Worldfocus was nominated for an Emmy in the “Best story in a regularly scheduled newscast” category for our coverage of the “Crisis in Congo” (Executive Producer: Marc Rosenwasser, Correspondent: Michael J. Kavanagh of the Pulitzer Center, Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Taylor Krauss). The “Crisis in Congo” videos also won the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the international television category.

Pascal and Vestine are alive, but still not home

Rape as a weapon of war

Worldfocus was also nominated for an Emmy in the “Outstanding feature story in a regularly scheduled broadcast” for our coverage of “21st Century Africa” (Executive Producer: Marc Rosenwasser, Correspondent: Martin Seemungal, Producer: Yuval Lion).

China strengthens trading ties in Africa

Middle class sprawls in Nairobi, Kenya

Tech advances rev up across Africa

Rwanda aims for one laptop per child

Crisis in Congo: Human Rights Watch reports that Rwandan rebel forces, Congolese army soldiers and their allies have raped at least 90 women and girls since late January 2009. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

On Thursday, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Alan Doss, said that joint efforts between Rwanda and Congo represented a “sea change” in the region that could create “real hope of being able finally to find a durable solution to the problems that have haunted this region of Congo for more than a decade.”

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch reports that Rwandan rebel forces, Congolese army soldiers and their allies have raped at least 90 women and girls since late January 2009 — when Rwandan troops first entered Congo as part of a joint military operation to target Rwandan rebel groups.

Rwandan rebel forces have also been implicated in the deaths of 180 civilians killed since Rwanda and Congo joined forces.

Maartje, a Doctors Without Borders worker in eastern Congo, writes about her encounters with Congolese rape victims in the “Condition Critical” blog:

I’m responsible for the ‘MSF/SOPROP’ clinic (‘Solidarité pour la promotion sociale et la paix’), a place where we offer help to victims of sexual violence. [...]The team is working hard to make the clinic’s presence known among the population so people know where they can get care. We have also started setting up a focus group. This is where victims can share their experiences. Listening to their input also helps us improve the care we offer.

It’s starting to work. Last Tuesday, 16 women showed up. Quietly and shyly they came inside one by one. Some women entered seeming completely broken, others appeared to take a deep breath and then square their shoulders.

I was actually nervous. I found it difficult to see all of these women, knowing how much pain they had suffered. I felt so powerless.

First we drank a cup of tea together. The conversation began to build softly. Then a few women started to answer questions posed by the nurses. Others stayed silent but listened intently. As time went by, more women spoke up and the group began to relax. After an hour, it was as if the group had undergone a complete transformation. We laughed and had fun together.

Read more eyewitness reports from women in Congo at “Condition Critical” and watch the Worldfocus signature story: Rape as a weapon of war in DR Congo.

Doss also reiterated the need for troop reinforcements and equipment to the U.N. Security Council. In a post entitled “U.N. talks while Congo civilians suffer,” blogger “Dave” criticizes the U.N. for not coming through on its promises:

While joint operations were declared successful by the governments involved and the UN hailed the strides toward peace, the people of the region continue to suffer at the hands of all the combatants.

[...]The UN Security Council meets today to talk about the situation. Last year, they promised an additional 3,000 troops to aid the 17,000 blue helmets already in the Congo protect the civilian population. Not only have none of those additional troops arrived, there have been no reports that they are even en route. No one expects much from the additional troops anyway. The original Security Council mandate called for UN troops to protect UN relief operations and Congolese civilians, but their record has been dismal. Civilian casualties in the eastern provinces continue to mount and the epidemic of terror rape continues to destroy the lives of hundreds of women and their families.

The “Impudent Observer” blog calls eastern Congo an “invisible land”:

The world becomes furious at the death of a thousand civilians in Gaza, the world becomes furious at the ongoing deaths in Darfur, but the world simply ignores the death of millions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Latest reports are that at least 90 Congo women were raped and about one hundred fifty villagers killed. Unfortunately, the Congo government took into the ranks of its army former rebels and sent them on this operation. These soldiers lacked training, pay or food so they proceeded to steal, rape and kill the people they supposedly were protecting.

Cry the beloved people of Congo because no one cries for you.

Also see our coverage of the crisis in Congo and Worldfocus correspondent Michael J. Kavanagh’s Potraits of Insecurity, a slideshow of the tenuous situation in the corners of eastern Congo at Foreign Policy.

Last month, Michael J. Kavanagh of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting went back to eastern Congo to find out what happened. Together with Lisa Biagiotti and Taylor Krauss, he produced the story of Pascal and Vestine.

Read Michael’s post on what he saw in Congo’s most remote areas: War still rages on in corners of eastern Congo.

A woman displaced by the fighting between Rwanda and FDLR, outside Pinga, North Kivu. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

PARECO rebel soldier at an integration ceremony where all rebel groups are joining the Congolese Army. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

A boy in Pinga, former FDLR stronghold. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

Michael J. Kavanagh of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting returned to eastern Congo last month to understand the conflicting news coming out of the region. Below he explains what he saw in some of the most remote areas of Congo. Along the way, he reconnects with Pascal and Vestine Bumbari. He reported on the signature story: Pascal and Vestine are alive in Congo, but still not home.

“Michel, we are suffering so much.” Those were the first words Pascal said to me over the phone in February, when he called out of the blue.

Pascal and his wife Vestine live on non-arable lava rocks in their new camp; his clothes are all torn; they don’t have enough food; the rain seeps through the tarp that covers their hut. Until the day we arrived, Pascal had done nothing - nothing - with his days for four months. Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps are not really the place you’d go to look for work.

There is a misconception right now that peace is spreading throughout eastern Congo. Tutsi rebel-leader Laurent Nkunda is under house arrest in Rwanda. There’s a new peace agreement between his rebel group (the CNDP) and the government. Joint-military operations between erstwhile enemies Congo and Rwanda continue against the Rwandan Hutu rebel group hiding in eastern Congo (the FDLR). It all seems like hopeful stuff.

But this new development, this surprising volte-face, is only a beginning. The main issues that caused the war in the first place - land, resources, tribalism, refugees and the continued presence of the FDLR in Congo - have not gone away.

To use the example of our own story: Pascal is Hutu, and he still doesn’t feel safe enough to return to his home, which is still - for the most part - under control of soldiers once loyal to Nkunda. And while 350,000 Congolese in North Kivu have returned home in the last few months (mainly to land formerly occupied by Nkunda’s troops), another 160,000 have been displaced since January as the FDLR takes its revenge on the villages where (they allege) people collaborated with the Rwando-Congolese joint operation.   It makes your head spin.

This new fighting is taking place in very remote regions - I spent days on the back of a motorbike to get there - and what I found was just as devastating as anything I’ve seen in my previous five years of reporting in Congo: Massacres, executions by gun and machete, kidnappings, sex slaves, torture victims.

So while the conflict in some parts of eastern Congo is settling down, there are other corners where the war rages on. This seemingly-endless string of local battles is often what makes people give up on the region - new place names to learn, new rebel groups to figure out.

But don’t give up just yet.

The new collaboration between Rwanda and Congo is the most important development in the conflict in years, and one of the main reasons the countries are now working together is because of pressure from the international community that intensified after last fall’s humanitarian disaster.  Sustaining that pressure is the only way to make sure this conflict truly turns a corner towards peace, so that good, hardworking people like Pascal and Vestine can finally return home.

- Michael J. Kavanagh

Laurent Nkunda. Photo: Michael Kavanagh

Rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda, who had campaigned against the Congolese government, has been arrested in Rwanda, a country that had been accused of supporting him.

Nkunda was caught as he tried to repel a joint force of Congolese and Rwandan soldiers.

Rob Crilly is a freelance journalist based in Nairobi who has written for The Times, The Irish Times, The Daily Mail, The Scotsman and The Christian Science Monitor. Crilly’s blog “African Safari” appears on the blog network “From the Frontline,” where he discusses why Nkunda has lost the support of Rwanda’s leaders.

Rwanda Finally Ditches Nkunda

So General Laurent Nkunda has been arrested in Rwanda. About time too. His thuggish rebellion scattered 250,000 people in the last months of 2008 as he flexed his muscles and played games with the lives of the families he claimed to represent. There are still questions to be answered - will Rwanda hand over to the DRC where he is a wanted man - but this, for what it’s worth, is my take on the affair…

Either General Laurent Nkunda has spent four years protecting his Tutsi tribemates from Hutu genocidaires or he is a Rwandan-backed troublemaker, intent on destabilising the Democratic of Congo depending on who you talk to.

Today it seems time has run out for the rebel leader.

It may be that he has fallen out with too many of his senior lieutenants or that his arrest was the price Rwanda was willing to pay in order to send troops over the border to clear out Hutu militias hiding in Congolese forests.

Either way the man known as the Butcher of Kisangani appears to have lost support in key places. “Nkunda didn’t realise that he had lost political capital with a series of foolish moves,” said a UN source in the regional capital of Goma. “He thought he was indispensable and that he could do whatever he pleased.”

The forests of eastern Congo are the refuge of FDLR guerrillas, Hutu militias who fled Rwanda after the genocide. Kigali has long accused the DRC of not doing enough to clear the forests of Hutu gunmen. As a result few doubt that Rwanda was offering assistance to Nkunda to do the job instead.

A United Nations report last year cited evidence that Nkunda’s rebels were receiving cash and recruits from Rwanda, and that senior commanders had a direct line to officials in the Rwandan capital Kigali. But his leadership had been under threat ever since a breakaway faction of his National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) declared a ceasefire earlier this week.

At times his comrades have been irritated by his erratic, narcissistic style promising one thing in media interviews, before contradicting himself days later.

Last year his rebels sparked a major humanitarian crisis as they moved on the city of Goma. A quarter of a million people were forced from their homes.

In the end Rwanda probably decided it no longer needed Nkunda’s bloody help.

To read more, see the original post.

