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by C. Goma Makaya, Congo-Brazza, February 1999
THEME = GUERILLA
This article reached us along with a few words from the author:
«Once again I had to flee from my house, walk for days in the rain,
sleep rough in the forest, step over dead bodies... I found myself between two lines of
fire.
I was lying on the ground like many others; the Ninjas stepped over us to get a better
firing position...
I managed to get over the Congo River by canoe and find refuge in Kinshasa.
Now I'm back in Brazzaville.»
After the massacre of the church leaders in November and of a hundred or so civilians at the beginning of October 1998, the conflict going on in the region of Pool to the south of Brazzaville, became widespread. The former Ninjas (the militia of Bernard Kolélas who used to be Prime Minister) emerged from their lair to show they were fed up with always being hunted down by the army. Their acts of banditry have been on the increase and today one talks openly of guerrilla warfare.
To the great surprise of the army, on 18 December, the Ninjas invaded the southern outskirts of Brazzaville. They captured Makala camp and then occupied Makélékélé and Bacongo. Their advance, however, was quickly stopped by the army which pounded that whole area with heavy artillery. Going on the offensive, the loyalist forces, composed mainly of Cobras, slaughtered young boys of 10 and over; all were taken to be Ninjas.
50,000 inhabitants of Makélékélé and Bacongo took refuge in the northern sectors of Brazzaville. And on the orders of the Ninjas, 150,000 fled to the south to the villages in the Pool area, some 100-140 kms from Brazzaville. Today, these people are living in very precarious conditions. The Ninjas prevent them from regaining Brazzaville. They're using these people as a human shield. As the army advances, the people who have no idea what's going on, hide in the forest.
The guerrilla forces, who up till then were composed of some Ninjas who had hidden themselves in that area after the war of 1997, have been reinforced by the local village youth. Henri Massamba explains: «The village youth have reinforced the Ninjas with the aim of avenging their parents who were killed through the exactions made by the loyalist armed forces in the Pool area. Undeniably, they have no military training. Their strong point lies in knowing the forest areas. They're very mobile in the forests and villages and they blend in with the population. The army would have difficulty in recognising them among the innocent population.»
The displaced people in the villages of the Pool are living in catastrophic conditions. Claude Diatonta, who managed to get out of this confusion, explains: «We had no salt. I ate roots and manioc leaves, with neither fish nor meat. The people have no medical treatment, food, essential products. In trying to strangle the Ninjas, the government is condemning the local innocent population».
The army has been weakened ever since 1991, the year of the Sovereign National Conference. Under the influence of their political leaders, the military favoured the rise of private militia groups. A politician would feel safe only with his militia made up of the youth of his region. This is the case of the Cocoyes, the Mambas, the Zulus, the Aubeville with Lissouba; the Ninjas with Bernard Kolélas and the Cobras with Sassou Nguesso.
Today, with Sassou's return to power, these militia have been broken up. The majority of young Cobras are to be found in the army but they have not received any military training. They won't take orders from their senior officers but instead refer back to those who lead them during the war. This confusion has led the government into chaos. It's not been able to control the acts of banditry carried out in the Pool area since August 1998. These young soldiers prefer to plunder and rape rather than obey orders.
To put an end to this, on 16 January, during the latest ministerial reshuffle, President Sassou appointed a civilian, Mr Lekounzou Itihi Ossétoumba, to the post of Minister of Defence. He reorganised the army in naming General Yvon Ndoulou as the army's Chief-of-Staff. General Ndoulou declared that Congo-Brazza has no army as such and his task will consist in creating a real national army. His work has already born fruit at grassroots level as he's asked the young recruits to abide by army regulations.
Politicians have ruled out any negotiation with the exiles. They say the crisis is being manipulated from outside by former high ranking officials and only force will end the present crisis. The Cocoyes and the Ninjas have to lay down their arms unconditionally. Ambroise Nournazaley. secretary-general of the Congolese Labour Party, the party in power, puts it this way: «There's no question of negotiating with anyone at all. Congo's well-being lies in obliging Lissouba and the Kolélas to cease turning Congolese against Congolese. They must end their subversive scheming». Obviously, Brazzaville's political masters don't see negotiations as the solution.
It's clear the government is divided into two camps. Alongside the radical tendency which wants no negotiations, there is another more sensitive tendency. Martin Mbéri, Minister of Reconstruction, says: «We shall never regain peace through war. Peace is a collective effort and concerns the whole political spectrum.» And Aimée Mambou Gnali, Minister of Culture, emphasises: «Congo-Brazza must unite and organise itself in order to say "no" to war and insist on opening negotiations towards a lasting peace.»
END
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