Intervention 'over our dead bodies', say Zaire rebels
By Norm Dixon
While the western powers were busy attempting to cobble together a military force to serve their contradictory interests in Africa, anti-Mobutu rebels in one fell swoop removed any justification for the force. Following a lightning two-hour attack by fighters of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL) on the sprawling Mugunga refugee camp, the thugs of the genocidal Interahamwe were sent scurrying west, setting free half a million refugees held captive since 1994.
Within days of the November 15 attack, more than 500,000 people had crossed the border and moved towards their home villages. Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu was at the border to welcome the first refugees as they crossed. "We have come here to welcome the people, to show them the whole population is waiting and to reassure them there won't be any harassment", he told the refugees, who applauded wildly.
Returning refugees confirmed that the Interahamwe had kept them captive in the camps. Comments to reporters revealed a widespread relief to be returning home. "We are free because of this strong Tutsi force", Amuli Ieudowne told the British Sunday Times. "When the force came in they shot at the Interahamwe and not at the people. If the Interahamwe didn't take us, we would have already been home. Our life was so miserable and hard. Now we are finally liberated."
Paulin Ndahayo told the London Times he had been repeatedly threatened with death by the Interahamwe. "I am very relieved to be out of this. I have dreamt of this moment and lived in fear for two years", he said.
Alphonsina Mukamanzi, who lost two children to disease in the camps, told the Chicago Tribune: "After two years of suffering, I've come to realise that home is home. I have come back to Rwanda to live with my fellow citizens and rebuild my country." Jean Batiste Safari, who waited on the roadside for his 10 relatives to return home, said his village will celebrate: "Everyone will drink beer and Fanta, and we will dance all night."
The return of the refugees removed the need for an international military force to enter the region, the Rwandan government said. "The much talked about humanitarian tragedy of the Rwandan refugees is coming to an end. The international community is now mobilising resources, large amounts of money. We want that money spent in Rwanda in terms of providing hospitals and medicine, resettling refugees, rather than putting it into military columns", said Gideon Kayinamura, the Rwandan ambassador to the UN.
Rwanda's opposition to military intervention was endorsed by rebel leader Laurent Kabila. "I don't think the international community has any reason to come here", he said. "What purpose can they have? To free whom? There is total freedom here."
On November 13, the US had announced it would join a 10,000-12,000-strong military force, led by Canada and with troops drawn from at least 12 African and European countries, "to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid" to the refugees and to allow them to return home. The US-Canadian force was a compromise plan to that of France, which proposed that 5000 troops intervene to create "safe havens". The French plan was vehemently opposed by the ADFL rebels and Rwanda, which saw it as a ruse to protect the Interahamwe (as France did in 1994), and shore up the Zairean dictatorship. Faced with the threat of French intervention, the Rwandan government and the ADFL rebels reluctantly accepted the US-Canadian plan.
The proposed force was a compromise between French and US imperialism. The aim of the US was to put a break on France's ambitions in the area and increase US influence. France agreed to contribute 1200 crack paratroopers, proclaiming its goal was to "secure" the rebel-held Bakuvu airport. French troops would respond "vigorously" to any rebel opposition.
While the force would not seek to protect the Interahamwe, the US and Canada did rule out in advance disarming them or entering their Mugunga stronghold by force. The rebels recognised this could only help their opponents and decided to settle the matter themselves.
In spite of the rapid turn of events, the UN Security Council on November 15 authorised the military force over the objections of Rwanda. The resolution tabled by Canada called for the use of "all necessary means" to deliver aid and facilitate the voluntary repatriation of the refugees.
However, plans for western intervention began to unravel after the rebels' success. On November 18, the Eritrean government withdrew from the proposed force saying it would not participate if the goal of the force was not to disarm the Interahamwe. As well, South African deputy president Thabo Mbeki said a large force may no longer be needed.
On November 19, the US announced it would scale down its involvement from 5000 troops to fewer than 1000, who would provide logistics from Rwanda. A meeting of governments prepared to participate in the force was postponed on November 21. When it met in Stuttgart a day later, the meeting was unable to agree on whether to send the force. France and many European countries, as well as the UN, continue to push for intervention.
Rwanda and the rebels dispute claims by aid agencies and the UN, which together with France are most vocally supporting military intervention, that another 750,000 refugees remain in south-east Zaire. The refugees are moving north to join the exodus, the rebels argue. This was supported by a spokesperson for the World Food Program who on November 20 said there were "strong indications" that up to 100,000 people were making their way north.
On November 22 the US backed this assessment. Spy satellites showed 175,000 were moving north, officials told the Stuttgart meeting. Doctors Without Borders also agreed with this estimate but added that an additional 100,000 armed former Rwandan army troops, Interahamwe and their families had moved into Zaire-controlled areas. These people are not refugees, the group insisted.
Rebel leader Laurent Kabila announced on November 22 that an intervention force would enter eastern Zaire "over the dead bodies" of his guerillas. The aim of any such force would be to help prop up Zaire's dictatorship and any refugees that remained in Zaire were in territory controlled by Kinshasa, he insisted.