Wayne Madsen
03.01.04
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), a U.S. non-governmental organization that is involved with refugee resettlement and medical services in conflict zones, is being accused by the Democratic Republic of the Congo intelligence agency, Agence nationale des renseignements (ANR), of stirring up opposition to the government of President Joseph Kabila in eastern Congo and assisting occupying Rwandan troops. According to Congolese and US intelligence sources, the IRC is beign accused of providing military training to anti-Kinshasa groups based in Bukavu. The ANR has reportedly identified the IRC's former regional coordinator in Bukavu, Michaël Despiness, being a key person involved in anti-Kinshasa activities on behalf US intelligence. The Congolese cite Despiness's activities in providing logistics help for invading troops from Rwanda' and his frequent trips across the Ruzizi bridge to Cyangugu, the site of an American-built military encampment, just prior to the assassination in January 2001 of Laurent Desire Kabila. The ANR is investigating the IRC in Bukavu for its suspected involvement in the elder Kabila's assassination.
The DRC's charges of IRC connections with US intelligence are not new. The NGO's founder, Leo Cherne, was a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan (having served as Chairman under Presidents Ford and Carter). Other US intelligence and military alumni of the IRC include former CIA chief William Casey, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Henry Kissinger. The IRC has been charged by humanitarian organizations of coordinating its activities with US intelligence in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Afghanistan, and South Vietnam.