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DRC: Rwandan Defense Forces’ March On Kinshasa Has Begun

Rwandan Defense Forces, under the cover of Congolese rebels known as M23, have started their 2,000-mile long march to the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kinshasa.
According to our sources within Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), the order to march on Kinshasa was given on June 30, 2012 in a final meeting between General Paul Kagame of Rwanda, ex-CNDP Commander General Laurent Nkunda and Rwandan top military leaders, including Defense Minister General James Kabarebe, Chief of Joint Military Staff General Charles Kayonga, and General Paul Kagame’s intelligence and security adviser, General Jack Nziza. The march started on July 1, 2012 when the last unit of close to 3,000 Rwandan troops crossed the border into the DRC on the night of June 30th to reinforce 2,000 troops already supporting M23.
General Laurent Nkunda turned down the offer to lead the rebellion.

According to our sources, during several meetings held in the weeks before, General Paul Kagame once again asked General Nkunda to lead the rebellion. General Paul Kagame said that he does not want General Bosco Ntaganda. He pointed to the recent UN Security Council resolution adjoining all the countries in the region to stop supporting Bosco Ntaganda, a Congolese renegade General who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). General Paul Kagame also said that he does not trust Colonel Sultani Makenga, who was born and raised in the Congo, and hence appears to have no emotional attachment to Rwanda. General Laurent Ntaganda continued to reject the offer arguing that he has been away from his troops for too long and insisted on keeping Colonel Makenga and reassuring others that he will keep Colonel Makenga in check. General Laurent Nkunda has been officially under house arrest in Rwanda since January 2009, following the international condemnation of Rwanda for supporting him in a bloody uprising. But the reality is that he has never been under any arrest and was only forbidden from crossing. He and General Bosco Ntaganda are involved in the exploitation of Congolese minerals and timber, oil, and real estate businesses.

An Elaborate Plan for Invasion and Occupation.

Investigations by AfroAmerica Network are on-going. However, sources close to the Rwandan Defense Forces(RDF) top brass, point to an elaborate plan with multiple actors. The main actors are:

  • M23-CNDP that represent the Congolese Ethnic Tutsis under the command of General Luarent Nkunda, General Bosco Ntaganda and Colonel Makenga in the Eastern Congo and Congolese Police Chief General Bisengimana as a fifth column in Western DRC, especially the capital Kinshasa
  • PARECO-APLCS, mostly Nande under the command of General Kakulu Sikuli Vasaka Lafontaine and former Foreign Affairs Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi
  • PARECO mostly Hutu, under the command of Colonel Akilimali
  • Ethnic Hema, under the command of Colonel Kahasha.
  • Other troops, mostly from Katanga, under the command of disgraced former DRC Police Chief General Numbi, a confident to Rwandan Defense Minister General James Kabarebe.

The plan is first to put in place a national cover for a Rwandan led rebellion. Once the cover is well recognized, M23 will officially remain in the Kivus, while other factions will continue the march to Kinshasa to overthrow General Joseph Kabila and install a Congolese politician amenable to the Rwandan cause and interests.

All Started With Unkept Promises by General Joseph Kabila.

In order to be reelected, General Joseph Kabila promised several things to General Paul Kagame in return for his support in the Kivu. Unfortunately for Joseph Kabila, he easily promises a lot and is able to deliver very little. Hence, as usual, in this case he delivered very little once he was elected:

  • First he promised to keep the Tutsis within FARDC key posts of leadership and maintain them in the Eastern DRC.
  • Second, he promised to never attempt to arrest General Bosco Ntaganda.

Soon after the elections, under the pressure from the international community and to appease the radical congolese angry with the Rwandan influence in Congolese politics, General Joseph Kabila decided to move the Tutsis within FARDC to other regions of the DRC and officially declared his intention to arrest the renegade General Bosco Ntaganda.
Once Paul Kagame came to the realization that Joseph Kabila was about to get the renegade Gen. Ntaganda arrested and then transferred to the ICC, he became furious and dispatched Rwandan special forces to be the first ones that would get close to the fugitive General. This operation served mainly two purposes:

  • - to prevent any unreliable/unfriendly forces in the eyes of Kagame to arrest Gen. Ntaganda since the Rwandan President does not want him to “spill the beans and/or talk” about all the support the latter has been getting from Rwanda,
  • - in case of sustained scrutiny and denunciation by the international community, then the renegade General Ntaganda would be eliminated by RDF operatives and his death would be reported to the world as a war casualty.

Simultaneously, Rwandan Military leaders prepared a mutiny, that came to be M23 with the aim of regrouping all the congolese troops loyal to General Paul Kagame. Even then, General Paul Kagame wanted General Laurent Nkunda to lead the rebellion but he hesitated, He later confided to close family members that he was afraid he would end up a bullet in the head, once General Paul Kagame finds an other suitable replacement. Our investigation has learned that when General Nkunda turned down the offer, Paul Kagames’s services asked him to convince Makenga to create and head the M23 group. In return Makenga was promised full cooperation and support from the Rwanda security services according to our sources.
General Laurent Kabila against General Paul Kagame.

A palpable sentiment  is emerging in top circles both in Kigali and Kinshasa: Joseph Kabila’s days as President of the DRC are numbered. General Paul Kagame is determined to remove him from power and General Joseph Kabila has no power to stop him from doing so. Even the United Nations, represented by MONUSCO appears powerless.
After the march order was given by General Paul Kagame, M23 and RDF troops quickly seized, on July 3, 2012, the strategic town of Bunagana. Simultaneously, and General Lafontaine and Colonel Kahasha’s troops seized the strategic supply hubs of Lubero, Kasiki, and Mbwavinywa. These two operational successes by the rebels left the town of Rutshuru, which serves as a junction between the Capital Goma, the northern major towns of Beni and Butembo and the Eastern supply routes from Rwanda and Uganda, under siege. FARDC commanders along with 600 troops fled to Uganda abandoning weapons, tanks, and military trucks. Most of the soldiers even removed their uniforms before fleeing to Uganda.

On July 8, 2012, Rwandan Defense Forces and M23 seized the towns of Rubare and Ntamugenga, situated on the axis between Goma and Rutshuru, thus completely isolating Rutshuru. As this article goes under press, sources within M23 and Rwandan Defense Forces told AfroAmerica Network that in the next days, they will move towards Masisi, Goma and Walikale. General Lafontaine’s and Colonel Kahasha’s troops are already moving towards the towns of Butembo and Beni to make a juction with the troops led by Colonel Akilimali and those loyal to Former Foreign Affairs Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi.
Then the two will move westward to meet in the major town of Kisangani, before continuing on to Kinshasa.

AfroAmerica Network will continue to follow the dramatic dynamics and political seism in the Great Lakes of Africa.

©2012 AfroAmerica Network. All Rights Reserved.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Nsanda July 17, 2012, 9:37 am

    What is then China doing in all this? Unless he is part of the complot, if I was Kabila. I could have asked Cuba, China or Angola for help to oust Kagame himself from Power, this genocide lord.

    Kongolese are just dancers and prayers. How come a tiny country like Rwanda to threaten such a large semi-continent country like DRC?
    Are external powers like USA, Britain and France involved with the complicity of the UN itself?

    Congolese people should mobilize themselves to invade and occupy that small and respectless Rwanda.

  • kARUNDA July 11, 2012, 5:34 pm

    We will use any means necessary regardless of the cost because the world is a bad place and you can either do or get done., we are congolese and we are not done the final fighting is started, we will be victorious against the Tutsi vampire .