originally published in the Daily Nation, Kenya
A Congolese army integration camp was attacked by rebels meant to join the army on early Wednesday morning, killing three people, army sources said.
Members of the Mai Mai rebel group attacked the Luberizi integration camp, looting 12 homes in the nearby village and abducting boys as porters into the forest.
“They killed the wife of a soldier before running away,” said army spokesperson Olivier Hamuli. “It happened in just an hour.
Luberizi, in the eastern Congolese province of South Kivu, has been a transit centre of army soldiers and former rebels to be integrated into national forces. The Congolese army, along with the United Nations and strategic coordination from Rwanda have been hunting Hutu rebels.
Mr Hamuli also said it was the first time an integration camp had been attacked since the military operations had begun in March.
On paper, virtually all other major militia groups in the region are to be integrated into the national army, in a bid to fight the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu rebel group originating from the committers of genocide in Rwanda.
The Mai Mai are supposed to be a part of the team. But the integration process has been hampered by lack of pay and lack of will.
Last week, after a Congolese army unit commander ordered Mai Mai combatants integrated into his brigade to stop looting, they killed him. On Tuesday Mai Mai commander Amuli Yakutumba announced he was pulling his troops out of the integrated operations.
Later that night, and through to Wednesday morning, Mai Mai combatants near Luberizi ratified that call. According to the Congolese army, the group looted 24 boxes of ammunition, and they would continue to “challenge the results” of the Kimia II operations.
“We are laying an ambush for him,” said Hamuli.
The Congolese army and FDLR have both been accused of major atrocities against civilians, including raping over 7,000 women, since the Kimia II operations started in South Kivu earlier this year.
On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch accused the national army of killing over 500 civilians since March. Last week, both the United States and UN came out in strong criticism of the operations, Barack Obama’s special envoy to the region calling the casualties “unacceptable.”
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