I believe the M23 can only be silenced and driven out of Congo by the
Drone.
We want peace in Congo nothing short of that.............Congo people have no
reason to continue in suffering this much.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson &
Executive Director for
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa
USA
email: jbatec@yahoo.com
Army: Fighting resumes in eastern Congo after lull
Army spokesman Col. Olivier Hamuli confirmed that fighting took place Monday at Kanyanja, a village 22 kilometers (14 miles) north of Goma, a strategic city on the border with Rwanda.
M23 occupied Goma last November after routing government forces, but withdrew in exchange for peace talks that have stalled. In clashes last week the army pushed the rebels back several kilometers from Goma.
A resident of Munigi village near Kanyanja, Isaac Warwanamiza, said the fighting was heavy with tanks and mortars being used. He said the rebels had started the exchange by shelling an army camp.
Rebel spokesman Vianney Kazarama denied the M23 started the fighting.
Army, M23 rebels resume fighting in eastern DR Congo
M23 rebels man the gate to the military academy in Rumangabo in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 20, 2013. Fresh fighting raged in the country's restive east for several hours as army helicopters attacked positions of the M23 rebels, who fired mortars in return. (AFP/File)
An M23 soldier sits in a confession booth during a session to teach rebel movement's values in DR Congo on July 20, 2013. The latest clashes in the central African country's mineral-rich but conflict-torn east broke four days of relative calm. (AFP/File)
GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) – Fresh fighting raged in the Democratic Republic of Congo's restive east for several hours Monday as army helicopters attacked positions of the M23 rebels, who fired mortars in return, both sides said.
The latest clashes in the central African country's mineral-rich but conflict-torn east broke four days of relative calm, further damaging a tattered truce that had lasted from late May, when UN chief Ban Ki-moon visited the region, until July 14.
"There have been clashes between our troops and the M23," a Congolese officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The M23 are firing mortars... and we've engaged helicopters to attack the enemy positions."
The M23, a group launched by Tutsi ex-soldiers who mutinied from the army in April 2012, confirmed the clashes and said army helicopters were attacking its positions around the towns of Kibati, just north of the flashpoint city of Goma, and Uvira, some 300 kilometres (200 miles) to the south.
"Since this morning the government has regularly been using helicopters... to bomb our positions in the Kibati and Uvira areas, but without success," M23 spokesman Vianney Kazarama told AFP.
He said the clashes stopped in the late afternoon, while a government officer told AFP on condition of anonymity there was a "lull" in the fighting.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Kazarama renewed rebel accusations that the government is getting help from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in DR Congo.
The Congolese army and the M23 have both accused each other of collaborating with the FDLR, many of whose members are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, when Hutu extremists killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The UN has begun deploying its first-ever offensive force to the eastern DR Congo to fight the M23 and other armed groups. About two-thirds of the new 3,000-troop force is in place, and the UN said last week it was ready to send them into battle.
The M23 occupied Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, for 10 days in November before withdrawing from the city under international pressure.
The latest clashes in the central African country's mineral-rich but conflict-torn east broke four days of relative calm, further damaging a tattered truce that had lasted from late May, when UN chief Ban Ki-moon visited the region, until July 14.
"There have been clashes between our troops and the M23," a Congolese officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The M23 are firing mortars... and we've engaged helicopters to attack the enemy positions."
The M23, a group launched by Tutsi ex-soldiers who mutinied from the army in April 2012, confirmed the clashes and said army helicopters were attacking its positions around the towns of Kibati, just north of the flashpoint city of Goma, and Uvira, some 300 kilometres (200 miles) to the south.
"Since this morning the government has regularly been using helicopters... to bomb our positions in the Kibati and Uvira areas, but without success," M23 spokesman Vianney Kazarama told AFP.
He said the clashes stopped in the late afternoon, while a government officer told AFP on condition of anonymity there was a "lull" in the fighting.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
Kazarama renewed rebel accusations that the government is getting help from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu rebel group based in DR Congo.
The Congolese army and the M23 have both accused each other of collaborating with the FDLR, many of whose members are accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, when Hutu extremists killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The UN has begun deploying its first-ever offensive force to the eastern DR Congo to fight the M23 and other armed groups. About two-thirds of the new 3,000-troop force is in place, and the UN said last week it was ready to send them into battle.
