CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Solange Kibelolo & A. Ngourva-Nguengo, Congo-Brazza, January 1999
THEME = CIVIL WAR
Murderous events are taking place in the Pool area.
Village people and religious leaders are the main victims
Christophe Malanda (60) describes his own experiences. He says: "We walked in single file on almost non-existent paths. Whenever there was a noise, we hid lest we be captured. We travelled for three days without eating - from Kindamba in the Pool area, to Brazzaville, a distance of 265km. At night, because we were afraid, we slept in trees..." He says many villagers are hiding in the forests waiting for the situation to improve. They send their children into the capital to buy medicine and food.
The population exodus has been caused by the violent conflict between the Ninjas, (former prime minister Bernand Kolélas's private militia), and Denis Sassou Nguesso's Cobra militia, which since last August, have been acting as the security forces in the Pool region. The villagers are the real victims - losses in people and goods have been considerable.
The Ninjas order the peasants to organise themselves into armed bands. Those who refuse are shot down in cold blood. On the other hand, those who take refuge with the security forces are accused of being "fifth columnists". Young people especially seem to be the targets for summary execution. "We have received orders to "hit" all those who seem to oppose us", explains a Cobra soldier.
Added to that, systematic plundering of the villages is taking place. Mr Malanda puts it this way: "The final straw was to see uniformed men who are supposed to protect us, killing our herds of cattle. And the Ninjas, too, take food from our fields - root crops, pineapples, fruit and anything edible they can find."
Shops and workshops are also plundered. "We've lost our four shops, eight hectares of cassava, thirty head of cattle, fifty sheep and above all, our father, Victor Kimbembe. He tried to stop our cattle being killed and they included him in the massacre. We've lost everything. Do you think we can replace in a few months what our father took 30 years to build up? We've no longer any interest in the village". So explains one of Mr Kimbembe's children.
This new war began with three Ninjas being killed. After the killings, the executioners (the police) buried the corpses with their heads sticking out of the ground. Seeing this, small groups of former Ninjas took up arms again, under the pretext of being fed up with security forces following them everywhere. They said they were even being watched in the villages where they had gone to live at the end of the June-October 1997 war. "We've started fighting again to protect themselves".
A number of innocent bystanders have been caught up in the fighting and killed. These include a priest, a journalist, a sub-prefect, a member of parliament. All government buildings in the Pool region have been destroyed.
The Ninjas say they've been driven into this situation by what the government has been saying. For example: The Communications Minister, François Ibovi, speaking on behalf of the government, read out the following declaration: "The government of national unity and public salvation, taking into consideration national and international opinion, has decided to take appropriate measures to punish criminals and restore order, wherever it is necessary".
The security forces sent to the Pool region, have proved unable to deal with the situation. The damage done continues to increase. A colonel who wishes to remain anonymous, explains what's been happening among the rank and file in the security forces: "Many new recruits are being killed. Why? Because they've only one idea in their heads: to plunder. It's then that the others ambush them. Because of their lack of discipline, we, the officers, find it impossible to control them."
During all these events, Catholics have been hard hit. In Louombo (some ten kilometres from Mindouli) they lost a priest, Father Yan Czuba, from Poland, who arrived in Congo-Brazzaville in 1989. At Madzia, in the same region, another priest, Father Jacques Nziendolo, was seriously injured from shots fired by security forces. They mistook him for a Ninja. "In fact", Father Nziendolo explained from his hospital bed, "the parish has been totally pillaged by the security forces. Nothing has been left in the rooms and the parish's medical stores. Even the sacred vessels have been stolen". All the parishes in the region have been robbed either by the security forces or by the Ninjas.
The greatest carnage occurred on 14 November. Delegates from the various Churches had been sent to Mindouli by a committee specially established to mediate in Congo's troubles. Six of the nine committee members were murdered in cold blood. The opposing factions accuse each other of having perpetrated these acts of violence. The committee members were in the courtyard of the church house, discussing their plan of action with the local mediation committee. That was the moment chosen by the armed bands to carry out the massacre. Forty people in all were killed. By way of reprisal, the Angolan military who were in the region, killed 20 of the attackers.
The Mediation Committee was established to try and find a solution to the present conflict. Father Bernard Diafouka, a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, was appointed to oversee the Committee. However, the average Congolese citizens were outraged with these attempts at negotiations. After all, they are the ones suffering most from the present violence! They said: "When will we see the end of groups like the Cocoyas, the Cobras and Ninjas who continue to spread misery everywhere".
Repercussions from the war are serious. The Congo-Ocean railway line which runs through the Pool region, connecting Pointe-Noire, Congo-Brazza's commercial capital, with Brazzaville, is almost non- operational. Over 70,000 tons of foodstuffs are still at Pointe- Noire, waiting to be transported. Enormous damage has been done to the railway line, especially to stations in the Pool area which have been burnt down. Goods have been stolen and tanker wagons set on fire. Four railway workers have been killed by the military. At the moment, trains which try to operate to supply the capital, have to be escorted by the security forces. An air-bridge was established by the government and businesses, to supply Brazzaville with immediate necessities.
But this has done nothing to off-set inflation which has shot up since the beginning of the war. Prices have doubled. Civil servants' salaries (when they are paid and that's rarely), no longer enable them to afford the high price of foodstuffs. The president of the Brazzaville Bakers Association puts it this way: "The price of a 120 gram loaf or baguette of bread has risen from 75 to 250 CFA francs So we reduced the weight to 90 gr., and reduced the price to 100 CFA francs. We're trying to come to terms with the uncertainties of life for the people of Brazzaville people."
The World Food Programme (WFP) has set up a second air-bridge between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. An Antonov 12, with a capacity of 15 tons, does three flights a day. This operation costs the WFP, 10 million CFA francs a day. It is estimated that 3,700 tons of food is needed to help the 32,000 people most at risk in Brazzaville. Between August and October 1998, 4,892 people suffering from malnutrition were already being looked after by food centres in the capital. The percentage of children in need has reached 61.2%. Other children don't got to the centres because their mothers can't or won't accept the importance of such centres for keeping their children alive and well.
It should also be noted that river traffic between Brazzaville and Kinshasa has been interrupted. Normally Kinshasa, capital of Congo RDC, accounts for 60% of food supplies for Brazzaville.
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CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1999 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement