Are Rwanda and DRC setting the stage for war?

Is Rwanda about to invade the Democratic Republic of Congo? That was the big question last week as tension and military activity continued to build up rapidly in eastern Congo.

It is clear that relations between Kigali and Kinshasa are worsening by the day, with the two parties trading accusations and the rhetoric between leaders of the neighbouring countries becoming more strident by the day.

Alarm bells were ringing loudly last week when Congo’s representative to the United Nations, Ateku Ineka, claimed that DRC authorities had seen concentrations of Rwandan troops gathering at the border.

This was promptly denied by President Paul Kagame’s envoy to the Great Lakes region, Richard Sezibera, who described the claims by Ateku as “ridiculous.”

The developments were taking place against the backdrop of intense military activity by a rejuvenated Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda.

On Wednesday, troops loyal to his Congress Nationale pour le Defense de Peuple overran a military camp in Rumangabo, causing heavy damage.

Clearly, eastern Congo is on the brink of a major humanitarian catastrophe.

Although Kigali insists it has nothing to do with the escalation of military activity around Goma, it was noteworthy that the country had in the wake of the attack on Rumangabo engaged in a new diplomatic and propaganda offensive whose aim was to give tacit justification to Nkunda’s activities during the week.

On Tuesday, Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rosemary Museminali told a meeting of Kigali-based diplomats of an alliance between DRC forces and remnants of Ex-FAR (the Rwanda army of the late president Juvenal Habyarimana) and Interahamwe militiamen who spearheaded the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Meanwhile, newspapers in Kigali, quoting anonymous sources, gave details of the Rumangabo attack, suggesting that elements within Nkunda’s frontline troops and intelligence were indeed in touch with Kigali.

Reports claimed that following the attacks, DRC commanders had fled Rumangabo to link up with the Ex-FAR and Interahamwe forces under the command of Lt Col Ndinzimihingo in Rutare.

Reports from Kigali gleefully detailed how Nkunda’s forces had vanquished their opponents — and, more curiously, gave out details of the arms and ammunition Nkunda had acquired from the Rumangabo attacks.

According to the reports, hhis forces captured four Katyusha rocket launchers, an assortment of anti-aircraft guns, motor launchers and vehicles.

On the face of it, the details of the air power that Nkunda’s forces were being reported to have suddenly acquired did not have much significance.

But officials of the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC (Monuc) told The EastAfrican that they interpreted it as a coded message: A tacit warning to them that Nkunda had acquired the capability to fend off even Monuc.