Fugitives from Congo strife building new lives in area
By BILL CUMMINGS bcummings@ctpost.com
Connecticut Post, August 15, 2006
Francis Kalangala, right, a former colonel in the Democratic Republic of Congo before joining a Congolese rebel group and eventually seeking asylum in the United States, sits in his Bridgeport home with his wife, Evelyne Mukasonga, 37; brother-in-law, Daniel Umuhire, 17; and daughter, Thamar, 4.
Francis Kalangala knew his days as a top commander in the Congolese army were numbered when he was ordered to kill his wife.
His wife, Evelyne Mukasonga, a Rwandan with relatives in both the rival Tutsi and Hutu tribes, was suddenly a target in an escalating genocidal war in the African nation that would claim millions of lives. Congo's then-President, Laurent Kabila, was wiping out anyone with Rwandan roots.
"I could not kill my wife. She's my wife. People were killing Rwandans in the road. My wife is Rwandan and I'm working for him," Kalangala said, referring to Kabila.
"He said, 'You must prove you love your country and you must kill your wife.' I was told they would arrest her and the kids. There were no courts. They arrest you in the night and kill you and throw your body in the river," Kalangala said.
Kalangala abandoned his post as a commander in Kabila's army in the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formally Zaire) and fled into the jungle with his wife, who went into hiding. He joined the Congolese Rally for Democracy, a rebel group, and waged guerrilla war for three years in the late 1990s against government forces.
His wife and infant son were eventually captured by the government and put in jail. Ten months later, thanks to efforts by the International Red Cross, the United Nations and others, Evelyne and their son were released, and in 2000 they safely reached the United States.
Kalangala remained in Congo, fighting with the rebel forces. But eventually the turmoil and constant danger convinced him to defect, and today he lives in Bridgeport with his wife and four children.
He attends Housatonic Community College, along with his wife. Kalangala is majoring in nonprofit management, and he hopes one day to return to the Congo to help his people.
Some 200 Congolese refugees live in Bridgeport and most have witnessed unimaginable horror and violence.
"There are a lot of stories like this," said Myra Oliver, director of the International Institute in Bridgeport, which helped relocate Kalangala's wife.
"They are amazing stories, and inspiring. It's hard to imagine. But what he is saying has happened multiple times around the world," Oliver said.
NEW ELECTIONS
The 47-year-old Kalangala agreed last week to talk about his 22 years as a top military commander in the Congolese army, and his later years as a rebel leader.
The discussion came as the Congolese await the results of the first multiparty elections in decades, held July 30.
Three candidates, including incumbent President Joseph Kabila, the son of Laurent Kabila — the dictator who ordered Kalangala to kill his wife — are vying for the presidency.
Results, which are slow to trickle in because Congo is a large, rural country with few major roads and fewer communication systems, are due as soon as today.
As of Sunday, with 4.7 million of some 20 million votes counted, the vote seemed destined for a runoff. Kabila had received 51 percent of the vote, compared with 19 percent for Jean-Pierre Bemba, an ex-rebel leader and vice president in the Central African country's postwar national-unity government.
The international community has hailed the vote as a victory for democracy, and the first real election in decades. Previous presidents were elected on one-candidate ballots.
Human-rights advocates estimate that 38,000 Congolese die each month due to the continuing conflict between ethnic tribes. Kalangala said he hopes the election will make a difference.
"Joseph Kabila is young and he has a good heart, even if he has bad people around him. I think he will be elected. But they are electing people who come from the government. They really are a gang. I worry that no matter who you elect, nothing really changes," Kalangala said.
Three months ago, a Kabila representative called Kalangala and asked him to lead Congo's army. Considering that a year earlier he was told he would be killed if he returned to Congo, Kalangala said he won't be accepting the offer.
DRAFTED
Kalangala's military career began suddenly when he was arrested in the early 1980s while attending college. He was a student leader, and the Mobuto government was determined to crush a student uprising. He was sent to a military training camp.
"They said it was 'to clear your mind.' I was sent to the camp for one year," he said.
A mechanical engineer by training, Kalangala rose through the military, reaching the rank of colonel. He battled invading Rwandan forces, commanding thousands of troops.
For a time he lived well, enjoying large homes staffed with servants. Although his pay as a military commander was a mere $60 a month, money didn't really matter. He could obtain most anything for free.
"The army is power. You call a businessman, he brings it right over," he said.
But the atmosphere changed in the 1990s, when Laurent Kabila, using positions in neighboring Rwanda, attacked Congo. The Mobuto government fell after fierce fighting. KABILA TOOK OVER
While claiming to bring democracy, Kabila ratcheted up a simmering genocidal war, seeking revenge on anyone with Rwandan heritage.
"There were bloody fights. Many died. This was jungle fighting. When Kabila took power, I was presented to him and began working with him as his Army chief of staff.
"He was hoping to bring democracy. But after five months, he said you could not work with him if you were not his brother. He put many officers in jail, killed many. He wanted me to help organize the army. But Kabila also formed a guerilla force and killed thousands. He started to kill all Rwandan connections," Kalangala said.
When the president's attention turned to Kalangala's wife, the army colonel had had enough. He fled to the jungle with his wife, placed her in hiding, and began fighting government forces.
"We were fighting every day. We would raid and take guns from the army. We kept moving. There are 300 tribes in the Congo. Kabila pitted all the tribes against the Tutsi. He said they are Rwandan. He knew how to play with people's minds," Kalangala said.
The toll was enormous. Most of Kalangala's family was killed by government forces. Most of his wife's family was also killed. He faced constant death threats and was hunted like an outlaw.
"They killed my uncle, his wife, their children, his sister and her husband. They burned my village. [Relatives] would call and say, 'I can't go out. Everything is because of you.' "
Almost 2 million people died during the ethnic purges, he said.
Asked how he dealt with such horror, Kalangala didn't really answer. He shook his head and looked down.
"It's terrible, terrible. I couldn't go to my mother's funeral last year."
TIME TO GET OUT
Kalangala's defection came when, as a rebel leader, he was invited to a meeting in Zambia, set up by the United Nations and the international community, to establish a unity government in Congo. President Laurent Kabila had been killed by a bodyguard and was replaced by his son, Joseph.
Kalangala said he walked into a U.S. embassy and asked for asylum. By 2001, he was in the United States, living in Bridgeport, rejoining with his wife and children.
"I stayed because I was working for my country. But it became too dangerous to stay," Kalangala said.
Bill Cummings, who covers regional issues, can be reached at 330-6230.
Anson C. Smith, Public Relations Coordinator
Housatonic Community College
900 Lafayette Blvd.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
Tel: 203-332-5229, Fax: 203-332-5247
E-mail: asmith@hcc.commnet.edu