A VISIT IN THE UNDERGROUND WORLD OF RWANDAN LIBERATION ARMY

RwandaNet
03.15.98


This is from a diary of a journalist in Kigali, who secretly visited the rebels operating in the regions of Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, Kigali North, Gitarama (Nyakabanda, Mushubati, Nyabikenke, and Bulinga), Kibuye, and Cyangugu.

RWANDAN LIBERATION ARMY

The former elementary school teacher I was introduced to takes his job seriously. For the peasants in this and the neighboring mountains bordering the Gishwati forest who support the rebels trying to overthrow the Rwandan Tutsi-dominated government, Mwalimu (as called by the locals) Nt. serves as a combination of burgomaster, commune organizer, and social worker. Mr. Nt. is one of many officials of the dual government set up by the "Rwandan Liberation Army (Armee de Liberation Rwandaise)" in these rural regions that span five prefectures in the North -West and Central of Rwanda.

The rebel government duplicates the Rwandan government administration confined in towns of these regions. This rebel administration provides all services from medical care to tax collection. Muganga (Medical Doctor) Gilbert, a medical doctor student at the University of Butare in 1994, keeps his medical supplies in his backpacks and works only at night by light provided by a burning piece of cloth plunged in an oil can container. He explains how he joined rebels after his entire family was decimated by the current government. "For me, " said the 29-year-older Gilbert, "it was not a matter of choice, it was a matter of surviving. But when I see what I do for these peasants, I think that It was a mission call after all." Mwalimu Nt. , like his companions in arms says that this form of administration will produce the next pragmatic leaders of a "liberated" Rwanda.

NORTH-WEST-CENTRAL RWANDA, A REGION UNDER DUAL GOVERNMENT

The first impression that comes to a visitor is the feeling of desolation. Unlike most Rwanda, this region is depopulated by war. Burnt huts, homes without roofs, overgrown fields. Few groups of peasants there are over commited to rebels' war against the government and actively support and provide for it.

The emptiness and desolation one feels during the day is disrupted by an unusual activity that starts with the first hour of darkness and ends sometimes in early morning. Government army operations seem to have limited the rebels to conduct most of their administrative services at night. In Gitarama, I was introduced to a rebel in RPA (the Government army) uniform. He had spent the day patrolling along with the government soldiers and was reporting his spying activities to the leader. Despite the recommendation I had from a very well placed rebel leader, I was not introduced to the leader himself. We walked hundred fifty kilometers in 10 days with my escorts, moving at night and sleeping during the day with villagers.

The political structure in these hills overlooking the Nyabarongo river aims the creation of a network of farmers that support and supply the guerrilla with chickens, eggs, sweet potatoes, banana fruits, etc. and eventual hideouts for wounded fighters and rebel leaders.

A POPULAR UPRISING

The regions visited have something in common: apart from the region bordering the Birunga, hardly one can see a flat terrain. These hills are infested by invisible armed militias that keep 24-hour guard against army incursions. Only "official mailmen" move freely from hill to hill. The method of communication is sophisticated enough for a uninformed visitor to decipher. My last day of the visit with rebels was a shocking experience. In these hills covered with the Gishwati dense forest, I was introduced to new recruits. These recruits, young women and men, are from the so called my the agogwe, Tutsi from North of Rwanda and Kivu, Congo. What Juru, the all young man, who is the leader of these new recruits told us left an indelible mark in my mind.

He told me that his parents fled Rwanda in 1973, and settled in Masisi region of the then Zaire. After 23 years in Masisi, he was again obliged to flee to Rwanda, in August 1996. He was in Mudende refugee camps when Government soldiers attacked them at several occasions to force them to go back into Masisi, where Mai-Mai fighters are fighting the Congo army. Some of the refugees were sent to Byumba, in what Juru and his fighters calls a "concentration camp" . Juru, his young brother and a niece and few young people decided to join the rebels when other Congolese Tutsi were moved to Nkamira transit camp.

THE ADMINISTRATION

The dual administration setup by the rebels had destructive consequences. Most of the mayors appointed by the government, their assistants, and their families in the regions where rebels are active were abducted, killed, or forced to resign . The rebels show no mercy when they meet hostile Nyumbakumi (leaders of 10 households), counselors, or burgomasters. These government officials are accused of trying to hinder rebel activities. My escorts confided that hardly anything is done by the Government in the region without the rebels knowledge, implying a very efficient fifth column.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

One night I was taken to a family that had three children killed by Government soldiers in the Central region of Gitarama. The mother, a Tutsi nurse and the father, a once prosperous Hutu business man were sitting quietly in the backyard, near banana shoots, where the children were buried. The rebel Pentecost pastor that was accompanying our escort organized a prayer in Rwandan language. Then the sergeant leading the escort had a brief speech and concluded by the following: "we must understand that Kagame and his government doesn't care about Rwanda and Rwandans in general. All that Kagame wants is to destroy you, your children, and get rich over your blood. He killed your innocent children to demoralize you, to break your resolve for freedom and liberation. He wants us to abandon the struggle. But we are there and we will never abandon you." After that, he donated food, salt, soap, and blankets they had looted in Kibilira, days earlier. He hugged the stoic old man and the woman and we disappeared in the night. This showed me how the rebels have survived the reprisals of the government army.