NEWS
Region sucked into conflict as eastern Congo becomes theatre of war again
M23 rebels withdraw through the hills having left their position in a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on November 30, 2012. Hundreds of Congolese rebels left their frontline positions around Goma following a regionally brokered truce. Photo/AFP
IN SUMMARY
- The timeline of arguably Rwanda's big story of 2012 as it unfolded.
It all started in April with a group of soldiers formerly under National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) — who had been integrated in the national forces under a March 23, 2009 agreement — mutinying and launching a rebellion against the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The fighting would spiral into a full-scale war. Soon, Rwanda was being accused of lending support to the rebels against the government of President Joseph Kabila gaining momentum from June.
However, till the end of the year, Rwanda remained defiant amid intense pressure from the international community — and despite the consequences that came with the accusations, mainly donors withholding vital aid.
The following is the timeline of arguably Rwanda's big story of 2012 as it unfolded:
April 29, 2012: Soldiers, mainly Kinyarwanda-speaking, formerly aligned to Gen Laurent Nkunda's CNDP which had been integrated into the national forces FARDC stage a mutiny in eastern Congo. According to the rebels, about 600 men are part of the mutiny.
Early reports suggest that the mutineers are linked to Gen Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. The group's spokesperson, Lt-Col Jean Marie Vianney Kazarama, however distances the rebels from the fugitive general.
May 8: In a press release, the mutineers announce that they have set up a new rebel movement known as M23, named after the date, in the month of March, of a 2009 peace deal which they accuse President Kabila and his government of failing to honour. The new rebel group also names its leader, Col Sultani Makenga.
May 28: Reports surface that Human Rights Watch (HRW) has a report in which it implicates Rwanda in the fresh conflict. BBC is the first to report it. Rwanda responds by labelling the rumours about its involvement in the conflict as "categorically false and dangerous."
June 4: HRW releases a report which, for the first time, accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebels and implicates top government and military officials in the fighting. The rebels launch an offensive, triggering an exodus of refugees crossing into Rwanda and Uganda.
July 6: M23 fighters capture the DRC-Uganda border town of Bunagana after two days of fighting that see some 600 Congolese troops flee into Uganda, according to the Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF). An Indian peacekeeper with the UN Mission in DR Congo (Monusco) is killed in the fighting.
June 19: In a presidential press briefing, President Paul Kagame for the first time speaks about the renewed conflict. The Rwandan leader says the problems of governance in DRC are to blame, as well as the hypocrisy of the international community, which called on Rwanda to intervene and resolve the crisis but later turned around and accused the same country of fomenting the conflict.
June 20: A leaked draft report of a UN Group of Experts on the DRC crisis implicates Rwanda in the conflict but Rwanda condemns what it refers to as the leakage of a "one-sided preliminary document based on partial findings and is still subject to verification."
July 11: International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) member countries meet in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of the African Union summit to discuss the conflict. Rwanda welcomes the development, saying a "regional solution" is needed to resolve the crisis.
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