By Norm Dixon
The embattled government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has turned to some of the African continent's most reactionary forces in its bid to halt the mutiny in the east of the country.
Having achieved the limited objectives of preventing the collapse of DRC President Laurent Kabila's regime and denying the mutineers control of the DRC's strategic west and south-west regions, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia have decided not to escalate the war by attacking the rebels' eastern stronghold.
It seems Kabila's allies — most importantly Angola, the military force most responsible for stalling the mutineers' advance — prefer a negotiated political settlement between Kabila and the rebels that will allow troops to be withdrawn. This is also the position being pushed by South Africa, Washington and the United Nations.
Such a deal would win the approval of the Rwandan and Ugandan governments — which have provided aid to the mutineers — if it safeguards the rights of the oppressed Rwandan-speaking peoples of eastern Congo (the Banyarwanda and Banyamulenge) and denies refuge to terrorist bandits operating from DRC territory.
Unable to rely on Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia to crush the rebellion in the east, Kabila has sought to make some unlikely new alliances for a self-proclaimed "revolutionary" and "anti-imperialist".
Evidence has emerged confirming allegations that Kabila has embraced the Hutu-chauvinist Interahamwe — the forces responsible for the slaughter of between 500,000 and 1 million Tutsis and Hutu democrats in Rwanda in 1994.
Murderous attacks by the Interahamwe, in league with Zaire's predatory army, against the Banyarwanda and Banyamulenge in the Kivu provinces triggered the 1997 uprising that toppled Mobutu and bought Kabila to power.
In late July, when Kabila turned on his Banyarwanda and Banyamulenge allies, launched a racist anti-"Tutsi" campaign and ordered Rwandan military advisers seconded to the DRC army to leave, Rwanda feared Kinshasa might resume Mobutu's support for the genocidal Interahamwe to attack Rwanda.
That fear intensified when it was reported that Kabila was secretly training as many as 10,000 former Interahamwe fighters in camps in Katanga.
Interahamwe recruited
Interahamwe terrorist incursions into Rwanda from DRC territory has escalated during the past two years. Hundreds of Rwandan civilians — Tutsi and Hutu — have been massacred.
According to a September 30 Inter Press Service report, a spokesperson for the UN high commissioner for refugees, Judith Kumin, said hundreds of former Interahamwe fighters and former soldiers of the genocidal Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) in the Kintele refugee camp in Congo-Brazzaville have been recruited into the DRC army.
Earlier in September, reported IPS, the Brazzaville foreign ministry issued a statement condemning "the clandestine recruitment of these refugees in flagrant violation of national laws and conventions of the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations relating to refugees".
Chris Simpson, in an October 1 IPS dispatch, reported that during the summit meeting of African leaders involved in the DRC conflict that ended on September 8, Kabila had referred to the Interahamwe as a legitimate Rwandan "liberation movement".
On September 14, more than 900 Interahamwe and Mai-Mai tribal warriors, who have also allied themselves with Kabila, attacked rebel-held Goma near the DRC's border with Rwanda and attempted to seize the radio station and airport.
Simultaneously, Gisenyi, inside Rwanda, was also attacked. Before being fought off, the raiders hacked to death at least 12 civilians with machetes. Vincent Habimana, one of 70 Interahamwe captured during the raid, said that Tutsi women and children were killed "because they are the enemy".
According to the Rwandan news agency RNA, the attackers were under the command of General Augustin Bizimungu, who commanded the FAR during the genocide.
Khartoum backs Kabila
Sudan's Islamic fundamentalist regime has decided to side with Kabila. Previously, Sudan maintained close ties with the Mobutu regime.
Khartoum's foreign affairs minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, told the September 12-13 edition of the state-owned Al Usbuh newspaper that Sudan would back Kabila in all international forums. He accused Uganda of being behind a plan to create a "Hima-Tutsi empire" that would include Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the eastern region of the DRC.
