http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/world/110598/world14_19633.html
Source App: [Global News - Netscape]
Internet is Congo rebels' latest
weapon in anti-Kabila fight
Copyright (c) 1998 Nando Media
Copyright (c) 1998 Reuters News Service
NAIROBI (November 5, 1998 08:08 a.m. EST
http://www.nandotimes.com) - Rebels fighting to overthrow Congolese President Laurent Kabila have taken their fight to the Internet in a bid to raise funds and publicize their cause.
A new Web site (www.congo.co.za) on a South African-based server lists the aims and ideals of the Congolese Democratic Movement (CDM) and urges people to volunteer or donate funds.
The site gives profiles of the organization's leadership and carries photographs it says are evidence of atrocities committed by Kabila's forces against ethnic Tutsis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda took up arms against Kabila on Aug. 2 and made significant gains until Kabila's forces were bolstered by troops from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Dubbed "the official website of the forces of liberty," the site is a mixture of slick, modern presentation and sometimes crude graphics and design.
A map showing rebel-held territory is proudly emblazoned with red stars reading "home," but the country's old name of Zaire -- which Kabila changed on seizing power last year -- is clearly visible beneath its new title.
A flashing icon labeled "genocide" drips blood and points Internet surfers to graphic photographs that it says show soldiers in Zimbabwean uniforms using a hoe and machete to cut off an opponent's head.
Supporters are urged to join the CDM, with a scale of membership fees ranging from $10,000 for honorary status to $150 for "yellow members."
The Internet is increasingly being used by rebels and radicals around the world as a tool for reaching supporters and raising funds.
In 1996 a Basque group claimed to have been "bombed" off the World Wide Web following a campaign it said was orchestrated by the Spanish government in which millions of electronic mail messages were sent to its site, causing the server to crash.
Eritrea and Ethiopia -- at odds since May over a border dispute -- have used the Internet to drum up support and funds from their respective diasporas, and Egypt's most violent Islamic group, al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, publishes its literature in cyberspace.
The ethnic Albanians of Kosovo, seeking independence from Yugoslavia, also advertise their cause on a number of Web sites, one of which was sabotaged last month by a group of Serbian hackers called "Crna Ruka" (Black Hand).
In the Congo, the chances of the rebel Web site finding a large audience are slim. Internet communications in the capital Kinshasa are unreliable at best, while the telephone network collapsed years ago in areas now held by the rebels.
By DAVID FOX, Reuters