See more of our coverage of the crisis in Congo.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

The United Nations estimates that 200,000 women and girls have been raped in that time, some victims as young as three years old.

Both the Congolese army and rebel groups have used rape as a weapon of war.

Armed groups use rape to tear apart families, spread disease and weaken communities. Women are often victimized doubly — first by their rapists and secondly by spouses or family members who then find it dishonorable or socially unacceptable to associate with them.

Worldfocus special correspondent Michael J. Kavanagh of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and video journalist Taylor Krauss recently reported from eastern Congo. Together with Lisa Biagiotti and Bijan Rezvani, they produced this signature story.

See their previous signature story: War in DR Congo: The story of Pascal and Vestine.

Watch a companion Web-exclusive video: Rehabilitating rape victims and families in Congo.

Michael Kavanagh and Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge, along with other experts, held an online radio show on roots of the conflict and prospects for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For more on the conflict, read our Q&A: History, rebels and crisis in eastern Congo or read Human Rights Watch’s background and timeline of the conflict.

Many journalists and activists have produced harrowing accounts of the epidemic of sexual violence in Congo. But as intense violence destabilizes North Kivu once again, we thought it was important to reiterate that the pervasiveness of rape is directly linked to the war.

Cases of sexual violence skyrocket during and after battles and along frontlines. Armed groups are deeply aware of the stigma surrounding rape and they exploit it in order to destroy families and bring women — and men — to their knees. The key to finding ways to “Stop Rape” in Congo is not just to increase awareness of rape, but also to increase our understanding of the causes of the war and work to end it.

Which brings us to the men. Men commit most of the violence in Congo, and most of the rapes. But many men are also victims, too — often directly through rape and torture, but also indirectly through what their wives and daughters and mothers experience.

Because they are both perpetrators and victims, more and more women’s organizations work with men, too, to educate and counsel them.

In fact, Georgina and André met with counselors from an extraordinary organization called SOPROP (Solidarite Pour la Promotion Sociale et la Paix) that helps victims of torture and their families. SOPROP offered couple’s counseling to Georgina and André, and though in this case they still separated, SOPROP’s efforts have encouraged hundreds of other families to stay together, empowering the husbands to care for the women in their lives without turning their backs.

Lisa Biagiotti and Bijan Rezvani of Worldfocus.org helped us produce this short interview with SOPROP’s Lydie Suatula to highlight the work SOPROP does in Congo.

Many groups do wonderful work with women who’ve been raped — SOPROP and Synergie des Femmes from this piece are two examples.

You can also support Eve Ensler’s grassroots movement of women — the V-day campaign — as well as Heal Africa. Human Rights Watch and the ENOUGH project also do invaluable research and advocacy on behalf of women and all victims of torture in Congo and elsewhere in the world.

- Michael J. Kavanagh and Taylor Krauss

In the last year alone, more than a million people have fled the fighting in eastern Congo.

In spite of a peace accord in 2003, fighting continues and many fear that foreign countries are still involved. Recently, there have been more signs of Rwandan involvement and encouragement of rebels.

The 17,000 United Nations peacekeepers in Congo cannot ease the growing number of casualties as a rebel group threatens to overthrow the Congolese government.

Worldfocus correspondent Michael J. Kavanagh of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and video journalist Taylor Krauss recently visited the refugee camps in eastern Congo. Together with Lisa Biagiotti, they produced this video on one family’s story.

Note: In the weeks since this story was filmed, the camp has been attacked and Pascal was forced to flee a third time. The camp is now deserted except for a small rebel force, and Worldfocus reporters have not been able to locate Pascal and his family.

Read reporter Michael Kavanagh’s blog post about his experience reporting with video journalist Taylor Krauss in Congo here: Giving a human face to Congo’s conflict.

Taylor Krauss recounts their detention by Congo’s secret police here: Detained by Congo’s secret police.

Taylor Krauss shoots footage in eastern Congo. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

Taylor Krauss is a producer, video journalist and the founder of Voices of Rwanda. He traveled to Congo with reporter Michael kavanagh to capture footage for the Worldfocus report on the Congo: The story of Pascal and Vestine. Here, he writes about their harrowing detention by Congo’s notorious secret police.

Read Michael Kavanagh’s account of their experience here.

I wasn’t surprised when the secret police stopped me and Michael Kavanagh as we headed out to film in Rutshuru [a town in North Kivu] in October. After all, it wasn’t the first time I had been taken in by Congolese police for “carrying a camera,” and “not having my paperwork in order.”

I knew a padded handshake could solve things in a country where [former president] Mobutu used to tell his citizens to “fend for themselves.” But I also knew that when working with NGOs in Congo, you follow their lead — because without them, you’ve got nothing. On that morning, the International Rescue Committee refused to allow us to bribe the officers, and the officers were furious.

First, they demanded my camera. When it became clear to them that they’d first need to buy a saw to cut off my arm in order to get my camera, they decided to settle for my passport. I never let that out of my grip, either, so they decided they would settle for my tapes.

