Scores of Rwandan Defense Forces Soldiers Killed or Injured in FARDC Counter-attack

by AfroAmerica Network on May 14, 2012

Sources within the Congolese military, FARDC, inform AfroAmerica Network that a large number of Rwandan Government soldiers, otherwise known as Rwandan Defense Forces, have been killed or injured in a counter-attack by the FARDC supported by MONUSCO. Rwandan troops have been infiltrating the DRC as a reinforcement to CNDP rebels. Over the last week, the Rwandan Government has sent into the DRC more than 3 thousand troops following a meeting between the COngolese and the Rwandan intelligence services (see our article: Rwanda Sends 3 Thousand Troops in DRC of May 8, 2012). The troops were allegedly to conduct joint military operations against the Rwandan rebels based in the DRC, but ended up being a reinforcement of the CNDP and FARDC mutineers led by indicted war criminal General Bosco Ntaganda and his deputy Colonel Makenga.
A FARDC officier confided to AfroAmerica network that MONUSCO has done a tremendous job “beyond [FARDC] expectations.” According to the same FARDC sources, MONUSCO troops used heavy weapons and helicopters to stop Rwandan troops who had attacked from Nortwestern Rwandan and entered the DRC from the Virunga areas. Once in the DRC, the Rwandan Government troops linked with the bulk of the fighting force led by one of the FARDC mutineer Colonel Makenga on Tuesday, May 8 2012. The combined force then attacked the Congolese villages of Runyoni and Chanzu, bordering the Virunga national park. They captured these two villages on Thursday May 10. The FARDC and MONUSCO forces counter-attacked over the week-end of May 12-13, 2012 with the FARDC and MONUSCO brand new attack helicopters firing rockets on the villages and stopping the momentum of Rwandan soldiers and CNDP rebels. It is during these attacks that a large number of Rwandan soldiers were either killed or injured. Those injured were taken to military hospitals inside Rwanda.

Since then FARDC with the support of MONUSCO has been trying to recapture the villages from the CNDP and the Rwandan Defense Forces soldiers. The attack has elevated the reputation of MONUSCO among the FARDC and the Congolese people. According to the FARDC sources, the help from MONUSCO will be instrumental in defeating the rebels.