{UAH} Jean Pierre Bemba: Uganda's Former ‘Darling Rebel' Leader

Jean Pierre Bemba: Uganda's Former 'Darling Rebel' Leader

5 Aug 2018, 01:35 0 Comments113 Views Kampala, UgandaPolitics Analysis

AP Photo

Jean Pierre Bemba during ICC trialLogin to license this image from 1$.

In short
Jean Pierre Bemba was a commander of Movement for Liberation of Congo MLC, a rebel group that covertly and overtly received support and blessing of Uganda government between 1998 and 2002. Dr Kasaija Apuli, a political science lecturer at Makerere University says Bemba would tremendously improve relationship with Uganda that has been punctuated by mistrust and suspicion over the years.

Audio is only available to paying subscribers.

 
Congolese politician, Jean Pierre Bemba returned to Kishasha last Wednesday, months after International Crime Court (ICC) struck off his war crimes conviction. 
 
He has vowed to unseat Joseph Kabila's government in the long awaited presidential elections slated for December. The ex-war lord-cum-politician and businessman, Bemba is a man who has for a long time had ties with Uganda. 
 
Bemba was a commander of Movement for Liberation of Congo (MLC), a rebel group that covertly and overtly received support and blessing of the Ugandan government between 1998 and 2002. When a coterie of rebel groups signed a peace deal and joined a 2003-2006 coalition government with Joseph Kabila, Bemba remained an acquaintance of President Museveni. 
 
As peace talks progressed in Sun City, South Africa in 2002, Bemba kept Museveni in the know. "Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni last Tuesday congratulated the leader of the rebel Movement for Liberation of Congo (MLC) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on becoming the prime minister-designate in a transitional government, Associated Press (AP) reported on April 24th 2002. This was when Jean-Pierre Bemba, paid an official visit to Museveni, who had backed Bemba's rebel movement against Kabila government to brief him of the outcome of the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD) that had been concluded in South Africa. 
 
Disagreement
 
Movement for the Liberation of Congo, American author Jason. K. Stearns writes in Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of Congo and the Great War of Africa was birthed when Rwanda and Uganda disagreed on approach and tactics as they declared a war of Laurent Kabila, a man they had installed as president of Democratic Republic of Congo after ousting dictator, Sese Seko Mubutu in May 1997. 
 
The anti-Kabila rebel activities started with the creation of Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) led by Prof Wamba Dia Wamba  in early 1998. It was initially supported by both Rwanda and Uganda. The duo RCD backers disagreed on strategy-Rwanda favoured an outright incursion with its soldiers on the frontline-while Uganda sought to train Congolese rebels to be the vanguard of the war. 
 
Museveni, Jason K Stearns says had proposed to Rwanda President Paul Kagame to take Bemba as the RCD rebel leader. "Bemba has met Uganda President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni during one of his business trips before war and had kept in touch since. Museveni was worried about the way Laurent Kabila's regime was shaping up, and he was eager to identify new more reliable figures in the Congolese diaspora. He recommended Bemba to Paul Kagame who was busy cobbling together the RCD rebellion," Stearns writes. 
 
Bemba, Stearns says did not like Kagame's strategy. And Museveni himself was starting to doubt Rwanda's approach. He quotes then Army Spokesperson Col Shaban Bantariza who espoused Uganda's philosophy; "" for us the Congolese were supposed to learn how to manage and rule themselves." Bantariza described Bemba as a convincing leader who had a clear vision for Congo. That's how Uganda got a darling rebel leader. 
 
To start the MLC rebel activities, UgandaN soldiers recruited 154 Congolese in September 1998 in Kisangani. These were trained alongside Bemba. "As Bemba sweated away in the training camp with his soldiers, he was made to goose step, snake around on his considerable belly and take apart an AK-47 in thirty seconds." 
 
Uganda was backing RCD at the same time building a new rebel force-the MLC. Ugandan soldiers were operating in northern Kisangani as Rwanda soldiers commanded rebel activities in South Kisangani. The Key moment for Bemba came when Ugandan soldiers seized the strategic town of Lisala, the birth place of Mobutu in Equateur Province, and the Uganda Commander Gen James Kazini, assembled the RCD troops and told them to turn in their walkie-talkies for reprogramming. Gen. Kazini sat down with the Congolese officers and gave them a choice-you can return to Kisangani and work with Rwandans, or stay here with us and help us to build a new rebellion. Most chose the latter," Stearns says. This is how MLC got a huge boost, prompting Bemba to officially announce himself as a rebel commander to the international media. 
 
Bemba had access to a number of president in the region which he kept close to his chest. "He almost never invited other MLC leaders along whenever he visited Museveni, his closest ally," Stearns write. 
 
"In January 2001, President Museveni, who approved of Bemba management style of Equateur Province , asked Bemba to move eastwards to take the leadership of a new coalition of rebel movements including several Ituri based factions and the MLC. Bemba accepted, attracted by greater status it would provide him," Stearns recollects. At this turn, MLC expanded its presence and operations to northeastern region of Ituri that boarder Uganda and South Sudan. 
 
Prof Wamba Dia Wamba was ousted from the leadership of RCD in May 1999. He fled to Goma with Ugandan soldiers' assistance. He was later flown to Kisangani on a Uganda cargo plane, a city that was then divided into a Rwandan and Ugandan war zone, each with Congolese rebel allies. Uganda and Rwanda soldiers battled over "who is the boss of Kisangani" in the months that followed. 
 
A good friend
 
Dr Kasaija Apuli, a political science lecturer at Makerere University says Bemba's candidature in the December presidential elections is still being contested by the Kabila government. But were he to become president of DRC, Kasaija argues that Bemba would tremendously improve relationship with Uganda. 
 
He says Uganda's relationship with DRC has ebbed down because of recent clashes on Lake Albert. Four Ugandan soldiers and three civilians were killed in February this year on Lake Edward by Congolese navy. 
 
//Cue in: "were he to become…
Cue out:…may improve."//
 
Diplomatic relationship between Uganda and DRC during Kabila government, Dr Kasaija say has been punctuated by mistrust and suspicion over the years. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels has been holed in eastern Congo since 1990s, fighting Museveni government. 
 
Alike, Kasaija says Kabila has been suspicious that Uganda was a force behind M23 rebel movement that threatened his grip on power in 2013. A section of the rebels crossed into Uganda after ceasefire agreement with Congo in 2013. Uganda-Congo relationship, Kasaija says has been a sort of "cold war." 
 
//Cue in: "it has been…
Cue out:…supported from here

--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com