NEWS ON CONGO 011: US aggression role exposed [Posted: 13.09.98] Here is, in translation from the French, an article which app- eared in this week's issue of "Solidaire", organ of the Parti du Travail de Belgique, Belgium, and which I hold to be very im- portant and informative indeed. It was sent, together with se- veral others, to the DR Congo Committee in Sweden by Tony Bus- selen on 08.09 (thanks for that!) and can be found (in French) at . - RM [FROM "SOLIDAIRE", BELGIUM:] THE AMERICANS BEHIND THE AGGRESSORS AGAINST THE CONGO: THE PROOF *The Belgian government has covered-up the Rwandan plot* "An Ugandan elite unit occupied the Inga dam. It was part of an attack unit directed against Kinshasa. The American ambassador in Harare, Thomas McDonald, and the son of Ugandan president Mu- seveni since several days back are trying to obtain a safe-con- duct for this unit to leave the Congo". This Reuters telegram is a real bomb. LUDO MARTENS The president of Zimbabwe, Mugabe, has caused this information to be leaked to the newspaper Herald, which is close to the go- vernment. The US Secretary of State Albright herself has recom- mended for US diplomats to seek an "honourable" solution for those Rwandan and Ugandan troops which are encircled in Bas- Congo [the western province]. "Zimbabwe insists that they capitulate and that they be first disarmed before being escorted back to their countries", notes a South African newspaper. The fact that the highest authorities of the United States en- gage in such a sensitive negotiation proves that the US was en- gaged in the preparation for the aggression. After having occupied Inga, the aggressors cut off the electri- city and the [clean] water for Kinshasa, a city of six million inhabitants. The American Ed Marek, a former Intelligence offi- cer, writes: "The United States perhaps was an accomplice to this act of war directed against the Congolese people. That changes the whole political colour of this war." According to the Reuters press agency, the Zimbabwean authori- ties have confirmed that, from 30 August on, the American am- bassador is conducting negotiations with their Foreign and De- fense Departments. On 2 September, the commanding officer of the Zimbabwean army was in Luanda, the Angolan capital, to discuss the American demand with the authorities there. Reuters also reports that Rwandan diplomats have negotiated with Zimbabwe for a safe-conduct for the encircled troops. In Kinshasa, some 40 Ugandan and Rwandan prisoners were shown to the press. The Ugandans belonged to the Nguruma Force, an elite unit. Reportedly, it had been set up by American instruc- tors, which would also explain the particular interest on the part of the US to "save" its pupils. *Proof of the Rwandan aggression* When they entered the war on 21 August, the Angolan troops thought that they would finish off "the rebels" easily. They did not expect to be confronted with Ugandan and Rwandan elite units. The AFP reports: "Acording to well-informed sources in Luanda, the battle for control of Kitona [with the vital airfield where the aggressors in the west landed in the first place, and by way of which they received their provisions - RM] degenerated into a bloodbath, with the Angolan military throwing themselvs against a strong Rwandan and Ugandan resistance." There reportedly were some 1,000 casualties, many of them civi- lians. Mugabe declared on 31 August: "We have evidence that there are Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers there and that they constitute the major portion of those troops which are combating Kabila's government. Rebels would not, in such a short time, have been able to muster such military equip- ment as big armoured personell carriers and tanks. Thus, Uganda and Rwanda are talking peace while making war; they are hypo- crites." Angola has taken up a position clearly opposing Rwanda, after a meeting between Kagame, the Rwandan vice-president and defence minister, and emissaries of UNITA (Angolan mercenaries paid by the CIA) in the last week of August. UNITA members have been captured in "rebel" territory. The Angolan vice foreign minis- ter, Jorge Chikoti, has declared that he has "real evidence" that the UNITA has supported the rebels. *Mandela: About-turn* The evidence was so compelling that Mandela was forced to make a humiliating about-turn. He had harshly criticized Zimbabwe for its intervention in the Congo on the request of Kabila's govern- ment. As late as 31 August, during the summit meeting of the Non-Aligned Countries, he suggested to the Congolese delegation