When I refused, they told us to follow them in the car to headquarters. I was already frustrated we had missed our dawn shots at the IDP [internally displaced persons] camp and had hoped we wouldn’t lose any more time, but knew we potentially had a lot more to lose.

After several grueling hours of questioning, the head of security still wasn’t satisfied. The underlings told him we’d filmed critical military targets and that we were in fact spies from Rwanda.

Of course, they demanded to review my tapes. Not wanting to spend a night in a Congolese jail on the eve of the outbreak of war, I’d already cued up my b-roll [supplemental footage] tape of a sunrise and children playing. They scratched their chins as they watched my recordings of children dancing in front of my camera, but I think they were actually enjoying it.

Ultimately, they decided to take all the tapes. Michael was devastated.

Later that day, I crossed over the border into Rwanda and called Michael. On the way to headquarters, I had hidden the “money” tape — with footage of the United Nations jungle patrols — deep in my bag’s “secret pocket,” and I had just reviewed it.

“Fend for yourself,” the Congolese creed, had come in handy.  We were lucky. Since that time, reporting has become even more difficult and dangerous.

Sorry - there are no sunrises.

- Taylor Krauss

Displaced children in eastern Congo. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

Michael J. Kavanagh is a journalist with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. He recently reported on the crisis in eastern Congo for Worldfocus: The story of Pascal and Vestine. Here, he writes about his experience covering the conflict.

The conflict in Congo is too complicated to explain in a five-minute video, so we’ve left most of the context out in order to focus on Pascal’s story.  For more background on the recent fighting, check out my Q&A on history, rebels and crisis in eastern Congo.

I’ve been reporting on DRC for five years now, and there’s nothing that frustrates me more than the dismissive comments I often get about how conflict in Africa is endemic.

Violence is rarely irrational — it almost always has root causes that can be addressed. We’re often just too busy or lazy to learn enough about a situation to figure out how.

Given the extent of the outside world’s involvement in Congo over the last century, I am of the school that says we owe it to Pascal, Vestine, their two children and the millions who are suffering in Congo to try.

As Taylor Krauss and I filmed in these camps, people were saying they hadn’t eaten in days and they hadn’t received food aid from humanitarian groups in months.

And then there’s the violence. It sometimes seems that every other woman you interview is a victim of sexual violence (we’ll air a piece about this in the coming weeks); an equal number of men have been tortured, killed, or forced to fight in armed groups.

These conditions make reporting in eastern Congo extremely difficult — read Taylor’s account of our detention by Congo’s notorious secret police.

We couldn’t have done our work without the help of many brave and generous Congolese citizens, United Nations staff and humanitarian workers. The International Rescue Committee — in particular, Danielle de Knocke van der Meulen, Lia Pozzi, Fidel Bafilemba and Elinor Raikes — were hospitable and patient with the sometimes burdensome requirements of television.

IRC is one of the few aid groups that consistently sends aid workers into the most dangerous places in the world, even when the danger is most acute. They save hundreds of lives every day.

We also need to thank the people at Virunga National Park who gave us the footage of the fighting in Rumangabo. Virunga is home to an extraordinary array of wildlife — from gorillas to gazelles to hippos. It’s also one of the main centers of war.

The Virunga rangers are the bulwark keeping armed groups from completely overrunning the park; over 100 rangers have been innocent casualties of the fighting over the years.

When the war ends and Virunga is again a naturalist’s paradise (it seems crazy even to write about that possibility at the moment), we’ll have the rangers to thank for preserving it.

- Michael J. Kavanagh

AUDIO: John Prendergast of the ENOUGH project discusses the use of rape as a weapon in eastern Congo as well as prospects for the UN in the region.

Congo’s children become soldiers in the ongoing conflict. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

The cease-fire collapsed in eastern Congo this week as fighting resumed.

As rebels make demands from the Congolese government, civilians are caught in between. Beyond ongoing hunger and starvation, crimes against humanity include the rape of women and the recruitment of children into war.

United Nations officials have called the epidemic of sexual violence in Congo “the worst in the world,” pointing to the 27,000 sexual assaults reported in South Kivu Province in 2006. Often, women are mutilated and left to die.

The “Healing trauma in DR Congo” blog writes about tackling problems like rape by supporting women empowerment programs.

The “generalspeaking” blog discusses the fate of women in wartime, and writes that both the military and militias in Congo use rape as a weapon.

Blogger “Amber” considers why rape is considered an acceptable tool in Congo and elsewhere.

Children, too, live in fear — Save the Children recently reported that amid the current conflict, armed groups attacked two schools in order recruit child soldiers. Here is a map of child soldiers fighting in Congo and around the world.

Chris Blattman of Yale University talks about his study on the motivation for child soldier recruitment in his blog.

Watch a documentary on the situation of Congo’s children — who are soldiers, prostitutes and refugees.

Michael Kavanagh reporting from The Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: Taylor Krauss

Michael J. Kavanagh is a journalist with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. He returned from The Democratic Republic of Congo last week and answers questions from Worldfocus viewers on the crisis in eastern Congo.

