The road to nowhere
Dominic Nahr
In eastern Congo, a region rich in minerals, stunning landscapes and active volcanoes that glow at night, suffering is a part of everyday life. In early October, General Laurent Nkunda, a Tutsi rebel leader, launched attacks against government positions forcing over 250 000 civilians to flee their homes and refugee camps as the battle lines inched closer to the provincial capital, Goma. Chaos prevailed with ill-equipped government soldiers looting, raping and killing. On the other side of the front, the Tutsi “liberation” rebels massacred 150 civilians in largely Hutu areas. The main road in North Kivu, strewn with the bodies of government soldiers, seemed to lead to nowhere but death.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, which is approximately the size of Europe, suffered greatly during the 1998-2003 civil war that left millions, mostly civilians, dead. As part of the peace process, various rebel and militia groups have been integrated into the government’s armed forces, except for Nkunda’s rebels fighting against the government since 2004. The Congo army is in no state to fight effectively against Nkunda’s forces in the east of the country; most soldiers are underpaid, unmotivated and scared, finding the only incentive to fight in alcohol and drugs, a combination that turns war into madness.
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In late 2008, fighting escalated so dramatically that it was impossible to avoid a humanitarian and political crisis. Fears that the rebels would take over Goma, a key geographical position in the region, seriously undermined the position of the UN as a peacekeeping force with a mandate to protect civilians. The UN has some 17 000 soldiers in DR Congo, but peacekeepers are more likely to be found barricaded inside their bases while atrocities happen right in front of them. As one officer said, “What is happening outside?”
Nkunda’s public agenda has always been to fight his way to Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, to protect his Tutsi people targeted by pro-government Hutu militia. Rwanda added fuel to the fire by saying that the Congo government supported Hutu militia responsible for the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Rwanda has denied any involvement in the rebels’ advance in October, but doubts emerge at the sight of government soldiers trying to reload their rocket-launcher as artillery shells from the Rwandan side explode nearby.
While the idea of Nkunda making his way to the capital seemed far-fetched, the mere threat further destabilized the already fragile country. As always, it is the civilians, thousands upon thousands of them, who suffer the effects of decisions made by a small number of men. When elephants fight, the grass suffers, so it is said, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo there is no shortage of giants or grass. As for the 25 000 people who fled to Goma from Kibati one October morning, life is now little more than a journey in fear, with explosions and gunshots ringing out along the Road to Nowhere.
Dominic Nahr
