UN: Rwandan and Congolese authorities fueling humanitarian disaster

A UN investigation has presented the most conclusive evidence so far that the Rwandan and Congolese governments are fueling ethnic militias fighting a conflict in eastern Congo that has created a humanitarian disaster in the region. In a report delivered to the Security Council on Wednesday, and made available to the Guardian, the UN panel of experts cites substantial evidence of Rwandan military backing for a Tutsi militia fighting in eastern Congo, including the recruitment of child soldiers, while the Congolese military has been supporting a rival Hutu faction. The battle has driven 250,000 civilians from their homes in the past three months. A UN source said last night the report had stunned the Security Council, which is to debate the issue on Monday. The source said: "This is the most concrete evidence so far of direct government involvement behind the militias. For years, Rwanda and Congo have been dancing around the international community on this issue, saying prove it. This proves it." As a result of the report yesterday, the Netherlands said it would immediately cut off aid to the Rwandan government. The revelations come while a UN special envoy brokers peace talks in Nairobi and Europe debates whether to send a peacekeeping force to bolster the 17,000 mission already there. Britain has said it would not send its own troops but would not stand in the way of other European countries who want to send forces, as part of the UN or under a separate UN flag. The UN report will make particularly uneasy reading for the British government, which is one of the biggest aid donors in Rwanda and Congo, alongside the EU and the US. A spokesman for Britain's Department for International Development said Dfid would not comment until the report had been officially published. Publication was expected over the weekend. The report calls into question the Rwandan government's insistence it has no direct links with the Tutsi militia, the CNDP, run by General Laurent Nkunda, whose eastern Congo offensive in October precipitated the humanitarian crisis. The UN panel of experts conducting the investigation "found evidence that Rwandan authorities have been complicit in the recruitment of soldiers, including children, have facilitated the supply of military equipment, and have sent officers and units from the Rwandan Defense Forces to the [Democratic Republic of Congo] in support of the CNDP." The evidence was largely based on extensive interviews with ex-CNDP fighters, which experts described as "consistent and credible". One of the witnesses described the transfer of recruits in the Volcanoes National Park on the Rwandan side of the border. "We used to get new recruits from Rwanda," the witness says. "The Rwandan army brought these recruits, including children, and then went back." The panel also cites testimony that active Rwandan troops served alongside CNDP militia units, and says a Rwandan battalion had made "several targeted strikes" across the border into Congo aimed at Hutu militia positions. The report also notes that the CNDP finances itself from bank accounts held in Rwanda, and that one of its financiers is an adviser to the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. The UN group of experts, meanwhile, presents what it describes as "strong evidence" showing collaboration between the Congolese army and a Hutu militia, the FDLR, which includes many suspected of playing a role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The report describes several occasions when the Congolese army handed ammunition to FDLR units. Senior Congolese officers have also been found to have links with a third group, Pareco, formed in March 2007 from various ethnic-based militias to fight CNDP. The proxy war that the UN report describes is a continuation of the almost perpetual conflict that has its origins in the 1994 genocide. Human Rights Watch investigated the worst of the recent massacres, which took place in Kiwanja on November 4 and 5. An estimated 150 people were killed. It said most of the victims had been executed by the CNDP after the rebel group repulsed an attack on the town by Mai Mai militia. The Rwandan government yesterday maintained denials of any direct involvement inside Congo. The foreign minister, Rosemary Museminali, said: "They need to come out with evidence to show that Rwanda is in Congo, without just using pieces and bits and rumors ... and putting it together and calling it a report."