Bloody Christmas in eastern Congo. Behind the scenes, Rwandan terrorist group FDLR capable of influencing also public opinion and civil society.
Holly Christmas in eastern Congo was celebrated with a tragic trail of blood and death. An Islamic terrorist attack in Beni. In Goma a massacre of protesters took place in the pre-Christmas week. In South Kivu a massacre of passengers from a plane crashed in the forest. All dramatic signs of the chaos and violence in the eastern provinces of Congo, which President Tshisekedi is trying to combat.
There is great resistance to government policy among the Kivu population. There is a feeling that the Congolese of North and South Kivu prefer the armed gangs, in the first place the FDLR which are well infiltrated into the socio-economic fabric of these regions. Civil society also launches a crusade against the government and President Tshisekedi without adequately denouncing the crimes of the FDLR terrorists and other armed gangs that have controlled the territory for the past 20 years.
On 25 December at least six people died and many more were injured in an explosion in Beni, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The attack came after a man detonated a bomb during a worldly celebration of Christmas. Among the 13 injured and hospitalized there are two deputy mayors of the municipalities of Mulekera and Ruwenzori. According to the spokesman for the military governor of North Kivu, General Sylvain Ekenge, the attack took place on Saturday at 20:00 local time at the entrance of a crowded bar in Ishango quartier. He said the suicide bomber activated the bomb at the entrance to the bar after being “prevented by security guards from entering the crowded bar”.
A statement released by President Félix Tshisekedi promised to prosecute the criminals hiding behind the attacks, saying that these crimes will not go unpunished and that the perpetrators will be hunted down and destroyed. “The Head of State strongly condemns this atrocious act. The Head of State greets the memory of the victims and offers his condolences to the families of the victims,” he added on Sunday.
This is the third bombing of Beni since June. The first targeted a Catholic parish in the Bustili neighborhood, wounding two faithful. The second took place in a bar, with the suicide bomber as the only victim.
According to the military governor’s spokesman, “the Ugandan Islamic terrorists of the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces), operationally desperate on the ground, have activated their sleeper cells in the town of Beni and in the neighbouring agglomerations in order to act against peaceful citizens”.
Meanwhile, the Congolese and Ugandan militaries, which have been conducting a joint operation against the ADF since November, say they have stepped up the offensive in eastern DRC. The ADF, affiliated with ISIS — DAESH, claimed responsibility for the triple terrorist attack in Kampala that took place last November. On 23 December 15 people, including a pregnant woman, were accused in the Kampala court of terrorism and of having assumed leading roles in the recent terrorist attacks attributed to the terrorist group ADF.
Since May, military officers have run local administrations in eastern DRC in Kinshasa’s attempt to tame the 140-armed groups that the previous president, Joseph Kabila, allowed to proliferate for nearly 20 years. The main armed group is the Rwandan terrorist organization Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda: FDLR, main suspect in the extra-judicial execution of Italian Ambassador Luca Attanasio, the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci, who was his escort, and the WFP driver, Mustapha Milambo, which took place 10 months ago near Goma.
Created by the French against the Rwandan government in 2000, the organization has undergone a profound mutation. From a terrorist group that dreamed of regaining power in Rwanda by carrying out a second genocide of the Tutsi minority, to a mafia terrorist group that manages huge financial capitals in eastern Congo thanks to the robbery of natural resources carried out in close collaboration with the Kabila government from 2001 to 2018. Thanks to the proceeds of the illegal trafficking of gold, diamonds and coltan, the FDLR have assumed a leading role in the economy of the provinces of East South Kivu and North Kivu. In Goma, Bukavu, Beni and other cities, the FDLR have their hands in the field of transport services, restaurants, small businesses.
The chaotic urban construction boom is in fact managed by these terrorists who launder money by building luxury buildings and hotels. It is estimated that in Goma alone about 160,000 people out of a total of 380,000 people living in the capital of North Kivu survive thanks to direct or indirect jobs created with the money of Rwandan terrorists. Since 2015, the FDLR have extended their military, political and economic influence to neighbouring Burundi, allying themselves with the regime of dictator Pierre Nkurunziza. An alliance that continues to this day with the military junta that established itself in power in Gitega after the death (assassination) of Nkurunziza.