A lot of really interesting questions, I have to say — thank you. It makes me feel really hopeful that people are starting to understand DR Congo more and more.

I’m going to group questions into three themes: History of the conflict, rebel fighting in Congo and the humanitarian crisis.

HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT

Q. Is this a Hutu/Tutsi conflict spilling over from Rwanda?

Michael Kavanagh: Let me start by talking about group identity in eastern Congo, which is incredibly difficult to wrap one’s head around.

This is not a Hutu/Tutsi conflict, per se. This is a political and economic conflict in which group identity is manipulated by opportunistic politicians and military leaders for their own political/military/economic ends.

There are at least a dozen tribal groups in eastern Congo, and even among those groups, there are local/regional differences that cause people of the same group to support different sides in the conflict (or none at all).

In Congo – like anywhere in the world, including Rwanda – identity is a fluid thing and at any one time a person might choose to ally himself/herself to any group that is part of his/her identity. This includes church, party, family, clan, tribe, village, profession and any other number of things that have a purchase on how we conceive of who we are.

For the last 15 years, Congolese Tutsis, the Tutsi-led government of Rwanda, and a group of other Congolese allied with these two groups – mostly Congolese Hutu but also supporters from other tribes – have had an enormous amount of power in eastern Congo. They own vast amounts of land, they own mines and cattle and hotels and are captains of industry. Some of this wealth came legally over decades, some of it came extra-legally during the wars that started in 1996 when Rwanda invaded Congo.

For many years, these men (they’re mostly men) were backed by the significant military might of Rwanda and their allied army in eastern Congo, the RCD (don’t worry about the name – it doesn’t exist anymore). But in spite of their enormous military and economic power, they make up a very small part of the Congolese population. So when the war ended and elections took place in 2006, Congolese Tutsi and their allies essentially lost all their electoral power.

There was legitimate fear that much of their economic power might be at risk, both because of the corruption of the Congolese government and lingering animosity towards Rwanda and its Congolese supporters in the east after years of war between the two countries. Seeing no political avenues to ensure their power, these men instead chose to exploit legitimate grievances – the continued presence of Rwandan Hutu génocidaires in Congo (FDLR), 40,000 Congolese Tutsi refugees in exile in Rwanda and anti-Tutsi sentiment – as a justification to taking up arms and force their way into politics to protect their interests.

This is a thumbnail sketch of why war continues in the Kivus.

Q. Who’s supplying weapons?

Rebel leader, General Laurent Nkunda. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

Michael Kavanagh: The Congolese government has typically supplied FDLR (the Rwandan Hutus), though it’s no longer overt (the FDLR are considered a terrorist group by the U.S.). The government of Congo also works openly with many local militia groups.

Interestingly, General Laurent Nkunda also gets most of his weapons from the government of Congo – by stealing them.  There’s some evidence that some supplies come from Rwanda as well (or at least Rwandan sympathizers.)

Q. Most often in Africa, extractive resources are being fought over. Is that a factor here?

Michael Kavanagh: You can never reduce any conflict to one variable but you’re right that many conflicts in Africa (and elsewhere: e.g., Iraq) have a component that is related to fighting over an extractive industry or other natural resources. In this case, Congo is full of minerals and fertile land and economics plays a huge role in the perpetuation of this conflict, even if we’re not always talking about an extractive industry.

Q. Why would the Congolese government support Hutu militias?

Michael Kavanagh: The best way to answer this question is to begin by clarifying it: Why is the Congolese government supporting Rwandan Hutus? Because the FDLR are primarily Rwandan Hutus who came to Congo as refugees after the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

The alliance is more political than tribal – the FDLR were important allies of Congo in the second Congolese war (1998-2003), which pitted Tutsi-led Rwanda against the Congolese government led by current President Joseph Kabila’s father, Laurent Kabila.

For the time being, Congo’s government and the FDLR have similar interests: Certain economic ventures and diminishment of Rwanda’s power in the region. If their interests diverge, the alliance between Congo and the FDLR attenuates quite quickly.

But to expand, there are many Hutus in eastern Congo who are not Rwandan – they are, in fact, the largest single identity group in the conflict zone in North Kivu. Some have joined the FDLR or sympathize with them. Many, if not most, have/do not.

Congolese Hutu identity is complicated by several factors – on the one hand, they’ve been historically discriminated against by the Congolese state as foreigners who speak Kinyarwanda (the language of Rwanda), just like Congolese Tutsis. As a result, there have been important ties between Congolese Hutus and Tutsis and there are many Hutus who are fervent supporters of Nkunda.

On the other hand, many Congolese Hutu were killed by the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan army in the Congo wars starting in 1996 in reprisal for the genocide. It’s a part of the Rwandan genocide story that has yet to fully be documented, but it’s part of the historical memory of many Congolese and Rwandan Hutus.

In part because of their alliance during those wars, many eastern Congolese feel affinity for Hutus and vice versa as their tribal brothers, and they say Tutsis are from a different tribal lineage.  This is genetically and historically very dubious, but many Congolese believe it.

