Kinshasa has 'created a monster it cannot control'

The town of Uvira in South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been paralysed since early September by intensifying clashes between the Congolese army (FARDC) and the Wazalendo militia.

- Intore Nelson

This conflict stems from the Wazalendo's protest against the appointment of General Olivier Gasita, a high-ranking army officer in the city whom they accuse of being a Munyamulenge (Congolese Tutsi) and a double agent.

During a press briefing in Kinshasa, Major General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for the Congolese army, voiced full support for Gasita, urging the Wazalendo not to validate "Rwanda's thesis" regarding the need to protect Congolese Tutsis.

Despite the army's stance, the Wazalendo organised a demonstration on 8 September, demanding Gasita's immediate recall and arrest within 24 hours. The protest was violently suppressed by the Congolese army, resulting in 10 deaths and 16 people being injured, according to civil society reports. The army, however, acknowledged only the fatalities.

The army has stated that it will not appease the militia by replacing Gasita. In response to the crisis, President Félix Tshisekedi has dispatched a government mission to Uvira.

The standoff between the army and the Wazalendo, a coalition of militia groups under United Nations sanctions and previously labelled "negative forces" by the DRC government, including the Rwandan Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) active in the DRC, began in February.

This followed the swift fall of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, to M23, a Rwandan-backed rebel paramilitary group, without resistance. Thousands of Congolese troops and their allies, including Burundian forces, retreated to Uvira.