attacked a proving ground of FARDC September 17)
***
Chances are you've already heard of the "false twins" that Burundi and
Rwanda represent.
Well, forget all about that.
Burundi and Rwanda are now (and have always been) true, and even
conjoined, twins when it comes to wreaking terror, instability, and
pillage in eastern Congo.
And this association has now hatched yet another devious scheme against the DRC.
But, uncannily, with Congolese aiding and abetting!
Sources in the Force de la Défense Nationale du Burundi (FDNL), the
Burundian army, tell me about their frustration at not being able to
put a stop at the vast-scale conspiracy now unfolding in South Kivu.
It seems, they tell me, that Rwanda has revamped its military strategy.
And they tell me that this a major shift in Rwandan Congo strategy.
One of the sources even joked, saying the strategy seems to echo
Ernesto Che Guevara's "Foco" theory developed in his book Guerilla
Warfare and with contributions from Régis Debray.
The idea in Foco Theory is that small roving bands of young fighters
could ignite small, focused and sustained guerilla "foyers" and still
bring down a regime by sheer exhaustion without waiting for the proper
so-called revolutionary conditions to happen.
Guevara went as far as to generalize this Foco theory of his by
claiming that he'd bring down American Imperialism by igniting one,
two, ten and more Vietnams around the world!
As we all know, Guevara fought in the Kivus, where his theories were
proven unsuccessful.
Guevara also wrote that the only thing distinguishing a guerrilla from
a bandit is the support of the people for the former.
Rwandans need to constantly keep this precept in mind as they push
ahead with this new crazy scheme in the Congo.
At any rate, here's how those sources presented to me the new Rwandan
(and Burundian) strategy:
1) Congolese intelligence agents and assets in South Kivu Province,
especially Uvira and all across the Ruzizi Plain, are in the pocket of
Burundian intelligence;
2) Burundian intelligence agents and assets are in the pocket of
Rwandan intelligence;
3) A massive recruitment drive of combatants is underway in Rwandan
and Burundian refugee camps sheltering Congolese Rwandophones;
4) New recruits have all had some military training or familiarity with weapons;
5) Combatants are then escorted into the DRC by Rwandan military advisors;
6) Some of these combatants are now in the Rubumba hills above the
city Luberizi, and, aping Congolese armed groups, call themselves
"Mai-Mai Obed" (after their leader who's named Obed, a former RCD
officer);
7) In the night of Monday, September 17, Mai-Mai Obed successfully
launched an attack on the FARDC proving ground of Luberizi, looting
the arms depot and killing one soldier (an attack confirmed by a
report filed by Radio Okapi on September 18); and
8) The idea is to spread those "foco groups" inside DRC to stir or to
create "foyers of armed tensions" by setting up fake Mai-Mai groups,
as one of the officers summed up the strategy.
***
PHOTO CREDITS: globalgiving.org
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