DRC: Bunia tense after coup attempt against Wamba
NAIROBI, 6 November (IRIN) - The situation in the northeastern DRC town of
Bunia was "tense and confused" on Monday following a weekend attempt to
overthrow Professor Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, the leader of the governing
Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation
(RCD-ML).
Bunia has been growing increasingly fraught over the last few months after
Wamba suspended his two deputies, Mbusa Nyamwisi and Ateenyi Tibasima,
accusing them of planning a mutiny. In August, renewed rioting broke out
after a six-month lull in the volatile region between militias supporting
the two factions, culminating in hundreds of civilian deaths.
So-called reconciliation talks were held in the Ugandan capital, Kampala,
last month, and a declaration was signed, in which it was agreed that
Nyamwisi and Tibasima would be appointed as Wamba's first and second
vice-presidents respectively. It appeared that a rapprochement had been
reached.
But in late October, Wamba's cabinet director Colette Ramm told IRIN the
situation was again "spiralling out of control" due to the deployment in
the area of fresh Ugandan troops who were opposed to the professor. On
Saturday, the tension spilled over into armed combat when militiamen loyal
to Mbusa Nyamwisi surrounded Wamba's residence and opened fire in the
vicinity.
An official loyal to Nyamwisi told IRIN on Monday the fighting was between
Congolese soldiers supporting the two factions and that Ugandan troops
were not involved in the actual clashes, although some tanks had been sent
in to protect Wamba. Faustin Robert Lola Lapi said his side had been
"forced" to take action to stop further bloodshed, accusing Wamba of
reneging on the declaration signed in Kampala.
"He [Wamba] did not bring about the unification of the RCD-ML and worked
increasingly unilaterally," Lapi told IRIN. "More and more, there were
differences of opinion". He claimed that Nyamwisi's troops had moved in
"to stop Wamba organising marches against the deployment of Ugandan army
units and to prevent blood being split". He said the fighting was
concentrated around Wamba's residence, so the rest of Bunia was not really
affected and markets were operating normally, although people were moving
around "with some caution". Lapi maintained that Wamba had been overthrown
and Mbusa Nyamwisi - as first vice-president - automatically became the
new RCD-ML leader.
However, Wamba's adviser, Colette Ramm, on Monday denied that this was the
case. She told IRIN the Ugandan government had condemned the coup attempt
and announced its support for Wamba, after reinstating him as the
movement's leader. "Militiamen backed by some Ugandan officers such as
[former Ugandan army chief in DRC] Brigadier James Kazini" had been
incited to lead the Nyamwisi revolt because "it is in the interests of
these officers to play on the ignorance of the Congolese people in order
to protect their concerns in the DRC". She said Nyamwisi's fighters had
freed at least 300 prisoners from Bunia's military jail over the weekend
and distributed weapons to them, leading to a "very frightening
situation".
Ramm accused the officers of capitalising on the traditional conflict
between the local Hema and Lendu people, but denied the root cause of the
current problems was ethnic rivalry. "In a way it's good that this has
come out into the open now, so that the people can see for themselves what
is happening and who the real enemy is," she said. She added it was now up
to the Ugandan government and President Yoweri Museveni to pronounce
themselves on the issue in a bid to resolve the stalemate.
Fighting in Bunia continued on Monday, but abated in the afternoon.
However, Nyamwisi's militiamen were still holding their positions and it
was feared there could be further fighting overnight. At least four
militiamen have been killed, according to Wamba's side. Local Bunia radio,
which was taken over from Wamba's supporters by Nyamwisi's fighters, was
closed down by the Ugandan army on Monday, and was only broadcasting
family messages. Over the weekend, it had been used to announce the
overthrow of Wamba who was accused of "institutionalising ethnic hatred"
and "refusing to organise the army and collaborate with other liberation
movements".
The power supply to Bunia was cut on Monday, reportedly leading to
problems in hospitals, clinics and schools. Regional analysts told IRIN
that the area, which has been wracked by bloody ethnic conflict and
exacerbated by some Ugandan soldiers, risks exploding into gruesome
warfare again.
In January, simmering tension in the Ituri region of northeastern DRC
boiled over into fatal clashes between the Hema and Lendu tribes - in
which some Ugandan troops were accused of either turning a blind eye or
actively encouraging the fighting. Thousands of civilians were killed,
hundreds of thousands were displaced, numerous homes were torched and
multiple livelihoods lost.
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