watchtower" close to the eastern shore of Lake Edward)
***
On their list of shifting demands to justify their insurgency, the M23
have now found a new fake one: the military and logistical support the
DRC is providing to the FDLR, the Rwandan terrorist outfit.
The M23's newly found pretext comes amid fresh reports alleging that
for over a week now, Rwanda has been intensifying its support to the
insurgents as Ugandan troops have entered into the Congo through the
Bunagana border crossing post.
This new intelligence was revealed by Ernest Kyaviro--spokesperson of
Julien Paluku, North Kivu Province governor--in an interview with
Radio Okapi this Thursday, August 16.
Rwandan reinforcement consists in hundreds of Motorola radio sets and
brand new 4-wheel drive trucks at the border area around
Rutshuru-centre as well as on the hills of Mbuzi, Runyonyi and
Ntamugenga in the district of Bweza.
On the other hand, independent sources on the ground told Radio Okapi
that Ugandan troops have been seen entering DRC territory through the
border crossing post of Bunagana, also under M23 occupation.
(see Page Address:
radiookapi.net/actualite/2012/08/16/nord-kivu-le-gouvernorat-accuse-le-rwanda-louganda-de-renforcer-le-m23-rutshuru/)
And this week, MONUSCO has once more denounced the recruitment of
child soldiers by M23.
***
While this new development in the ongoing war is unfolding, a
disburting tactical pattern is also emerging on the ground,
particularly in the area of the Virunga National Park.
The pattern is one of two abutting peaceful neighboring micro-states
set up by the FDLR (slightly northwest of the Ugandan border) and by
the M23 right south of the territory controlled by the FDLR, by the
Rwandan border.
And strangely, this proximity hasn't so far resulted in direct armed
clashes between the M23 and the FDLR.
In point of fact, these two outfits seemingly respect each other's
turfs, where they've set up rogue civil administrations to collect
taxes on residents and businesses as well as tolls on trucks.
This shocking promiscuity is, as I just said, all the more evident at
Virunga National Park.
There, Chief Warden Dr. Emmanuel de Mérode's rangers are hanging by
the skin of their teeth to a small patch of territory around Lulimbi
on the eastern shore of Lake Edward while all the surrounding area is
under the firm control of the FDLR.
The western and southern sides of the Park are under the control of the M23.
In fact, Dr. de Mérode and his rangers live in M23-controlled
territory (including the park's HQ at Rumangabo) where, thus far, he
and his rangers have seemingly thus far been fortunately left to their
own devices.
Note that I've just used the adverb "seemingly" two times above--for
the following obvious reasons:
1) The pacific coexistence between the M23 and FDLR micro-states is
only apparent; and
2) More importantly, if Dr. de Mérode and his rangers are free to roam
the Park fully armed and if they haven't so far been disarmed by the
M23, this is simply because, unbeknownst to them, they've been playing
all along a critical part in the tactics of M23.
Rwandan battlefield managers embedded within M23 have developped a
brilliant, successful, cost-effective and cunningly insidious tactical
"scheme."
This "scheme" is to outsource the defense of the buffer zone between
M23 and the FDLR to the Rangers of the Virunga National Park.
This allows the M23 to focus, unfettered, on one of their main stated
objectives: the capture by attrition of the provincial capital of
Goma.
Small wonder then that the M23 invested such an inordinate amount of
resources in capturing Rumangabo, where they've shifted a number of
their troops and supplies.
Again, let me stress the fact that Dr. de Mérode and his rangers are
by no means privy to or willing participants in this tactical scheme.
But the fact remains that by going after the FDLR, the Park rangers
turn, in so doing, into objective allies of M23.
For, in an ideal warfare situation, 3 scenarios would have already
played out at the Park:
1) The Rangers would fight both M23 and the FDLR;
2) The M23, which claim to be after the FDLR, would have already
launched coordinated attacks alongside the Park rangers against the
Rwandan terrorist group; or
3) The Rangers would have withdrawn altogether from the Park to let
these two so-called belligerents come to direct
confrontation--unfortunately, with devastating consequences to
wildlife.
After all, isn't the FDLR one of the main targets of M23?
But as the situation stands right now, there's no other way to
describe it in tactical terms: as I said above, unwittingly, the Park
rangers are a godsend for the M23.
***
PHOTO CREDITS: gorillacd.org
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