Many of you have probably been hearing in the news about fighting on the DRC-Rwanda border. Know that we are completely safe and sound in Kigali and from what I understand there is no real risk of the fighting coming into Rwanda. There have been no travel warnings put on Rwanda, and there is no anticipated risk of it either.
The DRC has had a long history of war that has continued up until today, and it is something I have been learning more about bit by bit. The current conflict which is hitting the news is largely leftover tensions from the 1994 Rwandan genocide combined with an ongoing fight for natural resources in the DRC. Because of the genocide and prior conflicts, many Rwandans have fled to neighboring countries. The recent attack has been led by Laurent Nkunda, leader of the Tutsi rebel group, National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Nkunda has set out to liberate his fellow Rwandan Tutsis living in Eastern Congo and he claims to be protecting them from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu group living in Eastern Congo. Much of the FDLR is made up of Hutu Interahamwe militias that participated in the genocide. The reason Nkunda and the CNDP will not attack in Rwanda is that the Rwandan government is supporting and aiding Nkunda. They have denied the claims, but at the very least they are turning a blind eye. And the Congolese army or the FDLR will not retaliate against Rwanda because the Rwandan army is significantly stronger and more organized and it would take an international force to be able to invade Rwanda. A cease fire in East Congo was declared this weekend, so hopefully this will bring an end to the refugee crisis currently unfolding, though reports of new fighting are now hitting the news.
This is just a brief summary of the news as I understand it. The Congo has a long history of violence largely ignored by the international community, and it is a situation I am trying to learn more about...
Please pray for peace in this conflict.
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