DRC protest for Durban
A SOUTH African soldier died in a gun battle in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Department of Defence said, a coalition of the Mayi Mayi and Allied Democratic Forces rebel groups operating in the Eastern DRC attacked the SANDF’s position in the Beni region of the Eastern DRC.
“As the attack took place, the SANDF members, as part of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Congo (Monusco), engaged in a fire fight with the attackers and repelled the attack.
“After a lengthy stand-off, the attackers fled and during consolidation of the scene, it was established that four Mayi Mayi rebels were killed and two captured.”
The department said that the SANDF suffered casualties, one with minor injuries, one critical and one fatality while waiting for medical evacuation.
The department said particulars of the deceased SANDF member would be released once all the necessary administration had been concluded and the next-ofkin informed.
The Daily News yesterday spoke to some DRC citizens who have taken refuge in Durban.
There are growning concerns among this group about their families’ safety, after the DRC president Joseph Kabila refused to step down.
They said it sparked fears of another civil war in the resource-rich country.
Kabila, who came to power in 2001 and won two elections, refused to step down last night after his two terms ended.
The DRC constitution prohibits a third term.
His refusal has placed the DRC on a knife edge, with many observers expecting that the country would be thrown into turmoil.
In Durban, concerned DRC citizens were planning to march through the city centre tomorrow to protest against Kabila. They planned to hand over over a memorandum to eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede, with the hope that she will forward it to President Jacob Zuma who will then take up the matter directly with Kabila.
Their memorandum, which the Daily News has seen, demands that Kabila abide by the constitution and step down.
They also call for free and fair elections to be held and for political prisoners to be released. Fur- ther, they demand that the army, which was deployed to keep the peace, return to their barracks.
A 45-year-old DRC citizen who spoke to the Daily News on condition of anonymity said: “Kabila must step down now because we don’t want him anymore. First of all, he is not a Congolese. He was adopted by his father from Rwanda, that is why he is killing Congolese people.
“We don’t want him in Congo anymore, he must leave. We want to go back to our country but we can’t because there is no peace,” he said.
Reegeen Nkurunzinza, 25, said: “Kabila’s refusal to step down explains how much he hates the DRC, because if he ever cared, he would step down with peace.
“If he continues with his greediness, that will affect the economy of our country because no (foreign) investors will want to trade with DRC,” said Nkurunzinza.
Steve Mlmberenge, the president of Vision of African Generation (a youth NGO), urged DRC residents in South Africa to unite against Kabila.
“Let us focus on removing Kabila, because he is killing the DRC population. We also need freedom in our own country. We cannot live in foreign countries forever. This fight is not just for us, but also for our generations,” he sad.
Mlmberenge said many DRC residents living in South Africa longed to move back home but could not as long as Kabila was in power.
“We would only come here for holiday visit and then leave. Many of us now want to fight for our country’s freedom,” said Mlmberenge.
ON APRIL 27, 1994, while South Africans went to the polls in our country’s first democratic elections, people were being slaughtered in Rwanda.
History would record that for 100 days from April 7, 1994, between half a million and a million people were killed. Most were Tutsi, and the aggressors Hutu.
The UN had a presence in Rwanda in the run up to the genocide. But foreign intervention was slow and ineffective.
Eventually, the killings ended when a Tutsi-backed force, led by Paul Kagame, took control of the country. He officially became president of the country a few years later, a post he still holds today, and one he seems keen to hold on to for years to come. But that’s an opinion for another day. The genocide caused huge turmoil in that part of the world. Many Hutu fighters, responsible for the mass killings, fled to what was then called Zaire.
Kagame’s decision to pursue them led to the fall of the dictator, President Mobutu Sese Seko. The country was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo and one of the rebel leaders, Laurent Kabila, became president.
Depending on which version of history you read, Kabila fell out with Kagame at some point and Rwanda plotted his demise. Almost 16 years ago, in January 2001, Kabila was shot dead by his bodyguard.
His son, Joseph, then second in command of the army, was named president.
In 2006, Kabila junior was formally elected president for a five-year period. In 2011 he was re-elected to serve a second term.
Today, his term should have ended. But Kabila is not ready to go. A court has ruled he can stay on until elections are held, but at this stage Kabila seems to be in no hurry to call for one.
Opposition parties are understandably upset. However, there has been a crackdown on opposition parties and social media has been shut down.
But of greater concern are the forces in the east of the country, allegedly supported by neighbouring governments, including Rwanda.
These armed groups have said that from today, the army and police will no longer be seen as legitimate, which means armed conflict appears inevitable.
Yesterday, a South African soldier, who is part of a UN peace-keeping mission, was killed in a clash with a rebel group reportedly trying to overthrow Kabila. The entire country is a powder keg waiting to explode.
South Africa and the world cannot afford to turn a blind eye to what is happening in the DRC. We did so in 1994, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of innocent Rwandan lives.