abducted from various villages, those who do not
cooperate with LRA has either killed or mutilated.
- The
able bodied children are taken away and used as soldiers, weapons
carriers, cooks, porters and even sex slaves.
- Numerous
attempts have been launched to reach a peace agreement with the LRA, but
Kony has thwarted such attempts, however the Ugandan Army claims that it
has weakened the LRA significantly.
- However
the LRA has spread its tentacles to Congo where the MONUSCO is
under-staffed and has had problems to contain it.
- The
International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Joseph
Kony and his men but he has not been arrested till now.
- Moreover 100 US Special Forces operatives are aiding and advising the armies of 4 African nations which are pursuing the LRA.