Khartoum's support for Kabila flows from its own brutal civil war against the people of southern Sudan. Led by the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the southern Sudanese continue to fight against racial and religious oppression imposed by the Arab-chauvinist government.
The SPLA has wide support among the 6 million non-Muslim, non-Arabic speaking, mainly black peoples who populate the region.
Like Kabila, Sudan's rulers claim that the SPLA's impressive recent military gains are the result of an "invasion" by Uganda (as well as Ethiopia and Eritrea) backed by the US.
The SPLA and Sudan's neighbours deny any direct military support, but it is no secret that Uganda gives Khartoum's opponents sanctuary and aid in retaliation for Khartoum's creation of reactionary armed insurgencies in Uganda.
Sudan sponsors three main anti-Uganda terrorist groups that operate out of Sudan and the DRC. The most notorious is the Lord's Resistance Army, which targets Uganda's north-east.
The LRA is a bizarre Christian fundamentalist gang whose aim is to rule on the basis of the Ten Commandments. The LRA routinely mutilates its victims by cutting off noses, ears and lips. It regularly abducts school children, forcing them to fight or become sex slaves.
The West Nile Bank Front, which terrorises Uganda's north-west, is led by Colonel Juma Oris, who was foreign minister in the bloodthirsty regime of Ugandan former dictator Idi Amin. Uganda's New Vision newspaper reported on September 30 that Taban Amin, Idi Amin's son, commands a unit of the WNLF deployed in eastern DRC.
The third group, the Allied Democratic Forces, operates out of the rugged Ruwenzori Mountains on the DRC-Uganda border.
Until late 1996, the ADF was armed by Mobutu and operated from eastern Zaire. Following the collapse of Mobutu, the ADF was bolstered by defeated troops of the Zaire army as well as Interahamwe fighters. In past year, the ADF has stepped up its attacks from within the DRC.
A top Sudanese official told IPS on September 14 that Khartoum would send troops if Kabila asked. In early September, a government-staged demonstration by 300 Congolese "mujaheedins" in Khartoum demanded to be airlifted back to Congo to fight a "jihad" on Kabila's behalf.
Anti-Kabila rebels say Khartoum has sent 2000 troops to help Kabila hold Kindu, the DRC government's last outpost in the east.
New Vision has reported that 700 LRA, WNLF and ADF fighters have also been sent to the strategic town, the site of an airstrip that allows the government to bomb rebel-held towns. Should Kindu fall, the mutineers would be able to consolidate their control of the east.
French imperialism
On September 24, a meeting of African leaders of the "Francophone family" met in Libreville, Gabon, and threw their support behind the Kabila regime.
The meeting was attended by the presidents of Gabon, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea, and the prime minister of Cameroon. Namibian President Sam Nujoma, representing the Southern African Development Community, also attended.
The Francophone countries — overwhelmingly former colonies of France and Belgium — retain close political, economic and military ties with French imperialism. Following the lead of Paris, the Francophone bloc wholeheartedly supported the Mobutu dictatorship and the pro-French Interahamwe-dominated regime in Rwanda.
The victories of the Rwandan Patriotic Front in 1994 and Kabila in 1997 were a defeat for French imperialism. France and its African minions reacted to the new governments with hostility.
It is unlikely that France's African neo-colonies' decision to turn around and support Kabila could have been made without first getting the nod from Paris. The decision is a clear signal that France believes Kabila may be the Francophone "family's" prodigal son.
Following the Libreville meeting, Chad announced that it would send 1000 soldiers to the DRC. The Kabila government said on September 29 that it would soon launch "a comprehensive offensive against the aggressors".
Chad's French-trained troops have often intervened in the region in the interests of French imperialism. Chad sent troops to fight on the side of the genocidal Rwandan regime in 1994 before it was defeated.
In June 1997, Chad deployed its troops in the Central African Republic in response to a mutiny in the CAR army.
Chadian troops also fought in the Congo-Brazzaville civil war last year alongside the pro-French victor, Denis Sassou Nguesso.
Most of the Chadian troops are believed to be headed for Kindu.