My most interesting conversations in eastern Congo are often with Hutus explaining why they support whatever group they support, because it’s often a decision grounded in a very personal – not group – history.

REBEL FIGHTING IN CONGO

UN vehicles patrol the streets of Rutshuru. Photo: Michael Kavanagh

Q. Who are the rebels? Are they primarily educated members of the middle class, like the mujahideen in Afghanistan? Or are they victims of economic devastation?

Michael Kavanagh: The CNDP rebels are a mix of dairy farmers/cattle herders, hardcore believers in combating Tutsi oppression, demobilized Rwandan professional soldiers, and forcibly recruited cadres from Congolese Hutu communities and from Rwanda’s working class. They primarily speak Kinyarwanda and the leaders are generally Tutsi (who fought with the Rwandan Patriotic Army in the 1990s).

Many of the leaders are relatively well educated – like RPA, CNDP has always stressed education, training, discipline.  Are they middle class?  It’s hard to say if there is such a thing as a middle class in Congo – even those who aren’t subsistence farmers aren’t particularly well off.  However, many of the CNDPs most fervent supporters are extremely well-off Tutsis who own a lot of land and cows and see the CNDP as their protectors.

Q. What is the involvement of Muslims in this conflict? Which of the protagonists are primarily Muslim?

Michael Kavanagh: Very little/none. Congolese are mostly Catholic and Christian. Nkunda himself is Christian. When I was last with him in late February he was wearing a pin that said “Rebels for Christ.”

Q. I’ve read that one of the big issues being contended is a big deal to give China mineral access in return for transportation systems. Is this cause related to those of groups like MEND?

Michael Kavanagh: Yes – Congo’s president Kabila has sold off huge mineral contracts to China in exchange for infrastructure construction.  This is one of the topics that Nkunda wants to discuss with the president directly, if he ever gets that chance (I’m not sure what he wants to say, however).  There’s an impressive Fast Company article, China Invades Africa, that talks about China’s influence in Congo if you’re interested.

As far as I know, there are no links between CNDP and MEND.  CNDP and MEND come from slightly different places politically and economically – some Tutsis already have a lot of economic power and they’re protecting it; MEND is trying to get Nigeria and the oil companies to redistribute economic power more equitably.

Q. Who benefits from the situation over there, and are the mobs being manipulated to anyone’s advantage?

Michael Kavanagh: A lot of people.  Some Congolese and FDLR rebel commanders and some Congolese army commanders have stakes in mines.  Anyone who trades on the black market in minerals benefits.  Businessmen who are exploiting the national park that CNDP controls benefit.  Rwanda benefits to some extent though less so than in the past – they have proxies in eastern Congo in the mines and many Rwandans keep cows in eastern Congo.

Finally, yes – the mobs are manipulated by the government against the UN, against the CNDP, and against Tutsis.  It’s a dangerous game, since MONUC is supposed to protect the population and genuinely tries to, and one of the main justifications for CNDP’s continued existence and Rwanda’s interest in the region is exactly this anti-Tutsi sentiment.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

A medical center in Kashuga, which was ransacked a month ago. Photo: Michael Kavanagh

Q. What are the conditions of the hospitals/medical centers like? Are they being ransacked as well? I imagine with the current health condition, it would be important for medical help to reach into the villages/homes. Is any of that going on?

Michael Kavanagh: I’ve traveled throughout the region with doctors from Heal Africa and Doctors Without Borders. Health centers in North Kivu are horribly equipped – they’re located in remote areas that are hard to access and supply.  They often don’t have electricity or running water. When you hear about 5 million people dying in the Congolese wars, most of those deaths are a result of inadequate medical care.

Armed groups often ransack medical centers immediately – they need the supplies for their troops. There are a few decent hospitals in Goma, and a few others staffed by Doctors without Borders in North Kivu.  There’s also one in the heart of Nkunda’s territory run by a doctor and his wife, who is also a doctor – both are extremely influential in Nkunda’s movement.  Nkunda’s soldiers also get medical care in Rwanda.

Q. Is sufficient food still available to families in South Kivu? And, please estimate how much basic food costs have increased in South Kivu in recent months.

Michael Kavanagh: I’m less familiar with the situation in South Kivu – I haven’t been there for an extended trip since 2006.  The leaders of the peace process are much more optimistic about peace holding in South Kivu.  In terms of food availability and pricing: food prices have gone up in Congo as they have everywhere in the world, and that’s been very difficult for Congolese families. A lot of food for the region comes from North Kivu, and the fighting there has made prices rises more than normal.

I can’t give an estimate on costs — sorry!

Q. What can ordinary people here in the U.S. do to give support? I read recently that the UN was likely to send 17,000 additional peacekeepers. I also read a conflicting report which seemed to indicate that the UN was not decisive. Will you be going back there soon?

Michael Kavanagh: There are already 17,000 peacekeepers throughout Congo, so the UN mission in Congo is asking for more.

