“Human catastrophe” unfolding in Eastern Congo

The central region of Africa is still reverberating from the trauma of the Rwandan genocide 14 years ago.

The New York Times reported last week that General Laurent Nikunda, the Tutsi rebel leader from Rwanda has taken over various bush regions in Congo stopping just outside of the city of Goma.

On Wednesday night, as the rebels encircled Goma, rogue government soldiers plundered, raped and killed in their retreat from the town.

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On Thursday, a family in Goma sat in a small, bare room, staring at the body of a 17-year-old boy, Merci. He was forced at gunpoint to load everything from their home into an army truck, family members and neighbors said. As a parting gesture, before they raced out of town, the government soldiers shot Merci in the back.

There were no peacekeepers around, even though a large United Nations base is located a mile or two from Merci’s home.

Congo analysts say that Mr. Nkunda may have some legitimate political goals — and Congolese ones at that. For starters, he seems determined to eliminate the Hutu death squads who participated in the massacre of 800,000 people in Rwanda in 1994 and then fled into Congo, where they continue to brutalize with impunity. The Congolese government has promised to disarm the squads. But the rebels — and many Western diplomats — say the government is actually giving the Hutu death squads guns.

Trauma begets trauma.  And the cycle of violence continues.

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Read the complete article at NyTimes.