that they should cease demanding that the resolution point to Rwanda and Uganda as aggressors. The days later, in the face of irrefutable proof, Mandela and all the members of the South African Development Community (SADC) expressed their support for Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia and for the Congo. Mandela: "When the legitimate head of govern- ment of a state says: I've been invaded by a foreign force, then its quite reasonable for a neighbouring country to answer positively." *Kabila was right* Kabila was right: The Congo has been the victim of a Rwandan and Ugnandan aggression sponsored by the United States. Kabila has shown himself to be a politician of great talent; he has suc- ceeded in turning around an extremely difficult situation. Kabila's brave resistance has forced all the enemies of the po- litical and economic independence of the Congo to show their true faces: When the "rebels", former Mobutuist soldiers trained by rwandan officers, occupied Masina, they sais to the inhabi- tants: "We are going to kick Kabila out and install Monseigneur Monsengwo in power and bring bach Tshisekedi as prime minister." Kabila now has the support of all the broad masses and of all the youth. The Référence Plus [newspaper in Kinshasa - RM] writes: "Kabila owes his success today to nothing else than the people's support. At this moment, those among the rebels who have seen some of their group succumb to 'le collier' are more afraid of those young civilians who are fighting, unarmed, in their own blocks than they are of those armed men who are cros- sing the city in more than one sense." "In three days, the stu- dents of Unikin (the university of Kinshasa) have neutralized and disarmed several dozens of rebels near the campus." Colette Braeckman [correspondent of the Belgian newspaper le Soir and known for her often revealing, accurate reports - RM] reports from Mikondo, a part of Kinshasa where rebel concentra- tions have been bombarded: "The survivors were captured in the blocks and put to death by enraged youths. It was we, more than the military, who liberated Mikondo, some young people said tri- umphantly. Even without arms, the population has learned to de- fend itself!" *The complicity of the Belgian government* The Belgian governement knew of the Rwandan aggression, even from the first days on. It did not denounce it. It obviously was in on the secret of the American plot which had the object of overthrowing Kabila, utilizing the Rwandan and Ugandan ar- mies. The belgian government has been an accomplice to a crimi- nal war which has destroyed the Congo again, when after one year of diligent work Kabila's government had raised the hopes of the Congolese. Ed Marek, former agent of the American secret service, writes: "The New Congo Net has received information from a very credible source according to which the American and Belgian embassies in the region are negotiating with the Rwandan government in order to secure the release of American, Belgian and other citizens who have been caught up at Kitona, Banana, Mouanda and Boma. This means that those countries knew that regular Rwandan forces were participating in the invasion of Bas-Congo. The Rwandan of- ficers were in frequent telephone contact with Kigali and Goma." Nevertheless, the Americans have continued their propaganda about a "genocide" against the Tutsis which purportedly had been prepared by Kabila, as a pretext for a possible American mili- tary intervention. This once more comfirms the fact that the lie is the supreme method for governing a bourgeois democracy. All lies are per- mitted for the bourgeoisie to maintain its dictatorship, to hide its criminal acts, fool the purportedly "sovereign" people. At the same time, this bourgeoisie can allow itself all sorts of lies and all sorts of vilifications against those forces which really are defending the interests of the labouring masses, i.e. the communists and the anti-imperialist forces. What vilifica- tions have not the bourgeois press spat out against Kabila! ________________________________________________________________ "NEWS ON CONGO" postings bring statements by the Congo National Association in Sweden and the DR Congo Committee in Sweden and also reproduce information and analysis from other sources. For French-readers we recommend the sites Agence Congolaise de Presse, ACP: (temporarily closed from 16.08.98 on - but now, 12.09 etc, open again), Congonline (Belgium-based, brings info from various sources): , and also the sites and . 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