Another weapon against the civil population
Rape is often used as a weapon of war by the armed groups which operate in the east of the DRC with the aim of intimidation, forcing the civil population to flee their homes, but there are plenty of other methods used by these same armed groups to intimidate, plunder and force the civil population to flee. In this article, I would like to describe another strategy which these groups use and whose aim is the same. This strategy consists of “burning down the homes” of the civil population.
It’s Tuesday 25/08/2009, just gone 23.00, in Nyakabere, a village situated 54 kms from the town of Uvira and surrounded by armed men. After surrounding the village, they proceeded to make it disappear, and going from door to door they began to wake these peaceful citizens and force them to leave their homes. “When they came to our house, they made us go outside and then run away taking only an item of clothing of our choice, leaving everything else inside the house. We didn’t know where to go in the middle of the night, so we decided to take shelter in the bush. Behind us, they (the attackers) first looted our house, taking all our belongings, and then they started to burn down our homes,” says Nabintu , a mother of six who lives in the village.
According to the testimony of those present, this armed band burned down more than 50 houses and threw a hundred families out onto the street. This scene was repeated on 29/08/2009 in Luvungi, another village, 49 kms from the town of Uvira, where this band of criminals set fire to still more villagers’ homes. Who are these attackers and why are they turning on the civilian population? Opinion is divided as to the identity of the perpetrators; according to FARDC (The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo), these men are the FDLR (Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda), an armed group made up of former genocidal murderers who continue to sow terror and despair among the Congolese civil population. According to the civil society in Uvira, which has carried out surveys in the area, and eye witness accunts, the men who attacked Nyakabere on the night of the 25th and Luvungi on the night of the 29th, came from the ranks of the FARDC. And what could have motivated this attack? The fact that the government had not paid their salaries for several months. “These soldiers, who have not been paid since the 4th of May, have turned on the civilian population with the aim of despoiling their belongings, “ concludes the report from the civil society.
The civil population remains the target of the various armed groups which make the laws in the Kivu on the one hand and on the other they remain the target of the FARDC which is supposed to protect them. As the American Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, emphasised on her latest visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo last month, the solution to the problems undermining the East of this country lies in the commitment of the governments of the sub-region and in the creation of a genuine Republican army which will be in a position to protect the population against the massacres, the looting and the raping of women and young girls. I believe that if the governments of the region act to find a solution to the problems posed by these negative forces, then tomorrow we will not be talking about the FDLR/ Interahamwe. I also believe that if the Congolese government commit themselves to paying their soldiers regularly we will no longer witness the phenomenon of plundering.
