Hero colonel’s death kills hope in troubled country
In a place where death is never far away, the colonel seemed larger than life, invincible. He stood at well over 6 feet , a good head or two taller than the crowds that thronged around him, waving palms and chanting his name. His soldiers claimed he had survived being shot at a dozen times in the jungles of eastern Congo.
The dream blew up in an explosion last week, when his convoy came under attack.
The man who was supposed to be beyond death died, and with him died some of the first faint stirrings of hope the people of the troubled east Congo have dared to feel in years.
The death of Col. Mamadou
The man who was supposed to be beyond death died, and with him died some of the first faint stirrings of hope the people of the troubled east Congo have dared to feel in years.
Ndala comes barely two months after he led the Congolese army to a historic victory against the country’s most serious rebels, with the help of a United Nations brigade.
It is another blow to a devastated country where an untold number have died in nearly two decades of conflict.
It also hurts efforts to make Congo responsible for its own security; the turbulent nation is now host to the largest United Nations peacekeeping mission in the world.
“He made people proud,” said a visibly saddened Crispin Mvano, a resident of Goma whose relatives suffered under the M23 rebellion the colonel helped snuff out. Mvano shook his head. “It’s a big loss,” he said.
Congo’s government promoted Ndala posthumously to brigadier- general on Monday, citing his bravery.
However, questions surround his death: Authorities said they have detained two members of the national army for questioning, and U. N.- backed Radio Okapi reported that seven others were interrogated.
Ndala’s mission to clean up the military’s ranks may also have been seen as a threat by other officers who illegally exploit mines in eastern Congo, which has large amounts of gold, tin, tungsten, copper, coltan and cobalt.
Congo, a former Belgian colony the size of Western Europe with nearly 66 million people, has been embroiled in conflict since 1996.
In 1997, rebels led by Laurent Kabila overthrew the dictator of 32 years, Mobutu Sese Seko. Two years ago, Kabila’s son, Joseph Kabila, won reelection to the presidency, in a vote international observers called flawed.