Dr. Congo’s gambling failure against Romania’s MERC soldiers

Nearly 300 Romanian MERC soldiers, which were hired to fight on the Army side of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were humiliating weeks.

Following the attack of anti -government forces in the eastern city of sesame, their surrender broke down the dreams of those who registered in their work to make a lot of money.

The BBC has seen a contract indicating that these employed soldiers are paid about $ 5,000 (£ 4,000) per month, but regular military recruits are about $ 100 or sometimes unpaid.

The Romanians were contracted to help the Army to fight Rwanda’s supported M23 rebels.

When sesame attack began on Sunday night, the Romanians were forced to evacuate at the United Nations Peace Maintenance Base.

“The M23 rebels were supported by Rwanda’s army and state -of -the -art military equipment, and we could reach our position around the city of sesame,” said Romania, a group coordinator. Tell the TVR channel. on monday.

“The national army gave up the battle and we were forced to withdraw.”

Romania’s Foreign Affairs Spokesman Andrey ț RNEA said that the BBC had been negotiated with “complicated”.

Sesame is sitting on the border with Rwanda -and Mercc soldiers were photographed by journalists, were photographed when they crossed, and surrendered to body search and other checks.

Before they crossed, the images of the telephone were M23 Commander Willie Negoma blamed one of the Romanians in French, sitting on the ground, crossing, and putting his hand on his head.

He asked him about his military training -Romanians, with the French foreign corps.

“They recruited you with a salary of $ 8,000 a month, you often eat,” NGOMA shouted and pointed out the gap with the wage of Congole Army Recruit.

“We are fighting for the future. Don’t come to the adventure here,” he warned.

It is not clear that NGOMA gained $ 8,000 numbers, but the contract shown on the BBC in October by a former Romanian MERC soldier was started at $ 5,000 per month and $ 3,000 during vacation. “Strict confidential reward” was described in detail.

This contract shows an outline of the “indefinite” service, and the contractor will take a monthly break every three months.

I met a former philanthropy of the Romanian capital Bucharest. In Bucharest, the UN expert investigated Associatia Ralph, a Romanian company with a former Romanian of the French Foreign Corps.

It is led by Romanian Hora Iu Potra, who explains herself as a military instructor.

While I was in sesame in June, I noticed such a MERC soldier at checkpoints, deployed around the city, and cooperated closely with the Army.

For the past three years, others have reported that they have been driving the Congo Army with Army vehicles.

“When they arrived, everyone called them Russian,” said Fiston Mamba, a co -founder of the Discovery Group Check Congo, told the BBC.

“I think this was related to Wagner, a Russian MERC soldier group in some African countries.”

In fact, Associatia Ralf can also work all over Africa. The contract stipulates that there are various “operational places” such as “Burkina Faso, Dr. Congo, Ivory Coast, Nigal, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Guinea,”.

The United Nations experts says that the M23 was reorganized and shortly after the territory of North Kibu began to acquire the territory, two private military companies were installed on board in 2022.

The state has been unstable for decades, many militia has been working there, making money from minerals like gold and cortin.

The first signed company was Age Mira RDC led by the French citizens Olivier Bazine. Experts say that they have hired Bulgarian, Belarusi, Georgi, Algerians, French, and Congo people.

The costume was in charge of renovating and increasing the military assets of Dr. Congo, rehabilitation at the airport, and securing physical security in aircraft and other strategic places.

The second contract was concluded between the Congo Protection, a Congo protection company represented by AsociaTIATIA RALF.

According to the United Nations experts, the contract has specified that Associatia Ralf has a wealth of experience in providing expertise and security management services.

It will provide 300 instructors, many of them, to train and guidance to the Congo Army on the ground under the conditions of the Romanians.

When he talked about his group’s involvement on the ground and whether he was engaged in battle, he said: “We must protect themselves. M23 is us. If you attack, they don’t just say: “Oh, oh, you’re just an instructor -go home.” “

Potra was practical during the Dr. Congo’s mission a few months before returning to Romania, but was subsequently involved in the presidential election.

He was dramatically arrested in December and then refused to provide security by Russian far -right candidates. And since October, he has refused to return the BBC call.

A former charity, who talked to the BBC on the condition of anonymous in the late forties, said that he had resigned because he was dissatisfied with how Associatricalalal was operating.

He said that the Romanians did more on the ground in Kita Kib.

“We performed a long shift of up to 12 hours and protected important positions outside sesame.”

He argued that there was no risk that military contractors had to take.

“The mission was confused and the working conditions were poor. Romanians should stop going there because they are dangerous.”

He also argued that the right background check was not performed, and some of the Romanian recruiters were not under military training.

Dr. Congo’s government has not reply to the BBC request for comments on whether the background check has been conducted or the wage gap between the private contractor and the Congo army.

The family of Basir Baddia, one of the two Romanians who was killed in February last year, was ambushed by the M23 fighter on the way to the sake, which is the forefront of sesame. Sometimes he said he was a police officer.

At the age of 46, he took a sabatic from the army and took the role of Dr. Congo to offer an advantageous salary.

Police had just acquired and had a hard time paying the apartments that needed more money.

More Romanians were tempted by the prospect of highly paid jobs.

I met a man in Bucharest in October. He had a military background and toured NATO with Romanian army and Afghanistan.

“We are very busy to find 800 people who are mentally prepared for their work and need to know how to fight,” said the MERC soldier recruiter.

He said he had not worked at Associatia Ralph, but refused to say his clothes together.

“The recruit is located in a position to be a training level and earns between $ 400 and 550 per day,” he explained.

When asked about the recruitment process, he emphasized its confidentiality.

“Such a job has not been published anywhere,” he said, adding a network like WhatsApp.

He showed me the WhatsApp group signed up by more than 300 Romanians. Many were former soldiers.

In June last year, Rwanda’s government spokesman Jonande Makolo said that it was a violation of the Geneva Convention, which discovered the existence of MERC soldiers in eastern Congo and banned the use of hired combatants.

In response, Patrick Moyaya, a spokesman of the Congo government, rejected what he called Rwanda’s perennial lawsuit.

“We know that there is this urgent situation, so there is an instructor who will come to train the army,” he told the BBC.

However, the Soldier of the Congo I met in June has expressed his disappointment on the Army’s strategy.

“The salary is unfair. Regarding the battle, we were first sent to the forefront,” he told the BBC on the condition of anonymous.

“They (MERC soldiers) come only as a backup.”

He confirmed that his salary was set to about $ 100 a month, but in many cases it was completely delayed or unpaid.

I finally contacted him and confirmed that he was still stationed in Kivati ​​near Sesame, where the army has a base.

“Things are very bad,” he told me in voice notes.

Since then, I have not been able to get him -and Kivati’s base has been killed by many soldiers, including his commander, and overruned by the M23.

The observer says that GOMA’s quick fall refers to Dr. Congo’s broken defense strategy. There, the overlapping force and blurred command system are ultimately crossed to the M23.

Richard Moncwrf, a project director of the Great Lake’s International Crisis Group, cooperates with the army of the South Africa Development Community (SADC), a local militia (SADC), like the MERC soldiers, and the soldiers of Bunji. I point out that there is. 。

“It creates a situation where it is impossible to plan a military crime where the chain of instructions and responsibilities is full of mud,” he told the BBC.

“I think it is important to work on a much larger consistency of the northern kib, and it will probably be accompanied by a decrease in the armed group or armed actor on the ground.”

The fate of his former Romanian colleague is not surprising for a former philanthropy.

“Poor orders will fail,” he told the BBC.