The FDLR are at the top of the criminal network made up of a myriad of small Congolese and foreign armed gangs. The Ugandan Islamic group ADF would also be linked by the FDLR. The alliance between these two terrorist groups is unclear. It is still being investigated whether it is a military political alliance with a strong influence of the FDLR or whether the Rwandan terrorists have de facto control of the ADF, using them as destabilizing forces in the eastern areas of North Kivu: Beni, Bunia, Butembo, Lubero.
At the moment the true nature of the relationship between ADF and FDLR has not been clarified but one can be noted strange similarity. Since last January, the ADF have been taking root in the social, economic and political fabric of the four eastern cities of North Kivu. At their disposal they have huge capital that has sprung up out of nowhere and the techniques for penetrating the socio-economic fabric are identical to those used by the FDRL in Goma, Bukavu and other cities in the eastern provinces of Congo.
Since the proclamation of the State of Siege (May 2021) in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, President Felix Tshisekedi seems not to have made great progress in eradicating these terrorist groups and criminal gangs. The military administration seems unable to manage the two provinces. Corruption is on the rise, slowing economic development. The army (FARDC Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) continues to suffer from poor training and inadequate military equipment. Soldiers, often unmotivated and afflicted with chronic poverty, are led by corrupt officers. Several of them would be colluded with the FDLR, ADF and other armed gangs, making military operations vain to annihilate these negative forces.
The excessive power of the military administration and the failure to achieve the objectives inherent in the war campaign against the armed groups have created a lot of discontent among the population of North Kivu who since last June have been demanding the end of the Siege State and the return of the civil administration.
A demonstration against the State of Siege was held in Goma on Monday 20 December which ended in tragedy. Police fired on demonstrators killing three people including a 6-month-old baby, as reported by experts present at the site of the American association in defense of human rights: Human Rights Watch. At least 12 other people were injured, including 3 children. Police reported that one officer was killed and 5 officers injured. Police arrested at least 17 protesters, who remain in detention.
“An impartial investigation is needed to determine whether the police have illegally used lethal force against the protesters in Goma,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa Director of Human Rights Watch. “People should be able to protest government policy without being shot.”
Unfortunately, the exposition of the bloody facts and the political conclusions made by HRW do not take into account an important element: the infiltration of agents provocateurs and terrorists among the demonstrators. The demonstrators, lacking an internal security service, were infiltrated by extremists, hooligans and FDLR supporters who took advantage of the situation to clash with the police.
The government’s response was necessary to restore calm and order, even if obviously disproportionate. There is no evidence that the provocateurs possessed firearms. They threw stones at the police and some were armed with sticks and machetes. However, they had managed to create a hostile climate against the police that was leading to a mass lynching attempt to which the police responded by firing live bullets at eye level.
It is not the first time that the American association HRW has made bold claims against the governments of Congo and Rwanda that indirectly reinforce the image of the Rwandan FDLR terrorists. According to our diplomatic sources, this is due to the fact that the American association makes use of local collaborators suspected of having their own political agenda.
Relatives of the victims suggested that the police may have fired indiscriminately with weapons. They do not mention the blatant and violent provocations by some protesters. The relative of a victim with three children said: “My brother-in-law was not in the protests. He was on his way to work around 8 in the morning when the police shot him while he was discussing the price of the transport with a motorcycle taxi driver ”.
However these testimonies should be taken with greater attention and reserve of doubt as they could be distorted and politically oriented to spread univocal blame against a government that attempts to free nearly 20 million citizens from the yoke of exploitation and military control of the FDLR, ADF and the other armed bands.
Government crackdown on protests in Congo has increased over the past year. On December 18, a coalition of citizen movements (including LUCHA) called a dead city in Goma, or general strike, to denounce rising insecurity in eastern Congo since the government imposed martial law in May.
LUCHA is a non-violent and non-partisan civil society youth movement founded in June 2012 in Goma, the capital of North Kivu. The movement supports social justice and democracy in the DRC through campaigns and encourages Congolese citizens to fight are for the promotion and respect of human rights.
Although enjoying a large following among the population, LUCHA seems to suffer from extremist tendencies. Always ready to denounce the “misdeeds” and abuses of the government, fiercely opposing President Tshisekedi, LUCHA has never explicitly condemned the Rwandan FDLR terrorists and other armed gangs who are the real cause of the chaos and the endless trail of blood that last for 20 years in eastern Congo. In his rare convictions he has always associated smaller armed groups with the Kigali government without providing any supporting evidence.
