Free Preview of Members-Only Content
To view the requested intelligence, you must be a Stratfor.com member.
A Nov. 30 report from Reuters suggests that Rwandan troops have entered the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) near the common border, while the DRC announced the same day that it would send up to 10,000 troops to the area to contain actions by the Rwandan forces and rebel groups hiding out there. The happenings in the DRC province of North Kivu are the most recent chapter in a saga of tension between the two countries.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame repeatedly has insisted that DRC President Joseph Kabila act to stem the activities of anti-Rwandan rebel groups taking shelter in the eastern part of his country. Tired of waiting, Kagame has sent his own troops into the DRC to flush out the rebels -- a move, which, given the historical conflict in the Great Lakes area (which includes the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi), could be dangerous. However, Kabila is facing intense international scrutiny which will force him to play the peace card rather than respond with violence.
The story behind this most recent flare-up dates back at least a decade, when a Rwandan civil war resulted in ethnic Hutus committing a mass ethnic cleansing against the country's Tutsis. After hundreds -- and possibly thousands -- of Hutus were implicated in the genocide, they fled to the jungles of the eastern DRC rather than face prosecution in Rwanda. Once in the DRC, the Hutu rebels formed loose militant associations consisting of as many as 10,000 fighters to launch attacks inside Rwanda. One of these groups, the Rwandan Democratic Liberation Forces (FDLR), linked up with another Hutu group, the Interahamwe, and has been attacking Rwanda for several years hoping to destabilize the government there and facilitate the Hutus' return to their home country.
| Stratfor Members, please log in at the top left hand corner |
