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Land disputes in the rebel-occupied Congo threaten Trump's peace deal

Some farmers in eastern Congo, who fled their land during the violent advance of M23 rebels to escape M23, have received a shocking surprise when they return: their fields of cabbage and cauliflower have been occupied by newcomers including Rwandans.

Tensions may arise, complicating efforts to bring peace to a region devastated by war, which produces strategic minerals like coltan and cobalt.

In June, the Trump administration mediated a peace agreement between Rwanda and Congo. Last month, peace talks between Congo and M23 were supposed to result in a deal. However, they have been postponed.

According to a senior rebel official, the problem of land disputes has become so widespread that M23 set up an "arbitration center" to help resolve them.

Fred Bauma is the head of Ebuteli, a Congolese research organization.

This issue will be dealt with as part of the Doha Agreements.

Abdu Djuma Burunga (49), fled the breadbasket of Kibumba in 2009, just as M23, backed by Rwanda, began a resurgence that culminated with its recent blitz of North and South Kivu Provinces.

The fighting has resulted in the deaths of thousands and displacement of hundreds of thousands. Alliance Fleuve Congo - the rebel coalition which includes M23 - wants to demonstrate that it can govern, and restore order. The forces of Alliance Fleuve Congo have destroyed camps where Burunga and others sought refuge, and urged or forced them to return home.

Burunga returned to Kibumba, Rwanda, in April and found that his house was in ruins. It had been in great shape when he left. Strangers were working his fields, he claimed. They "took away our belongings and occupied the fields."

Burunga said that the five men wore civilian clothing and were drinking beer with M23 fighters, while chatting in Kinyarwanda. Burunga has seen the group come and go over the border.

They could not independently confirm both their nationality and identity.

Burunga was forced to wait for four months, despite his appeals to the local officials appointed by M23, to regain possession of his land so that new arrivals can harvest their crops. He took possession of the land again in August.

HUNDREDS of Cases

Mukumunana Pennina, a Rwandan who recently arrived in Kibumba and is farming land owned by a Congolese farmer that fled, said she knew this. She said she did not come to the land because M23 encouraged her.

This field belongs to a Congolese. I don't know his name. I planted potatoes in it. "I'm Rwandan and I occupied this field only to survive," said the woman.

Six Congolese refugees who were displaced from their homeland in the eastern Congo returned home to find that it was occupied.

United Nations Refugee Agency survey results for February and March were seen by. They identified 200 families from Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo, who claimed they could not return to their farms, because in many cases, others lived and worked on them.

This figure represents approximately 10% of the respondents. The survey did no specify who has taken over the land.

The topic of occupation by Rwandans has a lot of emotion attached to it. In a report published by U.N. expert in July, it was stated that Rwanda exercised command over M23. Kigali's focus included "conquering more territories" in the area.

Kigali denies that it helped M23, but admits to deploying forces on the eastern Congo which they claim are in self-defence in order to defend themselves against Congo's army as well as ethnic Hutu militiamen.

A Rwandan spokesperson refused to comment when asked if Kigali is trying to seize land on the eastern Congo.

Senior rebel officials denied that most of the newcomers are Rwandans. They described them as ethnic Congolese Tutsis, who had crossed the border out of fear for ethnic Hutu militias since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

The rebel official stated that the arbitration centre was set up after M23 captured Goma and that newcomers sometimes agreed to leave, while newcomers and returning residents sometimes agreed to share land.

Officials said that there is no land seizure policy, but they acknowledged some rebel abuses in relation to land. Reporting by Sonia Rolley, Ange Adihe Kaongo and Robbie Corey-Boulet. Editing by Timothy Heritage.

(source: Reuters)