Once more, the army’s mission will be supported by MONUC, the UN mission in DR Congo. A joint directive of MONUC and the FARDC declared:

“Joint planning is essential to map out the areas of risk and determine the most effective organization and deployment of our forces. Protection of civilians has been the central concern in our planning.”

The allegations against the Kimia II operations were extremely strong; for a robust defence of the operation, read this by Alan Doss of the UN. It will be interesting to see how in practice the Amani Leo operation turns out to be from Kimia II. Over the coming months,  our Local Correspondent for DR Congo, Floribert Kazingufu will continue to give a ground-level view of the conflict in this region.

Posted by Ruairi Nolan, Insight on Conflict, 12 January 2010

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The situation in East DR Congo has become worse with the arrival of government troops as part of the Kimia II operation to oust the FDLR. Many government troops are not paid and lack discipline. The rape of women and girls is widespread.

Two weeks ago a man was killed in Misisi, a village in the territory of Fizi, by a government soldier. The victim had gone for a ride from Misisi to another village five miles away. He was stopped by a soldier who demanded money for cigarettes.

The victim told him he hadn’t any money. The soldier got angry and took his bicycle, saying:

If you don’t have any money, we’ll take your bike.

A fight broke out, and the soldier took his machine gun and shot the man in the chest, killing the man before fleeing into the Bush.

Once the local people were informed, they went in search of the soldier. They destroyed and burned the houses of soldiers in the village, and took machetes, arrows, and spears to fight the government troops.

According to the managing director of Fizi Hospital, 18 people were killed. This demonstrates how easily one incident can quickly escalate to affect a huge number of people.

Upon learning of the situation in Misisi, we in ACODIF, with the help of local authorities, went into the village. By gathering together local leaders from churches, surrounding villages, and the army, in a fou-hour meeting, they were able to bring about a peace agreement to end the violence.

This meeting has allowed the people who had fled to the mountains to be free to return to the homes. However, this incident demonstrates the levels of violence that still exist in the region, and how ACODIF has had to negotiate for peace in the absence of control by the government of its troops.

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ACODIF - Community Action For Integral Development in Fizi

ACODIF is committed to community development, community peacebuilding, poverty eradication in Fizi, DR Congo

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