Congo Rebels Sharpened by Broken Dreams

For former Congolese Foreign Minister Bizima Karaha, President Laurent Kabila was both a political messiah and a respected father figure.

It didn’t matter that Karaha and many other Congolese believe that decades ago, when Karaha was just a baby, Kabila’s forces killed Karaha’s real father, a prominent local leader.

The 30-year-old pediatrician put his personal feelings aside to support Kabila’s rebellion, which last year ended the corrupt 32-year reign of Mobutu Sese Seko, who turned this country into an economic basket case.

Kabila made his young protege foreign minister but then quickly disappointed him. When Karaha was no longer convinced that Kabila was committed to building democracy and when he could no longer trust Kabila even with his own safety, he fled.

Now the ex-foreign minister accuses Kabila of being a despot, of tribalism, corruption and nepotism; and he has joined a rebel movement intent on overthrowing him.

Karaha claims that Kabila “used me, he abused me. He made me believe that we could build a democratic Congo. . . . Kabila made me believe that in the end, the people of Congo were going to enjoy the wealth of their country.”

It is this mix of disenchantment, remorse and ideals that fuels a new alliance called the Congolese Rally for Democracy that was launched in August with the intent of toppling Kabila after 17 months in power.

Rebels already claim to control 40% of Congo and are fighting for Kindu, Kabila’s last air base in eastern Congo, where rebels shot down a jetliner Saturday. If they capture the air base, virtually nothing stands in the way of their making a clean sweep of the entire eastern quarter of the country. Several attempts by regional nations to negotiate peace have failed; Kabila has refused to meet directly with the rebel chiefs.

Most of the key players in the movement are well-known and well-educated politicians and academics who say their aim is to establish the rule of law and promote unity, democracy and good government. Some helped propel Kabila to power in May 1997; others supported Mobutu. The rebels’ military firepower comes from disgruntled former government soldiers and commanders.

Group May Help Bring Democracy

It’s too early to tell whether this group is different from many rebels who have promised democracy in many African countries only to ignore it if they achieve power. However, if the new alliance is true to its word, it may give Congo another chance to start on the path to democracy.

The rebellion also represents a serious danger to Kabila. Even if it is only partially successful, it may encourage other rebellions elsewhere in the vast country that could eventually doom his government.

Of all the scenarios, it is the disintegration of the country that most worries Western analysts, because the turmoil probably would spread. Among Congo’s neighbors are Rwanda and Burundi, where Hutus and Tutsis have long been at loggerheads. Kabila’s own rebellion took place in the aftermath of the 1994 conflict that led to genocide in Rwanda.

Many of the rebels, including the military commanders, are Tutsis from the country’s east, but rebel leaders say they are well aware of the dangers of failing to include in the alliance people from all regions.

The rebels say their group welcomes anyone without a criminal record. What is important, they maintain, is that they have Congo’s best interests at heart and are determined to encourage national reconciliation, reconstruction and regional stability.

Kabila, who is officially backed by Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Chad, accuses Uganda and Rwanda--and, more recently, Burundi--of militarily aiding the rebels. Independent Western sources believe that about 600 Rwandan officers are helping to lead the rebels. Support from Rwanda’s army, which has a reputation for good training, weaponry and discipline, could help guarantee the rebels’ victory.

While the rebels’ ideals and ability to talk the good talk may eventually gain them Western support, analysts say wooing the majority of this Central African nation’s 47.4 million people may prove tougher.

Rebels Accused of Human Rights Abuses

In Goma, the rebel headquarters in far-eastern Congo, average people still have mixed views of the rebels.

While human rights abuses do not appear to be obvious and rampant, reports from some areas of Congo say that at the start of the insurrection, the rebels, along with Rwandan and Ugandan allies, made arbitrary arrests and committed torture, extortion and summary executions. Other reports claim that rebels have forcibly rounded up young men to fight for them, sometimes at gunpoint.

Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, the rebels’ appointed president, was until two months ago a history professor at Tanzania’s University of Dar es Salaam. He hails from the country’s western Bas-Congo region and acknowledges the need to ensure that the rebels fairly represent all ethnic groups.

He said his group would establish its credibility by promoting political openness and representation for all regions and ethnic groups and for both genders, and by encouraging collective leadership.

The rebel practice of giving its civilian and military members equal voice is already a sign that the Congolese Rally for Democracy might be able to bring fundamental change.

“In the past, there has always been a tendency of one leader becoming a dictator,” said Wamba dia Wamba, 56.

A philosopher and economist educated at Western Michigan University and California’s Claremont Graduate School, Wamba dia Wamba was twice jailed for criticizing Mobutu and was refused an audience with Kabila to outline his proposals on how to build democracy.

Rebel leaders accuse Kabila of building a private militia made up of soldiers from his native southeastern Katanga region, polarizing the army along ethnic lines and using nepotism to ensure his personal protection and political longevity.

Arbitrary arrests of journalists and critics of his regime, indefinite detentions without trial and allegations that Kabila’s troops slaughtered thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees during his cross-country crusade to power backed by former Rwandan Tutsi allies reinforced doubts about the Congolese president’s commitment to democracy.

In November, a 50-page report by a U.N. special investigator charged that “a climate of terror” prevailed in Congo, and that Kabila’s regime had “eliminated the civil rights to life, liberty and physical integrity.”

“I realized that he was a bad man, but I thought I could push to bring democratization,” said Karaha, who in addition to foreign minister was Kabila’s chief political strategist. “The people of Congo had invested so much in that man, and at all costs we had to succeed.”

A Tutsi, Karaha fled the country when Kabila started arresting military and government officials from Karaha’s ethnic group. He claimed that just three months after Kabila took power, the president started recruiting and training members of the extremist Rwandan Hutu Interahamwe militia, who were largely responsible for the massacre of more than 800,000 Rwandans in 1994.

Karaha tried to reason with Kabila in a three-hour telephone conversation but failed, and ended the talk by telling Kabila that he intended to fight him.

“On a personal basis, I felt guilty of helping Kabila come [to power],” Karaha said, reinforcing his decision to join the rebel movement. “I felt guilty that I had lied to the people of Congo.”

Observers say such remorse, together with the rebels’ verbal commitment to fairness and social equality, might help win Western sympathy. One of their senior officials, Jacques Depelchin, was recently in Washington courting U.S. officials.

A former lecturer at UC Berkeley who holds a doctorate from Stanford, Depelchin said that after all the high hopes, “Kabila took the country back to where Mobutu left it.”

The United States has publicly called for all foreign forces to withdraw from Congo and has urged other countries not to get involved in the conflict. Rebel leaders say that in private, Washington has promised to use its influence to persuade Angola and Zimbabwe to hold talks with the rebels. Wamba dia Wamba said some U.S. officials had clearly indicated that “they didn’t think Kabila was suitable as a leader of [Congo].”

One U.S. official said Washington was working behind the scenes “to foster conditions for a political settlement and to ensure peace and stability in Congo.”

The official said the Clinton administration’s main concerns were ensuring that Congo does not break up and fostering democracy and observance of human rights.

“Whatever happens in Congo will have repercussions elsewhere,” the official said. “The disintegration [of Congo] would have aftereffects that would spill over into the region.”