The M23 occupied Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, for 10 days in November before withdrawing from the city under international pressure.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/22/army-m23-rebels-resume-fighting-in-eastern-dr-congo/#ixzz2ZvTyEjNT
The weekend in Goma: The calm after the storm? Or, is there more to come…?
Reply
Goma and its surroundings calmed down for the weekend. There were reports of some light gunfire on Saturday north west of Goma- the front is still between Kanyaruchina and the centre of Kibati- but Wednesday remains the day that has seen the heaviest fighting in the new clashes between the FARDC and the M23 so far.
Flash-mobbing in the Kivus
Nonetheless, the city of Goma was hot on Thursday. With rumours flying around about Col. Mamadou being recalled to Kinshasa to be sent to Kisangani, the population of Goma went wild. There was a report from Thursday aired today on a local TV channel with an army wife screaming at the camera. It’s a real pity there seems to be no link online- the footage gave a clear example of how angry people were. Mobs in Goma seem to form in a flash. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it’s the crowd advancing on me before my driver explained (saving me from harm for the third time that day) that I do not in fact work for the UN:
I was particularly worried by the stone the guy in the middle is brandishing.
A few people I spoke to on Friday night expected fighting on Saturday but this too turned out to be a rumour (I sense a theme…) and there has been no fighting on Sunday. Goma too has calmed down. The government’s declarations on radio seem to have done the trick and prevented further protests against the UN in Goma. A motard today said it was because “we don’t work on Sundays”. With breath stinking of whiskey, it wasn’t clear he’d actually understood the question. This coming week will tell but through fairly prompt appearances in the media, the central government and the FARDC seem to be taking the (mis)information war in Goma seriously. Meanwhile, twitter is as busy as ever peddling (mis)information and websites continue to spread rumours- watch this space. Events on Thursday show that, in Goma, even imagined smoke, bouncing off enough motorbike mirrors can cause real fire.
What might we expect this coming week? Well, the troops seem to be at a standstill. Sources in the army say that they are waiting for orders from Kinshasa to attack. Of course, these could come at any moment, but Kinshasa might be waiting for the full deployment of the UN Intervention Brigade which should be complete in the coming 4-6 weeks. Or there might be a bit more to it…
“On est ensemble!”
President Kabila was in Brazzaville across the river from Kinshasa in neighbouring Republic of Congo on Friday and emphasised that discussions were ongoing in Kampala while insisting that the DRC would work together to manage the situation in the East. Without knowing where the pressure comes from, or what the motivation is, it sounds like the central government wishes to seek a political solution.
Kabila is in a precarious position in Kinshasa at the moment with a process of Concertation Nationale being pressured upon the President by the opposition and also the backing of the UN Security Council. The Concertation is effectively a mechanism politically to engage the opposition and civil society groups in DRC in a national dialogue “to consolidate national cohesion, to reinforce and to extend the authority of the State over all the national territory to end the cycles of violence in the East, to enjoin against all possible attempts at destabilisation of institutions and to accelerate the development of the country in peace and harmony” (my translation of this). The dialogue has been called for by the opposition following the disputed re-election of Kabila in 2011. Anti-Kabila feeling also bubbled over in Goma in the last week. The recent Brazzaville trip might be seen as heavy politicking to garner much needed popular support by playing the international head of state card.
What if the M23 attack this week? And why haven’t they over the weekend? Estimates of the number of M23 fighters puts them between 1,500 and 2,500 soldiers and the FARDC are better organised and the units currently deployed are better trained than those that lost Goma in November (see the studious commando below…). It may be that they feel that they are in a weaker position militarily. While the battle lines are still drawn where they are – only around 10 km north of the airport in Goma -, the M23 might imagine they’re in a better position to negotiate in Kampala.
The population in Goma is behind the idea of all out war. Militarily, the M23 seem to have been put on the back foot after Wednesday’s heavy fighting. So why would Kabila not take a populist move that seems militarily viable? Why have the guns gone quiet on Goma’s North-Western front? This week may be more about battles of wits in Kampala.
