Strategy International

The recent DR Congo Government’s request on the apace UN forces withdrawal by next summer elections, caused scepticism and phobia about the already troubled country’s future.

By Ioannis Chapsos[1] 

The last months’ escalation of violence especially in its Eastern provinces and the updated reports on the continuation of hyperbolic human rights abuses, not only didn’t convince the UN Security council that DRC is not yet mature to handle and provide security by its own means, nor sponsored by the UN peacekeepers, but instead lead to the authorisation of 2.000 peacekeepers’ withdrawal by the end of June[2].

In May 2010 Mr Holmes, the top UN humanitarian official and emergency relief coordinator visited DR Congo on a five day trip[3].  Mr Holmes was in discussions with DRC President J. Kabila concerning issues of civilian protection and the potential of MONUC withdrawal by August 2011, as the DRCG wants the UN force to leave the country before the scheduled elections.

Findings in North and South Kivu

In March 2009, operation ‘Kimia II’ was launched by DRC Governmental Armed Forces (FARDC) against the Forces for the Democratic Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), supported also by MONUC. Its primary objective was the disarmament of FDLR combatants, but until its end in December 2009, MONUC reported the demobilisation of approximately 1400 rebels (ICG 2010a).The operation was characterised as a fiasco by UN itself, not solely for failing to dialyse the rebel’s political and military configuration, but also in humanitarian terms.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported more than 1.400 dead civilians, 7.500 rapes, 9.000 burned buildings and 900.000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Kivus (HRW 2009a, 2009b). Those human rights violations were perpetrated by both FDLR rebels and FARDC units; hereof the 22.000 soldiers’ force of MONUC received heavy criticism for failing even to thwart non combatants’ targeting.

In the dawn of 2010, a new three-month operation under the code name ‘Amani Leo’ was launched by FARDC, logistically sponsored by MONUC, aiming anew at the elimination of FDLR rebels. The operation was primarily focused on civilian protection but both objectives were of questionable outcome. The number of FDLR demobilised insurgents was very limited[4] (ICG 2010b), while heavy fighting broke out when Mai-Mai militia attacked the town of Fizi in South Kivu (IRIN 2010a). Besides the casualties, seven aid workers, members of the ICRC, were captive by the militia.

The Ituri Province

The North-East district of DRC remains in a state of terror from the attacks of the Uganda based militia named Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). MONUC participated in the joint operation ‘Rudia II’ with the DRC Army (officially ended in March 2009) in order to protect autochthonous population from the LRA, while the Ugandan Army is believed to retain an estimated force of 2-3.000 soldiers in Northern DRC for the same cause (HRW 2010:56-59).

But the LRA continues to massacre civilians in the region; it is estimated that approximately 500 people were killed between December 2009 and March 2010 (Fessy 2010) and 318.000 were displaced in other regions (IRIN 2010c) or to the adjacent countries of Sudan and Central African Republic (IRIN 2010d).

As stated by Alan Moss, the head of UN peacekeepers in DRC[5], LRA moves in small and agile groups operating in a vast area, hence greater air mobility and better intelligence gathering is needed. The cooperation with local inhabitants is crucial as well, but the horror that LRA’s tactics embed in civilians proves to be its best weapon which makes this task extremely hard to accomplish.

The latest clashes between FARDC and LRA that took place in April 2010, entrapped nearly 5.000 civilians in the fighting, forcing the government to create a humanitarian corridor in order to relief the IDPs (IRIN 2010b). But they also emphasised anew the ineffectuality and lack of coordination of all three actors (FARDC, MONUC and Ugandan army) operating in the region gainst the LRA (IRIN 2010c). Hereof, despite the DRCG request concerning the potential withdrawal of UN forces from the country, the Ituri civil society called for a longer and more robust MONUC presence (ICG 2010c).