:
Democratic
Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire)
December
18, 2006: The Ituri province militia force led by Cobra Matata finally surrendered
earlier this week. Matata turned himself in along with approximately 110 of his
fighters. Matata had agreed to a disarmament deal in July 2006 but never
fulfilled the disarmament commitment. In November 2006, there was another
demobilization and disarmament deal, but Matata failed to show up. Matata's
militia had respected the ceasefire agreement. However. not all of Matata's men
were willing to surrender. Matata's militia was once believed to have about a
thousand men under arms. With 100 demobilizing, that means a substantial
number have either already gone home (good) or joined other militia forces
(bad). The government announced that Matata himself would be allowed to
join the Congolese Army and have the rank of colonel. Despite the problems with
Laurent Nkunda, turning a senior militia commander into a colonel isn't
necessarily bad. The Congolese government is seeking ways to politically
integrate the rebel tribes in the eastern Congo. The rank of colonel or general
is an attractive political plum for rebel leaders. Of course, there is also the
lingering issue is war crimes. It often takes months (and occasionally years)
for hard evidence to be collected connecting militia leaders to reported
crimes.
December
15, 2006: The Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda. Republic
of Congo (Brazzaville), Angola, Sudan, and the Central African Republic signed
a treaty that promised the nations would never go to war with one another. If
that doesn't sound suspicious enough, the treaty committed the nations to
"mandatory disarmament" of rebel groups and militias in their respective
territories and "extradition" of rebel groups within their territories (ie,
rebel groups rebelling against a neighbor or nation signing the treaty).
Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan are already shadowboxing with rebels
in western Sudan and along the CAR-Sudan border. Congo has promised Uganda that
it will deal with Uganda rebels, but the LRA, and at least one other rebel
group still have bases in the Congo. This is a treaty that sounds good on
paper, but it isn't likely it will be enforced.
The
South African government reaffirmed that its 1400 peacekeepers in the Congo
will remain committed to the MONUC peacekeeping force EUFOR still intends to
withdraw its peacekeepers by the end of 2006.
December
14, 2006: There is a major outbreak of cholera among refugees in the eastern
Congo. There is concern that that the disease will spread among 20,000 refugees
(IDPs -internally displaced persons) in the Goma-Sake area. The area has
witnessed a great deal of fighting between the Congolese Army and various
militias. But the 20,000 new refugees in the Goma-Sake area are the tip of the
iceberg. There are over 500,000 IDPs in North Kivu province. The IDPs lack clean
water and food. Cholera isn't the only epidemic that threatens the malnourished
and exposed refugees.
December
9, 2006: There was another firefight near the town of Sake (near Goma, on the
Congo-Rwanda border). A militia loyal to dissident Congolese general Laurent
Nkunda launched a new attack on an army unit entering the area. The
militia withdrew after the firefight with the troops. The were no casualty
reports. Nkunda's militia is now often referred to as the 81st and 83rd
Brigades of the army. It's a six to one, half a dozen to the other situation.
The men in these "brigades" were mostly drawn from tribal militias before they
were nominally integrated into the Congolese Army. The integration often does
not take.