allAfrica.com * Monuc - We Will Now Use Force So That the Insurgents Enter Brassage United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) INTERVIEW 23 November 2007 Posted to the web 24 November 2007 By Monuc Kinshasa Transcription of the press conference given on 21 November 2007 in Goma, by General Kayembe, Chief of Staff of the DRC Armed Forces and MONUC Force Commander General Babacar Gaye. General Babacar Gaye: Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. Please accept our apologies for the delay and we thank you for your patience. One of your colleagues said to me "My General, please do not tell us that you are busy, that you have only five or ten minutes." I said I'm sorry but we never did that. We were always at your disposal to answer your questions. And it is still the case. We are at your disposal. Journalist: This question is for General Kayembe. MONUC used force in Ituri. One does not understand why this is not the case in Masisi? General Kayembe: It is not to the chief of staff of the Congolese Armed Forces that you must put the question. It is rather to the MONUC force commander, because you want to know why MONUC did not intervene in Masisi like it did in Ituri. General Babacar Gaye: You want to add something else. Go ahead. Journalist: Because we saw that the FARDC were implicated with MONUC. Therefore I put the question. General Babacar Gaye: Before answering your question, I will like to ask you to supplement it. I would like to ask you what are your expectations vis-a-vis Masisi, when you compare it with Ituri. What are your expectations exactly? Journalist: We want peace. The people have suffered so much. General Babacar Gaye: This is a process which is different from that of Ituri. What I can say to you, it is that with regard to the United Nations, we waited until all pacific solutions to the North Kivu crisis were explored. If you observe the situation well, since the last events of Sake, there was no large scale FARDC operation supported by MONUC in North Kivu. The populations were tempted to consider that in fact MONUC interposed between Laurent Nkunda and the FARDC. I know that each time things are not good, MONUC is really the one which is held responsible. What I then to say to you, it is that now that all peaceful ways have been explored without result, other than a few hundred people who have surrendered voluntarily, we will have to move onto another phase. This is another phase where there is no solution but to force troops into brassage, without delay or conditions. We move on to a phase of force. This is what I can say to you. Journalist: My General, you want to say that you will use force. For a certain time, we saw even the head of state come here to say that "I gave the order to the FARDC to disarm by force the elements of Laurent Nkunda. But until now, there is not (inaudible). When will these operations start? General Kayembe: You put the question to know when we will activate the plans which we stopped against those who do not want to join the brassage process peacefully. I believe that the president of the republic initially used, as head of state, a certain magnanimity already with regard to those who followed Laurent Nkunda. The results are not negligible. Since his appeal more than one thousand elements voluntarily presented themselves to the FARDC. We cannot regard this figure as negligible. Now that all the ways of persuasion, all the peaceful solutions have been exhausted, I precisely came to establish the plans for the use of force. Somebody put the question of a deadline, of when it will start. A plan is not done with a wave of the hand. The plan must envisage not only the engaged forces, the plan must also provide the support and logistics for the operation. Therefore, it is this work which we are carrying out. We carry out the work of design and planning with MONUC. You see at my side, not only the MONUC Force Commander, but you see the MONUC eastern Division commander, which demonstrates the seriousness which is accorded to the conception and planning of this operation. Journalist DIGITAL Congo: I wanted to know what really occurs in Rutshuru? What happened today and especially who controls the situation? General Kayembe: There are no developments from Rutshuru at present. That is to say from time to time, you learn that there are skirmishes between Nkunda's troops and the FARDC. Each time, in fact Nkunda's troops want to attack our positions to gain ammunition. But, each time, these elements are pushed back. What occurred in Rutshuru was of no particular significance, if simultaneously, there was no displacement of people. You know that, in MONUC's mandate, the protection of the population is a requirement impossible to circumvent. You also know that for the government of the DRC, the protection of the population is part of the duties of the state. I believe that a few weeks ago, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs visited the area. All this testifies to the serious attention that the DRC government pays to the protection of civilians. It is precisely with the exchange of gunfire in what I call skirmishes, that causes the population to flee and all this is normal. All the populations of the world move, as soon as there is an exchange of gunfire. Therefore, it is this shift in population which must hold our attention, no matter how small. We must, at the same time as we continue to pursue the negative forces, to excessively pay attention to the lives of the population. Journalist: My General, I have two small concerns: Do you think that the FARDC are ready to tame the insurrectionists by force, considering the incursions which they made in Mugunga and today in Rutshuru? Second concern: Why, for the insurrectionists, is a plan necessary, whereas for the militias and Mayi-Mayi, force was used directly and automatically, without any plan. Isn't it a way of pampering the insurrectionists? General Kayembe: I would like initially to contradict your last assertion. In a serious army, one cannot undertake an action, whatever it is, without a plan. For the Mayi-Mayi, I came here to remind you that I had come to make a plan. Someone asked me the question on whether we will be able to capture Kassereka, I said to him to ask me the question on Sunday morning. On Saturday, we already had Kassereka. It had already surrendered. Therefore, we always make plans. Therefore do not circulate a false image of the FARDC. We do not act without plans. Therefore there is no truth that we make plans for Nkunda and not for the others. We always make plans. Journalist: My General, I want to return to the situation today in Rutshuru, because according to our information the insurgents had taken Rutshuru town, and left it because of MONUC pressure. What is your analysis of this attack? General Kayembe: Initially, I would like to put things within their framework. We operate always jointly with MONUC. Therefore, it is completely false to say that the FARDC works alone and then MONUC cames to intervene. We always act with MONUC. We do it on the design level. We do it on the level of execution of the plan which we conceived. Therefore, your assertion is not entirely exact and, if you have information, it would be necessary to make the difference between plausible information and a rumour. Journalist: When Nkunda's forces surrender to the FARDC, do you not think of solving the problems of Masisi and Rutshuru peacefully and not militarily? The second question is to know if you think that the elements of Nkunda, composed of demobilized APR, i.e. the Rwandan Patriotic Army, demobilized from Rwanda, are favorable to the brassage process or not? General Kayembe: I am somewhat constrained. You put me in the place of the demobilised Rwandans. I do not see how I can answer in their place. But, I believe that the more important point of your question, it is that to know if it remains the policy of the government, whose FARDC are the instrument, to solve the question of Nkunda peacefully. I don't think so. Since the beginning of our exchange, we said that the time for negotiation, the ultimatum was finished. I came to make a plan to force those which do not want to enter brassage to enter through force. Journalist: My general, are you aware that you have completely discouraged the population of North Kivu which has the impression that you are on the defensive, with a strategy which consists of not getting ahead of the enemy but rather defending? General Kayembe: I will answer the first part of the question. I understand that the populations are impatient to return to their homes, which they left many months ago. They are wandering without resources, without protection against the bad weather. It is their perfectly legitimate right to wish to recover their dwellings and their goods. For this reason I am here. It is to make it possible for these populations to return home as soon as possible. I must acknowledge that you seem better versed in military science that me. I concede it to you. But, I say only that when we make a plan it is with the will to control all the elements of the battle, of the operation, to show a sense of responsibility. I refuse to act on the basis of judgments of my compatriots, even though they are legitimate. But me, the government pays me to work. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2007 United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------