Daily Maverick
A year after its formation, the March 23 Movement,
M23, is bristling against international intervention in the DRC. Daily Maverick
spoke to M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa about his view of M23’s conflict with the
Congolese state, the possibility of further conflict with the newly formed UN
brigade and South Africa’s approach to securing peace in the DRC. By KHADIJA
PATEL.
“We are not criminals,” an M23 representative
told Daily Maverick through a private message on Twitter on Monday. The group
had taken umbrage at a line in one of our stories that quoted the Red Cross
saying 90 bodies had been found in the wake of the rebel group’s occupation of
Goma, the capital of the eastern region of the DRC, late last year. “The
problem we have is that many NGOs are working for Kabila,” the representative
said.
The Mouvement du 23-Mars, or the March 23
Movement, which has come to be known as M23, came into existence in April 2012,
when hundreds of mainly ethnic Tutsi soldiers of FARDC, the national army,
mutinied over poor living conditions and poor pay. Most of the mutineers were
members of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), which in
2009 signed a deal with the government. Dissidents felt Kinshasa had not fully
implemented the deal.
March 23 is the date on which that agreement was
signed.
One year after the formation of M23, however,
the movement is under intense pressure as it warns against international
intervention in the DRC in the guise of the United Nations intervention
brigade.
We spoke in a telephone interview to M23
president Bertrand Bisimwa about the movement’s conflict with the Congolese
state and the possibility of further conflict; this time with the newly formed
UN brigade:
Daily Maverick: You
are now facing a huge threat from the UN, is M23 united enough to withstand
this threat?
Bertrand Bisimwa: There
is only one M23. I do not know about the other you are talking about.
DM: Loyalists of M23’s
ex-political leader, Jean-Marie Runiga, were fighting rivals loyal to military
chief Sultani Makenga last month.
Bisimwa: Runiga
is [now] in refugee camp [in Rwanda], did he say that he is leading another
movement in the camp?
DM: No, but is there still
support for him in M23?
Bisimwa: I did
not hear anybody these last days [claiming to support Runiga]. We ended the
indiscipline in our movement which was brought by Runiga, Ntagandada, Ngaruye
and Zimulinda. Their game is over.
DM: How are the Kampala
peace talks between M23 and the DRC government that began in December 2012,
under the auspices of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
(ICGLR), progressing?
Bisimwa: Until
now we are waiting for the programme from [the Ugandan] mediation. We gave to
the facilitator our proposal of peace agreement. We are waiting for his
conclusion.
DM: What are your
proposals?
(Bisimwa promised to send M23’s proposals via
email but had not yet done so at the time of writing.)
DM: Do you think South
Africa should have adopted a different approach to bringing peace in the DRC?
Bisimwa: South
Africa should help our country to get peace by the talks which are now in
Kampala. This country is a model of liberation fight but Zuma [is supporting] a
dictatorship.
DM: Zuma’s government says
Kabila is democratically elected so you should not be fighting against him and
the country’s army. What is your response?
Bisimwa: We are
fighting for good governance in our country and it’s our right to live like
every people in the world. Do you know that Congolese government supports
[rebel groups like the] FDLR, LRA, ADF-NALU, FNL and others groups which are
killing our people in the eastern part of our country? The government killed
many journalists, human rights activists, arrested opposition leaders.
There is no roads in our country.There are no
hospitals, no school, etc.
DM: What is your plan then
to fix this?
Bisimwa: As you
will see in our peace proposal, we want make an emergency plan to secure and
reconstruction of [the] eastern [part] of our country. This plan will be
financed by money which is produced in this area for five years.
DM: Do you support a
breakaway from Kinshasa and the creation of an independent state?
Bisimwa: No,
that is not our plan. Fifty-three years now, Kinshasa is not able to manage our
problems here in eastern [region] of our country. We want to solve our problems
by ourselves. All plans which Kinshasa made to solve these problems have failed
because they didn’t [involve] people of [the eastern region of the country].
DM: When you occupied Goma
last year the Red Cross said 90 people were killed. Who is responsible?
Bisimwa: It is
better to know how these people died. There was fight in the town. We lost
soldiers in that war, they can be our soldiers or for government army or the
fighters called Mai-Mai. When the government soldiers withdrew, they killed
people who were out of their home.
DM: And now, if there is a
battle with the UN, how can M23 protect civilians?
Bisimwa: The
only way to protect civilians it’s to choose a peace[ful] way to end conflicts
in our country and this is possible. All the majority of [internally displaced
people] are back in their villages, they get peace from cessation of
hostilities on the ground since we left Goma town. Now, their hope is in talks
in Kampala. The world should support these talks.
DM: And if those talks
fail?
Bisimwa: It can
be a bad news for our people they can’t admit this. But we also [can not]
accept Kinshasa bringing war again in our side as solution.
DM: Are you prepared for
war?
Bisimwa: We are
always ready to defend ourselves
DM: Do you have support
from anyone outside of Congo?
Bisimwa: No,
the propaganda from Kinshasa tried to use this possibility in its strategy of
communication. And you know that our government tried all times to reject his
incapacity to lead our country to others. It refused to admit that Congolese
can claim good governance in the country. DM
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