Laurent Nkunda (1967- ) is a Tutsi, the general of a break-away piece of the army in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC, once known as Zaire. He commands about 4000 men in the middle of Africa
As of this writing, in early November 2008, he controls a small bit of eastern Congo near Rwanda. He is fighting to take over the city of Goma and has threatened to take over the whole country. The Congolese army, Hutu forces and United Nations peacekeepers are trying to stop him. Over 200,000 have fled their homes because of the current fighting. The United Nations calls it “a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions”.
Some say Nkunda is just power-mad. Some say he is a Rwandan-backed rebel. Some say it is all about controlling the mines in the region. His actions make most sense if you view him not as Congolese or even Rwandan but as a Tutsi commander who is fighting in an on-again-off-again war between the Hutus and Tutsis, a war that began with the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
In 1994 Hutus in Rwanda killed over 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis. Tutsi forces took over Rwanda and then Congo. Joseph Kabila, the current ruler of Congo, was born in Rwanda, not in Congo! Nkunda, in fact, fought with Kabila’s father in 1997 to overthrow the government there.
The Hutus who had done the killings fled to eastern Congo and formed the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, the FDLR. They are still there fighting. Nkunda wants to destroy them: the Congolese army itself is either too weak or too unwilling to do it.
A peace deal was signed in 2003 – thus the United Nations peacekeepers that are there. But the peace is falling apart.
When the war ended in 2003, Nkunda’s forces became a part of the Congolese army. Kind of: they answer only to him, not the government, and are unwilling to lay down their arms until Hutu forces in eastern Congo do the same. The Hutus in turn are afraid to go back home to Rwanda and so must stay the field.
Nkunda, born in Congo, has fought in both Congolese and Rwandan armies, but he has always fought with and for Tutsis.
Nkunda is a Pentecostal Christian, like many in his army. He wears a button that says “Rebels for Christ”.
The government wants to arrest him for war crimes. Amnesty International says he forces 12-year-old boys to become soldiers. Refugees International says his army kills, rapes and robs the defenceless. He has been accused of killing 160 unarmed people in May 2002 in Kisangani, a town of diamonds. There were reports of the same in Kiwanja last week: this time 180 were reported killed.
Nkunda can speak four languages: French, English, Swahili and Kinyarwanda. His English is good.
Nkunda comes from a small town north of Goma. His family raises cows and makes cheese. They sent him to university where he studied psychology, but ever since the 1994 genocide he has been a soldier.
Nkunda is married with four children.
See also:
- cndp-congo.org – his website
- country – Congo is not a country in the true sense
- United Nations
- American Empire
- banana republic
- guerrilla warfare
- Nigeria
Abagond 