As for what you can do…keep reading – forward stories around to your friends. Write two lines to your congresspeople saying you care. Donate to organizations that do good work there – in North Kivu there are the Congolese organizations Heal Africa, SOPROP, Synergy des Femmes – these all deal with human rights and health. Internationally, International Rescue Committee and Doctors without Borders (MSF) do fantastic, brave work in Congo.

Finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, click on every single Congo story you see and email it to friends. Editors notice how many hits different stories get, and that’s what will let me go back there –- if editors realize people actually care, they’ll shell out the money to let journalists like me cover this disaster with the depth it deserves.

Thanks all.

- Michael J. Kavanagh

Yesterday, rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda called for a cease-fire and a day of relative calm hung over Congo. Today, Nkunda called for direct negotiations with the Congolese government.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by violence, UN peacekeepers admit they are overstretched and the Congolese army has fled from the rebels, abandoning civilians and UN forces.

See more of our ongoing coverage, including a previous interview with Michael, here.

Michael will answer viewer questions about his experience in the Congo and the country’s deteriorating situation.

Michael answered viewers’ questions on Congo here:  Q&A: History, rebels and crisis in eastern Congo.

Civilians have fled to the UN compound to protest inadequate protection against the rebels. UN peacekeepers fired on rebels in eastern Congo, near the border of Rwanda.

Rebel attacks have forced nearly 250,000 Congolese from their homes in the last six weeks.

Worldfocus correspondent Michael J. Kavanagh of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting speaks with Martin Savidge from the UN headquarters in Goma, where he was among the 100 people trapped inside the compound.

Read more on the background of the crisis in Michael’s on-the-ground report: Protesters pelt UN compound in Congo.

Michael J. Kavanagh with displaced Congolese in the Kibumba IDP camp last week. This IDP camp was raided and captured by Congolese rebels yesterday. Photo: Taylor Krauss.

Today, Worldfocus correspondent Michael J. Kavanagh reported from inside a UN compound in eastern Congo, which faced a storm of protesters. Michael is also a journalist for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Watch Michael’s interview with Martin Savidge: UN commander resigns as thousands flee in Congo.

Violence in eastern Congo reached new heights today when the force led by Tutsi rebel General Laurent Nkunda captured the Congolese army’s main base in the east.

The rebels went on to capture three other towns and are now only 20 km (or 12 miles) outside of Goma, where United Nations peacekeepers blocked their advance.

Protesters started taking out their frustrations on the UN because they feel the UN is not doing enough to protect them against the small (but powerful) rebel group of 5,000 to 7,000. Protesters have been stoning vehicles, pelting the compound with rocks and burning tires in the street.

There are probably about 100 people total inside the compound. At least one Congolese civilian was killed when U.N. peacekeepers were forced to open fire on a crowd storming their base.

There are more than 1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) here in the east right now. Today, another 20,000 were displaced and on their way to Goma — a camp up the road had been emptied out.

Over 250,000 people have been displaced by fighting in the last six weeks.

A peace process that began in January 2008 was supposed to force the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) to put down their weapons and go back to Rwanda, but that process has fallen apart.

This is kind of an endgame to the Congolese war that started in 1996, when Rwanda tried to track down genocidaires — or Rwandan Hutus who committed genocide — in eastern Congo. There are still remnants of that genocidal force here in Congo.

Congo is now accusing Rwanda of fighting a proxy war by supporting Nkunda’s rebels. In response, Rwanda says both Congo AND the UN peacekeeping force are protecting the FDLR.

Nkunda’s spokesperson said their forces are fighting primarily against the FDLR - a group of Rwandan Hutu rebels who have terrorized eastern Congo ever since they first came here in 1994. The leaders of the FDLR are accused of participating in the Rwandan genocide.

- Michael J. Kavanagh

Two siblings in an IDP camp in CNDP territory, eastern Congo. They were displaced by the recent fighting between General Laurent Nkunda’s CNDP rebel group and the Congolese army. Photo: Michael J. Kavanagh

Over the last six weeks, more than 150,000 people have fled their homes as fighting reignited in Congo. This week, Congolese army tanks pounded rebels in North Kivu in a two-day battle against Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda’s militia.

The conflict began almost 15 years ago when Rwandan Hutu rebels spilled into Congo from the neighboring genocide in Rwanda. In the last year, hundreds have been killed, thousands of women have been raped and over 800,000 Congolese have fled their homes.

Tutsi General Nkunda recently expanded his crusade to liberate all Congolese people. Last week, the Congolese government gave the U.N. Security Council photographs as proof of Rwandan soldiers‘ involvement in Nkunda’s attack. Rwanda has denied any involvement.

Since 1998, an estimated 5.4 million people have died in the conflict, and about 45,000 die every month, according to an International Rescue Committee survey.

Worldfocus correspondent Michael J. Kavanagh is currently reporting from the North Kivu region of eastern Congo. He is a also a journalist for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Below is a collection of journal entries from Michael’s reporting in Goma. His entries lead up to the intense fighting over the last couple days.

