Uganda is not giving us support â€" Congo rebels

May 16, 2006

Neither Uganda nor any other country is giving us arms or support,” the two founding members of the Revolutionary Movement of Congo (MRC) said recently.

By Els De Temmerman and Emmy Allio
Neither Uganda nor any other country is giving us arms or support,” the two founding members of the Revolutionary Movement of Congo (MRC) said recently. Bwambale Vihuto, also known as Kakolele, and Dido Manyiroha, who are detained at Kampala Central Police Station, said they get their arms from the Congolese army – either by buying them or capturing them at the battlefield.
The MRC leaders emphasised that they came to Uganda in June 2005 not to ask for guns, but to request the Uganda Government to facilitate dialogue between them and the Kinshasa leadership. They said they did not meet President Museveni but met some Ugandan authorities who said they would transmit their message to the Congolese government. However, they were later told Kinshasa had refused to talk to them.
In August 2005, both leaders were declared persona non grata by the Uganda government and deported. Kakolele flew to Nairobi while Manyiroha went back to Ituri by road. Manyiroha said that on return, he called for a meeting with the Congolese government and the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC).
“We set up base in Getti and sent an emissary to Bunia that we wanted to negotiate. Instead, the government deployed troops and attacked us,” Manyiroha said.
He fled back to Uganda at the end of February 2006 because he claimed the Congo government and MONUC wanted to kill him at Burasi. He was arrested shortly after his arrival on charges of illegal possession of firearms. Kakolele was arrested on accusation of illegally entering the country.
MRC was formed in June 2005, uniting the five fighting groups in Congo’s Eastern province, Ituri. After years of fighting each other, the five groups joined hands because of what they call the “marginalisation” of the Ituri region by the Kinshasa government.
“We were excluded from the Sun City peace talks. We are not part of the transitional government. The government has refused to integrate our forces into the national army, claiming we are criminals. And all our top leaders have been arrested and are in jail in Kinshasa,” said Manyiroha. “This is contrary to two agreements signed between Kabila and the Ituri groups, one in Dar-es-salaam in 2003 and another in Kinshasa in May 2004, that all Ituri militias would be integrated into the national army.”
In recent months, MRC conquered most of the countryside in Ituri and is closing in on the provincial capital, Bunia. The MRC leaders attribute their military successes to the fact that the Congolese troops either flee or defect to their side. They also claim MONUC no longer wants to fight alongside the Congolese government forces because of the gross human rights abuses they (government forces) commit.
“When the government army was first deployed in Ituri, they started killing, raping and looting. MONUC made a strong statement about that. Now, the UN is only giving them ‘air’ support.”
The MRC leaders denied they had anything to do with the killing of the nine Bangladeshi peacekeepers on January 25, 2005.
“When the Bangladeshi were killed, MRC was not yet created,” Manyiroha said, adding that MRC only came into existence in June 2005. “The UN investigated the killing, but we have never been told what the outcome was.”
Both leaders also denied they had any links with either the LRA or ADF.
“We are the ones who reported to the Ugandan authorities that ADF was raising taxes from our people in Erengeti, Chochubo and Bundubuyo,” said Kakolele. “As for the LRA, we reported to MONUC that they came to Garamba National Park with the permission of the Kinshasa government,” the two leaders said.
Ends

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