Government forces battling with Laurent Nkunda’s forces in the eastern Congo have been sabotaged from within, leading to a series of losses to the rebels.

Sources close to the government told The EastAfrican that the integration of former rebel forces into the national army following the 2002 Sun City agreement that led to the formation of a government of national unity brought former friends of Nkunda into the army.

It so happened that most of the personnel deployed in the east to stop Nkunda’s advances are former soldiers in the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), which was backed by Rwanda and Uganda in its drive to oust the late Desire Kabila in 1998.

The sources said some commanders had been leaking information about the army’s position and strength to Nkunda.

RDC — initially led by the late Ernest Wamba dia Wamba — was formed by Uganda and Rwanda after they grew dissatisfied with the government, and took over Goma, marking the beginning of the Second Congo War in 1998.

It was the strong suspicion of sabotage that led President Joseph Kabila last week to appoint Gen Didier Etumba as the new chief of general staff to replace of Gen Dieudonne Kayembe.

The reshuffle came soon after Prime Minister Adolf Muzito toured eastern Congo where he discovered a major misappropriation of funds meant for the army.

The rebels who joined the government army had little military training and are finding the going tough against the battle-hardened Nkunda forces.

At the same time, it is difficult for the government forces to man the borders of the vast country, maintain national security and fight the war against Nkunda at the same time.

As a result, Nkunda’s National Council for the Defence of the People (CNDP) has been enjoying a series of successes before withdrawing from Kanyabayonga and Rwindi following appeals from the international community and the summit of the Great Lakes region held in Nairobi early this month.

Despite the pullback by Nkunda’s forces, Congo watchers doubt the ceasefire will hold, given that Kinshasa is still reluctant to initiate direct negotiations with him.

Even though UN special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo has announced that President Kabila and Nkunda are ready for dialogue without preconditions, the word from Kinshasa is that the government maintains that Nkunda should join the 22 other rebel groups in the Amani programme.

Kinshasa has always maintained that Kabila was elected democratically in 2006 and anybody who is dissatisfied with the way the country is governed must channel their grievances through the Amani programme.

Kinshasa is suspicious of Nkunda given that he has been shifting positions about the cause of his rebellion.

Initially, he argued that his aim was to protect the Tutsi population in the east against attacks from the Interahamwe in Congo.

He then said that he was fighting to end bad governance and threatened to match to Kinshasa to oust Kabila.

Last week, Nkunda added another dimension by stating that he is fighting against Kinshasa’s cosy relations with China.

Given the mistrust, it will be interesting to observers to see how Kinshasa will react to Kunda’s proposal — through Obasanjo — that he and his soldiers be integrated into the Congolese army as part of the settlement.

The question is whether President Kabila will be comfortable with Nkunda in the Congolese army, in case he instigates a mutiny from within.

Nkunda refused to integrate his forces into the army after the Sun City agreement.

It appears that Kinshasa’s hopes now lie in the push by France for the Security Council to double the number of UN forces to act as a buffer between the protagonists.

Sources close to the government said the French have been pushing Angola to deploy troops in eastern Congo to block any chances of Nkunda marching on to Kinshasa.