[Francophones] Je transfère cet article tel qu'il est en Anglais publié par un quotidien de Kigali "New Times".

[Bishop Venuste Mutiganda]

Friday, 10th October 2008
    
      
        
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    Sezibera rebuffs DRC envoy’s claims
  
  
    

	
    Amb. Richard Sezibera.	
	 
  
  
    BY JAMES KARUHANGA
  
  
    KIGALI - Amb.
Richard Sezibera, the President’s Special Envoy to the Great Lakes
Region, has said that claims by Atoki Ileka, the Democratic Republic of
Congo’s UN envoy on Wednesday are ridiculous. Among others, the
Congolese envoy said DRC authorities had observed concentrations of
Rwandan troops along the border in Rwanda and that this suggested an
imminent attack on his country, a claim termed as false by Amb.
Sezibera. “The comments by the Congolese representative to the
UN are absolutely as false as they are contemptuous,” Sezibera told
reporters at his offices yesterday. “They also show the problem the DRC has and how that government will find it difficult to resolve it” “First
of all, claims that Rwandan troops are in the town of Goma are
ridiculous, Goma is the Headquarters of MONUC,” he pointed out,
explaining that the UN force would have substantiated had it been true.  “They
also claim that Rwandan troops are in Rumangabo. This is false.
Rumangabo was captured by the National Congress for the Defence of the
People (CNDP) and the area also had a strong Uruguayan MONUC
contingent,” he added. DRC rebel General Laurent Nkunda’s forces
seized the military camp of Rumangabo, 50 kilometers north of the
provincial capital Goma in the east of the DRC Wednesday.  On the allegation by the DRC that Rwanda was amassing troops along the border, Sezibera again,found the claim to be absurd. “He
[Ileka] talked about troops along the border. This is again very
ridiculous because it is not the DRC government to determine and decide
where Rwanda deploys on her own territory.  So, clearly, there
is an attempt by the DRC government to direct attention away from the
real problem on the ground and blame others , which is what they
usually do,” he said, going further to explain the nature of the
problem. He reiterated that the real problem was that the DRC has decided to have close collaboration with the FDLR, among others. Government,
Monday, exposed and condemned the alliance between the DRC army –
Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) and
Rwanda’s former genocidal forces Interahamwe now regrouped under Forces
Democratique pour la Liberation de Rwanda (FDLR). The FDLR are
remnants of the former Rwanda army (ex-FAR) and Interahamwe militia
that spearheaded the 1994 Genocide of Tutsi in which over one million
people gruesomely perished. In the on-going fighting between the
DRC government and Nkunda’s rebels, the FDLR and Ex-FAR/ Interahamwe
are being used and are fighting alongside the Congolese forces, all
flouting earlier peace accords. They include the Lusaka
Agreement, the Pretoria Agreement, the Nairobi Communiqué, a UN
resolution 1804, all which recognize the fact that FDLR, among others,
is the central problem in the region’s security.  “Congolese commanders on the ground are involved with the FDLR units,” he said, going ahead to name several FDLR units involved. “That
is unacceptable, which is why the government of Rwanda has complained
to the government of the DRC. We also requested the international
community to condemn this collaboration,” he said.   The
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Rosemary Museminali Monday
met members of the diplomatic corps and conveyed deep concerns over the
dangerous alliance. “The information shared with the envoys was
confirmed in the meeting. It is not the first time we shared this kind
of information, MONUC knows and so do other NGOs such as the ENOUGH
project,” Sezibera added, stressing that what is remaining is for those
who were in the meeting to act. ENOUGH is a project to end genocide and crimes against humanity. “There
is no excuse that they don’t know the situation on the ground,” he
said, adding that however much condemnation was important, most
important was the need for action for a change of course to materialize. Ends


      
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