Ugandan forces intervene in FLC rift

Meanwhile, following the weekend clashes in Beni, Ugandan soldiers intervened to restore order, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on Wednesday. Ugandan army officer Brigadier General James Kazini has been sent to the region to mediate between forces loyal to FLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and those loyal to local RCD-ML leader Mbusa Nyamwisi. Events were said to have been triggered last week when some 70 soldiers loyal to Nyamwisi were alleged to have mutinied when ordered to deploy to Equateur province, the home base of FLC leader Bemba. The pro-Nyamwisi forces have reportedly complained about the absence of local representatives in the senior military and civilian echelons of the FLC. Regional analysts have questioned the impartiality of Uganda as mediator in a conflict between two rebel groups it supports. “The divide-and-rule tactic seems to have proven efficient in this far-eastern part of DRC, where forest and mining resources constitute crucial stakes for rebels and their foreign allies. And this is increasingly infuriating the Congolese people who wish to see all looters gone,” one analyst said in an interview with RFI. The FLC resulted from the January merger of Bemba’s Mouvement pour la Liberation du Congo (MLC), which controls much of Equateur province in northern DRC, and the RCD-ML, also known as RCD-Kisangani, which claimed to control parts of North Kivu and Orientale provinces in northeastern DRC. At the time of the merger negotiations, the head of the RCD-Kisangani, Professor Wamba dia Wamba, opposed the process and left the region to live in exile. However, several other RCD-ML leaders joined the FLC, most prominently Nyamwisi, RCD-ML’s prime minister who originates from Beni.