Flash-mobbing in the Kivus
Nonetheless, the city of Goma was hot on Thursday. With rumours flying around about Col. Mamadou being recalled to Kinshasa to be sent to Kisangani, the population of Goma went wild. There was a report from Thursday aired today on a local TV channel with an army wife screaming at the camera. It’s a real pity there seems to be no link online- the footage gave a clear example of how angry people were. Mobs in Goma seem to form in a flash. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it’s the crowd advancing on me before my driver explained (saving me from harm for the third time that day) that I do not in fact work for the UN:
A few people I spoke to on Friday night expected fighting on Saturday but this too turned out to be a rumour (I sense a theme…) and there has been no fighting on Sunday. Goma too has calmed down. The government’s declarations on radio seem to have done the trick and prevented further protests against the UN in Goma. A motard today said it was because “we don’t work on Sundays”. With breath stinking of whiskey, it wasn’t clear he’d actually understood the question. This coming week will tell but through fairly prompt appearances in the media, the central government and the FARDC seem to be taking the (mis)information war in Goma seriously. Meanwhile, twitter is as busy as ever peddling (mis)information and websites continue to spread rumours- watch this space. Events on Thursday show that, in Goma, even imagined smoke, bouncing off enough motorbike mirrors can cause real fire.
What might we expect this coming week? Well, the troops seem to be at a standstill. Sources in the army say that they are waiting for orders from Kinshasa to attack. Of course, these could come at any moment, but Kinshasa might be waiting for the full deployment of the UN Intervention Brigade which should be complete in the coming 4-6 weeks. Or there might be a bit more to it…
“On est ensemble!”
President Kabila was in Brazzaville across the river from Kinshasa in neighbouring Republic of Congo on Friday and emphasised that discussions were ongoing in Kampala while insisting that the DRC would work together to manage the situation in the East. Without knowing where the pressure comes from, or what the motivation is, it sounds like the central government wishes to seek a political solution.
Kabila is in a precarious position in Kinshasa at the moment with a process of Concertation Nationale being pressured upon the President by the opposition and also the backing of the UN Security Council. The Concertation is effectively a mechanism politically to engage the opposition and civil society groups in DRC in a national dialogue “to consolidate national cohesion, to reinforce and to extend the authority of the State over all the national territory to end the cycles of violence in the East, to enjoin against all possible attempts at destabilisation of institutions and to accelerate the development of the country in peace and harmony” (my translation of this). The dialogue has been called for by the opposition following the disputed re-election of Kabila in 2011. Anti-Kabila feeling also bubbled over in Goma in the last week. The recent Brazzaville trip might be seen as heavy politicking to garner much needed popular support by playing the international head of state card.
What if the M23 attack this week? And why haven’t they over the weekend? Estimates of the number of M23 fighters puts them between 1,500 and 2,500 soldiers and the FARDC are better organised and the units currently deployed are better trained than those that lost Goma in November (see the studious commando below…). It may be that they feel that they are in a weaker position militarily. While the battle lines are still drawn where they are – only around 10 km north of the airport in Goma -, the M23 might imagine they’re in a better position to negotiate in Kampala.
The population in Goma is behind the idea of all out war. Militarily, the M23 seem to have been put on the back foot after Wednesday’s heavy fighting. So why would Kabila not take a populist move that seems militarily viable? Why have the guns gone quiet on Goma’s North-Western front? This week may be more about battles of wits in Kampala.
Downtime during a lull in the fighting on Thursday near the front
Kanyaruchina was deserted. The entire population had fled before this became the front during Wednesday’s heavy fighting. Walking through town with two FARDC commandos the silence was eerie…
Houses were abandoned and the only sound was the occasional clattering of tin roofs split by mortars the day before…
So it seems war involves a lot of waiting around and the commandos were taking time out to shoot the breeze, relax, eat or clean their weapons and sleep-
Or read up on military tactics…
For a very good round up of what has been happening in the last week, see this report-
http://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/briefing-north-kivu-sees-fresh-clashes-peace-talks-stall-kampala
For a very good round up of what has been happening in the last week, see this report-
http://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/briefing-north-kivu-sees-fresh-clashes-peace-talks-stall-kampala
Around the ragged rocks, rumours fuel ruinous rampage in Goma
While the guns were quiet on the front, yesterday was tense in Goma city. Rumours circulated that Col. Mamadou- the soldier in charge of FARDC operations against M23 around Goma- was being recalled to Kinshasa at the request of the UN Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO). Residents were up in arms and followed the Col. through the streets on motorbike screaming that he must stay and that they would attack MONUSCO for blocking the FARDC.
