The East and Rwanda in a Simplified Nutshell

I just got back from scouting out locations at local schools for a shoot we're planning, but the trip was cut short due to rumors of unrest in Kinshasa and the Prime Minister resigning. I thought that since my photos and stories of the schools are postponed I'd provide you all with a brief (trust me, the epic section below is BRIEF) background of some of the conflict occurring in the East of the DRC.


To begin this discussion we have to have some background on the DRC's tiny neighbor Rwanda. Rwanda is run by Tutsis, who were persecuted during the Rwanda Genocide in the mid-1990s by the Hutus. There are about 7,000 Hutu militia forces living in Eastern Congo who fled there in 1994 after the Tutsis came into power, working under the acronym FDLR, which stands for Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.

Since the FDLR's migration, Rwanda's Tutsi Government has invaded Eastern Congo several times, in 1998 contributing towards an international conflict known as "Africa's world war". The Rwandan forces who invaded to wipe out their Hutu enemies indiscriminately raped women, pillaged towns, and killed masses of Congolese civilians.

In January of 2009 the Rwandan Government entered Eastern DRC and arrested a rebel leader named General Nkunda, an ethnic Tutsi and long-time enemy of the DRC's government. Nkunda led the CNDP, which stands for The National Congress for the Defense of the People. Nkunda is adamantly opposed to President Kabila and has become the face of the anti-government militia forces in the DRC. In recent years Nkunda's army has also been responsible for horrific crimes against Congolese civilians, and the extreme level of fighting has led to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their towns to live in refugee camps or hide in the jungle. Almost half of the 2,700,000 people who have died in this conflict since 2004 have been children under the age of 5. I can't even touch on the extensive sexual violence that is occurring against women and girls--that is a post for another day.

Rwanda's decision to arrest Nkunda has been controversial. While wiping out a major force in Eastern Congo's chaos, they are also rumored to be sympathizers with his cause, as he is ethnically Tutsi. There were also theories that they had ulterior motives in mind. Sure enough, soon after the Rwandans arrested General Nkunda President Kabila gave the Rwandan military permission to enter North Kivu in Eastern DRC and work with the Congolese forces to eliminate their enemy, the FDLR.

Most of this you can find in Western Media sources such as the NYTimes or BBC News. However what is not discussed is that the Congolese people are generally unhappy with Kabila's undercover authoritarian decision to allow Rwandan forces into the DRC, due to their history of violent rampaging and war in the past. The Rwandan genocide has been simplified and romanticized in the Western world as a tragedy with good guys and bad guys (see Hotel Rwanda). I saw Bill Clinton speak in Washington DC a few years ago and when asked what his biggest regret of his 8 years as President was, he replied "not doing more to prevent the Rwanda Genocide". It's easy to turn a blind eye to the injustices that the current Tutsi regime is carrying out because they were persecuted so heavily in the 1990s, and the USA did almost nothing to protect them (a matter which is obviously loaded with guilt, as evidenced by Bill Clinton).

The Rwandan forces have pretty much pulled out the Democratic Republic of Congo by now, claiming to have "greatly reduced" the FDLR (though the only numbers I could find in the media list only 90 Hutus dead). Despite this the situation in the East remains tense, though people are returning to their villages.

SO. How did this affect my day and our location scouting? Today the DRC's Prime Minister decided to resign, due largely to Kabila's decision to allow Rwandan forces into the DRC. Vital Kamerhe has only been Prime Minister since September of last year, after the last Prime Minister resigned due to health reasons. President Kabila gave him permission to resign but declined his request to do so on National television. Kamerhe is trying to build up enough of an image and reputation to run for President in two years, and hence refuses to resign if he can't do so in the public eye. Maybe he wikipediad his country recently and realized his name is not listed anywhere under government or politics (I had to do a google.fr search), and that he was going to have to step up his game if he wanted to be a presidential candidate. His supporters have been holding a peaceful demonstration downtown but this is Kinshasa, and rumors fly, so when we were scouting out schools today and received phone calls with stories of gunfire we quickly headed back to the compound. But who knows? When taxis backfire there are rumors of grenades being launched. It's hard to tell if this city loves gossip or is still recovering from a raw history of pillaging, riots, and violence.

UPDATE: Apparently Kamerhe's speech to his supporters was very emotional, as he stood up for the injustices he feels that Kabila has inflicted upon the DRC.

That in a nutshell is a very small portion of the chaos that is going on in the East, without the added complications of introducing MONUC (The UN forces), Mai-Mai (the independent pro-government militias), and the 90,000 strong DRC Army. Another HUGE issue that is going on is Uganda, Sudan and the DRC's combined attempt to wipe out the Lord's Resistance Party, which has slaughtered 900 civilians in Northern DRC since Christmas 2008. I left out a lot of important details and the knowledge I have is based largely of Western news sources and Congolese word of mouth. I recommend you do your own research and come to your own conclusions. The most comprehensive resources I've found on the conflict in the East are here and here and here.

Here's hoping that for everyone's sake (including the gorillas) calm is erupting.