La Corniche One Stop Border Post in Rubavu, Gisenyi, is the main gateway between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In normal circumstances, heavy traffic across the border would be expected.
However, these are not normal times to expect crossings, yet Wednesday’s traffic rivalled even the busiest day in those normal times.
From nine o’clock in the morning, immigration police stood ready to receive the stream of people arriving from Goma, the principal city in Eastern DRC.
In single file, gloved officers prepared to search incoming luggage, and there was considerable luggage to inspect.
Officers marched to their designated desks, especially positioned outside, and waited for arrivals.
People came in groups of one, two, or four.
It was as if the initial batch had tested the waters and signalled to others that it was pleasantly warm, prompting a surge of arrivals.
This continued until another line of officers joined to relieve their colleagues.
Those arriving included employees of international organisations, such as the World Bank, along with their families and anyone else who had been trapped in Goma.
After 3 pm, a group of nearly three hundred men arrived together.
Most were dressed in various types of military attire, and nearly all had the physique of Olympic athletes.
These Western mercenaries, who had been supporting Congo’s national army, the FARDC, as well as its coalition of armed groups, were now heading home to their respective countries via Rwanda.
It was clear that a particularly difficult time forced them to leave the government forces, which included the so-called Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
The FDLR, along with DRC’s national army and various armed groups now referred to as “Wazalendo” or patriots, had just suffered the heavy blow of losing Goma to the rebels.
The mercenaries were one of many cards employed by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, who believed they would help him defeat the M23/AFC (Congo River Alliance) rebels.
Like other strategies, the Western mercenary card was doomed to an expensive failure.
The mercenaries, many of whom were former members of the French Foreign Legion (which allows foreigners to serve in the French army), were reportedly paid over $8,000 each per month.
When not engaged in combat, they whiled away their time at the Mbiza Hotel apartments, part of the luxurious Mbiza Hotel, situated away from downtown Goma.
The apartments, now in the hands of the M23/AFC rebels, were lavishly furnished and equipped with everything the mercenaries could need, including a dispensary.
The hotel’s glass windows were bulletproof.
A number of European countries were represented among the three hundred mercenaries, with many hailing from Romania in South-eastern Europe.
They were hired by the Agemira Group, a Bulgarian company that established a Congolese offshoot, Agemira RDC.
In their offensive to seize the city of Goma, which is now fully under their control, the rebels outmanoeuvred the mercenaries.
Consequently, the mercenaries were left with only two options: retreat to Rwanda or plunge into Lake Kivu.
Left with that choice that was no choice at all, they sought assistance from MONUSCO (the United Nations Organisation Stabilising Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo).
As a UN agency, MONUSCO was able to request Rwanda to provide the mercenaries with a safe route back to their home countries.