October 11, 2008: Curfew in Goma — NGOs grow anxious

I just came home from several days in the field. When I turned on my phone again, I got a text saying there was a 6 p.m. curfew for fear that UN vehicles would be attacked - at this point, it seems anyone who’s not Congolese or driving in a white 4×4 is considered U.N.

It’s becoming incredibly difficult to operate in North Kivu. It’s not just the insecurity - tensions are so high between the government and the CNDP that aid groups are having a terrible time moving across front lines. This means it’s even worse for journalists - more than ever I need the aid groups to get around but they’ve become paranoid about transporting journalists for fear of jeopardizing their access and - more importantly - the safety of their staff.

Before I move with aid workers I need to agree to a series of rules about what I can and cannot report on. This means that most of what I’m doing I can’t write about here.

October 9, 2008: Waiting for the Rwanda invasion

The Congolese Ambassador to the U.N. just told the Security Council that Rwanda invaded eastern Congo last night, and the Rwandan army is waiting along the border outside Goma, ready to take the town over. Here in Goma — where we can see Rwanda across Lake Kivu — I live about a five-minute walk from the border, and we’re drinking tea.

Blaming Rwanda is a fallback tactic for the Congolese government and army when things go wrong. It inflames nationalist sentiment and brings up memories of past Rwandan invasions — this has the added effect of turning the population against Kinyarwanda speakers in the east, particularly against Tutsis. There may be some truth to it this time - the RDF is not at the border waiting to get in (I was back and forth over the border a few times this weekend).

But it wouldn’t be out of the question for small groups of Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) soldiers to cross the border to help the CNDP [Nkunda's National Congress for People’s Defense].  Of course, as one prominent former government minister told me yesterday, “So what, Rwanda sends a battalion. DRC has eight brigades here. It shouldn’t be a fight.”

October 9, 2008: Nkunda’s forces overtake Congolese army base

This morning Laurent Nkunda’s forces took over the Congolese army’s biggest base in the east, about 45 minutes from Goma. I was there only two days ago, and was planning on going back this weekend to film the displaced communities. Now it looks like those displaced people will be moving elsewhere, and we’ll need to find another place to film because the Congolese authorities will never let us cross that front line.

When the news was passed around this morning – by phone calls or in meetings or by sms — you could see the frisson move through people’s bodies. Rumangabo is close – we’ve all been plenty of times. It’s been FARDC [Congolese army] land as long as I’ve been reporting here and I never would have thought that it was under threat. Yesterday the CNDP looked weak. Now they’re just 45 minutes down the road with an enormous cache of weapons.

Congolese are rioting against MONUC [UN's mission in Congo] in protest. The aid groups aren’t sure how they’ll be able to move in the coming days – it’s completely unpredictable where the next fighting will be.

It’s always strange to be in Goma during times like this. The U.N. will never let significant violence move into the city, so we blithely sit in bars by the lake and drink beers while trying to make plans with fixers and aid workers by text message. Every hour or so, someone at the bar will receive an sms from an army commander or rebel spokesman or fixer or U.N. insider about which town just fell or which village people are fleeing from. Each town that falls means horrible things for the people there.  At the bar in Goma we keep score: three towns to one, fifty casualties to twenty one, ten thousand displaced – half of them for the second time in a month. From Goma, we treat the fighting uncomfortably like sport.

October 8, 2008: Day of Prayer for Peace

Today the government declared a national day of prayer for peace and gave everyone a holiday. The army commemorated the day by attacking Nkunda positions in at least two places by 6 a.m.  As one national aid worker told me, “We’ve been at war for 15 [sic] years and now they choose to tell us to pray for peace.”

In the city, the roads were quiet, and in the morning people went to the cathedral or the local churches to pray. By afternoon, dozens of men were drunk in the streets.

I met a taxi man named James who wouldn’t work past dark because it would be too dangerous to get home to his neighborhood – he’s a Tutsi – and so he gave my friend his taxi to keep for the night and took a moto home.

October 6, 2008: War returns

I just came back from the Médecins Sans Frontières office. As I arrived, they were finishing a press release saying that “violence has reached its highest level in years.” Yesterday on my way back to Goma from Rutshuru, where the Congolese authorities were more paranoid than I’ve ever seen them, I saw dozens of jeeps full of soldiers speeding faster than anyone ever should up these dirt roads. About 10 miles outside Goma there were tanks mobilizing to follow.

This morning we began getting text messages from aid workers and rebel groups about fighting all across North Kivu. There are already a 100,000 newly displaced people.  This weekend I visited a church and school where several hundred people were sleeping on the floors — they get kicked out once classes start or services begin. If it rains during school hours or church services, the people stand outside and just get wet.

The rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, declared a “total war of liberation” in a BBC interview two days ago. He’s actually said even worse, but the main national radio station supported by U.N. money decided not to broadcast his interview for fear of inciting riots against Nkunda supporters. Large crowds of Congolese are still throwing stones at UN convoys as they patrol the roads.

- Michael J. Kavanagh