Laurent Nkunda

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Laurent Nkunda (born February 6, 1967 as Laurent Nkundabatware Mihigo in Mutanda , Rutshuru District , Democratic Republic of the Congo ) is a former general in the Congolese army and former leader of the rebel group National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). For several years he was considered one of the most feared, but also most successful rebel leaders in Africa. From 2004 large parts of the country in the east of the DR Congo were temporarily under his control. After his disempowerment, he was arrested by Rwandan units in January 2009. International observers accuse Nkunda of serious war crimes.

Life

Laurent Nkundabatware Mihigo was born in 1967 as the son of a Tutsi cattle herder from Masisi in North Kivu . He started working on a coffee plantation in his home village at a young age . After completing secondary school, he studied psychology for a few semesters in Kisangani and Mudende in Rwanda and then worked as a teacher at a secondary school in Masisi. Nkunda, who speaks fluent English and French in addition to three African languages, claims to belong to a Pentecostal church and is a Seventh-day Adventist . He owns three farms with a total of 800 cattle, is married and has six children; his eldest son was born in 1990.

Military career

The first fatal attacks on members of the Tutsi ethnic group took place in Eastern Congo as early as 1993. For this reason, Nkunda joined the Rwandan Tutsi movement that year, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and received combat training at the Gabiro military training camp. The RPF overthrew the Hutu government there in the wake of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and has dominated the country politically ever since. After this victory, Nkunda returned to his homeland and fought alongside Laurent-Désiré Kabila and his son Joseph Kabila , who in 1997 ousted the long-time Hutu-friendly dictator Joseph-Désiré Mobutu in a successful civil war that began in eastern DR Congo .

In the Second Congo War from 1998 Nkunda rose in the run of Tutsi and of Rwanda and Uganda backed Rally for Congolese Democracy on (RCD) to major. In the struggle for resources and regional political spheres of influence against the Congolese government - and thus Nkunda's former allies - the group temporarily managed to control large parts of the country in eastern DR Congo. With the peace treaty in Pretoria on June 30, 2003, which officially ended the war, the soldiers of the various rebel troops were to be integrated into the national army. In this, Laurent Nkunda was promoted to general in 2004 .

rebellion

However, he soon turned down this post and turned against the government with loyal former RCD troops. On June 2, 2004, his troops attacked and captured the city of Bukavu in South Kivu . Nkunda justified his rebellion by saying that the Tutsi / Banyamulenge in the DR Congo were threatened with renewed genocide . In particular, the government is doing too little to disarm the remaining militias of Hutu extremists such as Interahamwe from Rwanda, who are still active in eastern Congo. Therefore, according to Nkunda, his troops must defend those threatened. Independent observers confirmed that there had been individual attacks on Banyamulenge in Bukavu, but that there was no genocide. He is accused of acting on behalf of the Rwandan government while claiming to be merely "allied" with Rwanda. If the CNDP began its career as a Tutsi protector, more and more Hutu and dissatisfied government soldiers joined the rebels later.

After heavy fighting, Nkunda signed a peace agreement in 2007 but continued to refuse to disarm his troops until the Hutu militias were disarmed.

In November 2007 the governments of the DR Congo and Rwanda agreed on coordinated action against Nkunda. They took action against Nkunda, with logistical support from the UN peacekeeping forces. The third Congo War escalated again. In January 2008, another peace agreement between the rebels and the government was concluded in Goma , but it was broken again. In the second half of 2008, 200,000 people in Eastern Congo were displaced as a result of fighting between Nkunda's troops and the army, according to the UN. A total of two million have been displaced since 2007. The last time there was heavy fighting was in October 2008 when Nkunda's troops marched on the city of Goma and also took part of the Virunga National Park under their control.

In early January 2009 Nkunda was overthrown by his military chief Bosco Ntaganda in a power struggle within the leadership of the CNDP . Ntaganda signed an armistice and joined forces with Congolese and Rwandan government forces against Nkunda. On January 22, 2009, Laurent Nkunda was arrested in Rwanda territory.

War crimes

International observers and eyewitnesses hold Laurent Nkunda and his troops responsible for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity . He is said to have been not only one of the most successful, but also one of the cruelest rebel leaders. In 2002, when the RCD marched into Kisangani, his soldiers carried out a massacre of civilians. Two years later, at the beginning of June 2004, he gave the troops the recently captured city of Bukavu for three days at leisure. During this time, 16,000 residents are said to have been raped on one weekend alone. In January 2008, Nkunda's men finally executed 30 men with hammer blows in a Congolese border village because they had turned to another war party. In addition, Nkunda is said to have been responsible for numerous other tortures and killings and also to have recruited hundreds of child soldiers . The latter emerges from reports by Amnesty International , among other things , which say that he had ordered the kidnapping of some twelve-year-olds in order to subsequently train them in the military.

He himself always denied the allegations, stating, among other things, that rape violated the CNDP code and that his troops never intended to murder civilians. However, it can never be ruled out that some will get caught in the crossfire. For these reasons, the Rwandan government issued an arrest warrant against him in 2005. An international arrest warrant that would enable Nkunda to be tried before the International Criminal Court was and is not available. The responsible authorities have conducted an investigation, but could not prove anything.

Web links

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Laurent Nkundabatware, His Rwandan Allies, and the Ex-ANC Mutiny: Chronic Barriers to Lasting Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  2. ↑ Michelle Faul: “The charming human murderer ” on rp.online.de ( Rheinische Post ). Retrieved on March 18, 2010 (German)
  3. ^ New York Times: Dinner With A Warlord
  4. ↑ a b BBC profile
  5. ↑ BBC News: Thousands displaced in DR Congo
  6. ↑ BBC News: Urgent diplomacy in Congo crisis
  7. ^ The daily newspaper : Power struggle before peace round of January 7, 2009.
  8. ↑ Tagesschau : Rebel leader Nkunda arrested ( memento of July 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) of January 23, 2009.

Die Zeit No. 48,2008, p. 16: Blood trail of a general

personal data
SURNAME Nkunda, Laurent
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nkundabatware, Laurent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Congolese rebel leader in eastern DR Congo
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Mutanda , Rutshuru District, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo