General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, former commander of the UN peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he is frustrated with the decline of the UN policy to combat M23 rebels, which could be an explanation for armed invasion Last Sunday (26) of the city of Goma. The attack, which would have had support from the neighboring Rwanda government, caused the death of 17 UN military personnel and a major humanitarian crisis. The city, which has about 1 million inhabitants, has received over 30,000 refugees in recent days and experiences combat daily.
For the first time in the United Nations History, in 2013, their blue helmets troops received an offensive term, that is, they had the mission of attacking and alleging rebel forces operating in the region. For this, they received combat cars, artillery and attack helicopters.
In about a year, General Santos Cruz not only prevented the city’s invasion, but militarily defeated the M23 and forced its demobilization. His work became a case of studies for future conduct of UN peacekeeping missions. In short, the Cruz report, which has now guided Missions of Peace, says the UN should not be a reactive force, with military personnel scattered in defense positions in crisis countries. The United Nations should concentrate their strength to attack hostile rebels and forces before they could organize themselves to assault the civilian population or the United Nations troops.
Santos Cruz was replaced after the end of his term in the Monusco (Mission The UN in the Democratic Republic of Congo) by military commanders from other countries. Brazil returned to the military command of the mission in 2018, and three generals occupied the post until last year. The current interim commander was from Senegal.
There is evidence that over the years the strategy created by Santos Cruz has been set aside by the UN. In 2021, while the UN mission was commanded militarily by a Brazilian, the M23 began to reorganize. But the decision to take a more passive stance does not necessarily come from the military command, but from the political command of the mission, which was never from Brazil. In January this year, the M23 and the Congo River alliance launched a military campaign that resulted in the invasion of at least five cities: Rubaya, Masti, Minova, Sake and Gum.
“I feel frustrated by those who died believing that (the policy that led to the M23 defeat) would continue,” Santos Cruz told Gazeta do Povo. “I remember the face of every soldier I lost,” he said. The general gained notoriety because, even having a position with political characteristics, he personally led his troops on the battlefield, both in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti, where he also held the position of Commander General of UN forces in the country. When he took over in 2013, he transferred his command base of the capital, Kinshasa, to the center of the gum conflict.
In July 2013, before the start of the fighting, he even invaded one of the main camps of the M23 accompanied by a small troop, with less than 30 fighters, to give a nonverbal message to the rebels: retreat from the vicinity of gum or there will be combat . The battles began the next day and the M23 eventually pushed back to Rwanda within a few months.
After the military victory, Santos Cruz returned to the Brazilian Army reserve and acted as UN consultant. It was during this time that he wrote the Cruz report. In 2017, he joined his political career in Brazil, as the National Secretary of Public Security of former President Michel Temer.
Political experience and combat stance, which began to yield memes and jokes that it would be a “hard line”, by bravery in combat in Congo, made Santos Cruz invited to head the general secretary of the Bolsonaro government. But he ended up disagreeing with Bolsonaro’s children about government advertising spending. The general then became a critic of the management of former PL president, especially for the end of actions to combat corruption. His detractors criticize him for turning against Bolsonaro.
War is motivated by dispute for mineral resources and not ethnic reasons, says General
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday (28), representatives of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda exchanged accusations about the motivations of the war. The Democratic Republic of Congo, the invaded nation, said that the motivation of the rebels and Rwanda is the annexation of their territory.
Already Rwanda accused Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi of threatening and plotting the overthrow of his president Paul Kagame, who has been in power uninterrupted for almost 25 years. The country, which denies supporting the M23 and the Congo River alliance, claimed that the conflict would have ethnic motivation, stating that Tshisekedi would support the rebel FDLR movement, formed by members of the Hutu ethnicity, and aims to overthrow the Tutsi government in Rwanda .
The current conflict has a historical connection with the genocide committed by Hutus against Tutsis in 1994 in Rwanda. After committing massacres that resulted in about 800,000 dead, Hutus groups fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they formed militias that are now known as the FDLR, which fought alongside the Congolese government in the Second War of Congo (1998-2003) . Already Rwanda sent militias to the neighboring country to fight these Hutus and the central government. They have had several names, but today they are known by the names of M23 and AFC (acronym of the River Alliance of Congo).
In the opinion of General Santos Cruz, although the current conflict has these characteristics of ethnic struggle, its main motivation is the control of mineral deposits in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The big goal of Rwanda is to take a piece of Congo, because there is a lot of resources there, it is a geological abnormality,” he told the report.
The region of the current conflict is rich in gold and coltan deposits, a ore that has niobium and so much in its composition. It has electrical properties that make it fundamental in the production of cell phones, computers and batteries.
According to Santos Cruz, the rebels traffic these minerals to Rwanda and Uganda, where production would receive certificates of forged origin and would be placed in the international market at lower prices. According to him, these crimes are widely known by the international community, but the UN Security Council does not take the attitude of requesting a detailed investigation to assign responsibilities.
“They did not open investigation into the smuggling of ore, do not investigate how M23 was trained and reorganized, do not investigate sexual crimes, do not cut the West’s financial aid to Rwanda,” said the general about the board’s emergency meeting held at Tuesday (28).
Regarding Rwanda accusations about the Hutu FDLR militia, Santos Cruz said they currently do not represent a military threat to the Rwanda government. According to him, the group does not master large territories and their demobilization or neutralization will not occur through large military actions.
“It is good to make it clear that FDLR is a matter of intelligence operation, which can only be done by the Government of Congo. It is not exactly a military operation, because they (FDLR rebels) were there 30 years ago and mingled with The population live there, constituted families with Congolese women and men. Not all (Hutus) who fled to Congo are FDLR.
The former UN commander said the last emergency meeting of the Security Council on the Democratic Republic of Congo represented a demoralization of the body, as no concrete measure was established. “She showed the position (politics) of each country, but in her staff there is nothing,” he said. The countries agreed that the conflict must have a political and non -military solution and put pressure on Rwanda.
“Billions of dollars are spent on peace missions and no one is responsible,” he said. For the general, concrete measures would be sanctions against Rwanda, any investigations into the involvement of Uganda and the corruption of authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.