During the night, convoys of trucks and "Mamba" ( armored vehicles with chains of steel imported from South Africa) and hundreds of government troops on their way to the Republic of Congo, which they invaded in August 1998, fell into a Abacengezi, (the Rwandan rebels) ambush.
"This laterite route has been used for moving troops to Zaire since 1996. At some point, rebels made it impossible for the army to travel without a heavy convoy like the one that fell in the ambush. Yesterday, rebels came in military uniforms and waited near the hill and behind these lava stones. Peasants thought it was the government army and fled their villages" said a government official. "Around 9 PM, the [RPF] Government convoy fell in the ambush. Five trucks and two "Mamba" were burnt. I do not know how many soldiers died, but the blood trail and the intensity of the fighting points to a large number", murmured the official visibly frightened. As usual, by early morning, the rebels had disappeared.
After low intensity fighting that lasted three months, Rwandan rebels have stepped up their offensive. They are increasingly conducting bold, swift, and deadly attacks against the RPF government army. Military convoys are especially targeted.
For this, they have particularly been targeted by the current [RPF] government. Scores of civilians have been massacred by the RPF government army since 1994. Unlike the government army, which essentially is mono-ethnically dominated by the Tutsi minority, peasants from this region are mostly Hutu.
The government army went to extremes in trying to muzzle this proud people. Repression, massacres, crop burning, forced labor, destruction of homes have become daily treatment imposed by the RPF government on the peasants from Northern and Central Rwanda. The latest repressive action by the government has been to lock up people, mostly elderly, women, and children in real concentration camps. The situation has led to bolder actions by peasants. Only last week did peasants from Gatonde, armed with spears, attack a military patrol. Fourteen soldiers were killed. Other fled abandoning their weapons. The Government army burned crops and homes, and killed anybody found in the village close to where the attack occurred.
They also know which patrol to attack and which one to avoid. "Governments soldiers are cowards. When they see a rebel in uniform, they flee like chickens. We sometimes chase them with spears and they throw their weapons on the ground. We collect them and hand them over to Abacengezi (rebels)", said this young man, calling himself Hatali ya Kufa (Death Hazard). "I only serve as a messenger; when the government army convoy includes Abazungu soldiers (the Western people), then we know that things may turn ugly and we flee up into the mountains".
So far, Abacengezi the rebels have mostly concentrated their activities in the mountains. Rumor has it that, soon Abacengezi will descend from the mountains and fight in the valleys and on the main roads. Governments soldiers are deserting in large numbers. Young people from influential families in Kigali are fleeing the country for Europe and North America. For most observers, including common Rwandans, a deadly war is yet to come.