According to the opinion of diplomatic sources, LUCHA, like much of civil society in eastern Congo, was infiltrated by elements of the FDLR who influence (also financially) its policy by directing it against their opponents: the governments of Kinshasa and Kigali. At the moment there is no evidence that can confirm this suspicion but the reasons that push civil society to fight relentlessly against the Congolese government authorities and to spread imaginary dangers coming from neighbouring Rwanda remain incomprehensible, completely ignoring the harmful effects of the various terrorist groups and armed gangs present in eastern Congo.
“The FDLR and their underworld — criminal network have a great influence on the economic and social tissue of North Kivu and South Kivu. They have become one of the main economic engines of the region, able to offer jobs, protection and hints of social protection to the impoverished population. The economic influence of these terrorists and the weakness of public institutions has created strong popular support for the FDRLs, seen as an integral part of the social fabric of the two Kivus and, even as benefactors who employ poor people, protecting them from perfidious Rwandans ”, explains a professor of the University of Bukavu protected by anonymity.
Both civil society and HRW overlooked the real motive of the organizers of the December 20 demonstration. The protest was directed against the President’s decision to collaborate with the Rwandan police in order to free the east of the country from the cancer of terrorist groups and armed gangs. In the eastern areas of North Kivu, military collaboration is with Uganda, which since last November has sent an army division to fight the ADF together with the Congolese army. Possible the participation of Italy even if it is not proven. Italian Carabinieri have been present in Rwanda for at least three years, helping the national police to fight FDLR terrorists thanks to a military cooperation agreement signed in 2017 between Rome and Kigali.
According to the LUCHA militants, the presence of the Rwandan police in North Kivu would not be aimed at helping Kinshasa in the fight against terrorism but to strengthen the phantom plan of territorial conquest (against the Congolese) that the Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been carrying out for over a decade. This plan has never been demonstrated in reality but it has become a real dogma among the majority of the population of Goma and Bukavu.
LUCHA and Congolese civil society, completely ignoring the FDLR and other armed groups present in the territory, continue their crusade against the central authorities of Kinshasa, promoting and strengthening the feelings of ethnic hatred against the Rwandans and the Tutsi minority in Congo. It is not clear whether these young “idealists” understand or not that their convulsive and angry actions lead to preventing peace and collaboration between the populations of the Great Lakes Region, an ideal situation to stabilize this strategic part of Africa. Peace and regional collaboration is the only possible option also according to Pope Francis.
To end with a bloody Christmas in eastern Congo, yet another plane crash occurred on Christmas Eve. A Malu Aviation (Congolese private company) aircraft coming from Goma and bound for Shabunda in South Kivu crashed before landing, crashing into the nearby forest of the village of Kalehe.
Shabunda Territory Administrator Kashombania Bin Saleh said the victims included three crew members, including a Belgian pilot. Major Jean Marion also passed away. The plane had a “load of fuel because the territory of Shabunda is totally landlocked,” said Hilaire Kikobya, a member of parliament during a plenary session broadcast live on Congolese state television.
This plane crash is part of the long series of air and sea accidents that regularly occur in the skies of eastern Congo and on Lake Kivu. All these fatal accidents are caused by the total absence of strict laws regulating air and sea transport and by the greed of entrepreneurs who use obsolete means of transport and save no on the necessary and mandatory maintenance.
It is this climate of anarchy, violence and absence of state that President Felix Tshisekedi intends to fight to make Congo a normal country. Unfortunately, his policy does not seem to be shared by a large part of the Congolese population of the eastern provinces or by various members of civil society and LUCHA. There is a clear feeling that the chaos of armed gangs and the easy money offered by terrorist groups are preferred to a rule of law and a competent administration. “The FDLR have given me a job and I can now feed my family. What did Tshisekedi do for me? Nothing. So don’t expect me to support him now ”says a motorcycle taxi driver (Boda Boda) from Goma who was contacted by phone.
Our diplomatic sources warn that recruitment among the ADF and FLDR among the Congolese population of North Kivu is increasing. Hundreds of young Congolese with no future are enlisting in these major terrorist groups in hopes of improving their lives through violence and guns. It is incomprehensible that in Beni, Bunia, Butembo and Lubero, enrollment in the ADF has reached alarming levels. Young people enlist in a terrorist organization accused of killing hundreds of civilians belonging to the same ethnic group as these young people since 2016: the Banande.