This motorbike taxi-man was ready for battle…
And the whole population was up in arms and vociferous in support of the Col. and the FARDC. A strange phenomenon in Goma perhaps- the capital city of a Province that has seen continuous armed bloodshed for the past 20 years. But support for the Col. (inside the truck) was certainly loud…
This photo is from outside Col. Mamadou’s office in the command centre in Goma. He had just arrived followed by many motorbikes in an impromptu show of support.
The jubilation of the crowd in the photo above turned to anger at MONUSCO later in the morning as the false rumour of his imminent departure circulated.
Protests against MONUSCO in Goma took place later in the afternoon. I drove through the protest but didn’t stop as the situation was too tense.
While rumours were spreading, around midday up near the front line, as Col. Mamadou received news of the rumours and worked to quell the population’s anxiety…
He confirmed the rumour was not true and later spoke on Radio Okapi to clarify.
Getting the hang of this…
This motorbike taxi-man was ready for battle…
Protests against MONUSCO in Goma took place later in the afternoon. I drove through the protest but didn’t stop as the situation was too tense.
While rumours were spreading, around midday up near the front line, as Col. Mamadou received news of the rumours and worked to quell the population’s anxiety…
Getting the hang of this…
First post from Goma, Eastern DRC
Yesterday was calm on the front North-West of Goma but heavy fighting broke out between the national army (FARDC) the rebel group M23 which a UN panel of experts has claimed received support from Rwanda and Uganda in its successful bid to capture the Capital city of North Kivu Province in November 2012. Goma itself was not calm yesterday- but that’s another post.
Here are some photos from near the front line as the fighting continued on Monday:
On Monday the FARDC were gathering forces in Munigi in preparation. Much equipment is outdated although the commando forces are better trained and equipped than most of the forces that were fighting to protect Goma last year when the M23 successfully held the city for 10 days at the end of November 2012.
All for (late) coverage of the first day…
Here are some photos from near the front line as the fighting continued on Monday:
Commandos of DRC’s elite Rapid Reaction Unit take positions north of Munigi on Monday 15th of July after fighting broke out on Sunday…
Congo-Kinshasa: Rumour Has It - the Importance of Gossip in the Battle for Goma
By Joseph Kay, 19 July 2013
analysis
Goma — With fighting between the Congolese army and M23 heating up, the Goma rumour mill is causing trouble for the UN and President Kabila.
The conflict between the M23 rebel group and the Congolese army (FARDC) near Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the country's troubled east, has intensified since 14 July.
The struggle is being fought on two battlefields: with heavy weaponry around the deserted town of Kanyarucina, 14 km north of Goma, and in North Kivu's rumour mills. The heavy fire of the FARDC in the former is troubling the M23, whilst barbed words and unsubstantiated claims are putting the UN Stabilization Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in the firing line.
Yesterday, Thursday 18 July, protests in Goma against MONUSCO led police to use tear gas and fire warning shots. Foreign NGOs advised their staff to stay inside their compounds and MONUSCO's Pakistani contingent prepared to increase patrols or even intervene.
Rumour chasing
Colonel Ndala Mamadou, the operational commander of the FARDC's latest campaign, paraded through Goma as a hero on Thursday morning. Passers-by and motorbike taxi drivers (so called motards) escorted his camouflaged Land Cruiser pick-up with mounted machine gun through the centre of the town. Crowds cheered Mamadou's name as he inspected a lorry being filled with fuel for the troops at the front and visited the Command Centre of the 802nd Infantry Regiment in Goma.
Four days into the renewed fighting, in which over 100 rebels have reportedly been killed, Mamadou is clearly adored by the citizens of Goma. Friendly, with a big toothy smile, he is a likeable character and on Thursday he was elevated to quasi-sainthood in the popular imagination of this lava-covered city. His popularity was explained by a woman in the crowd making menacing throat cutting gestures. The Colonel, she thinks, is the man to cut the M23's throat.
Support for Mamadou only appears to be matched by deep hostility towards MONUSCO. When following the Colonel around town for an interview, this was made clear.
First, outside a hospital, the aggression towards MONUSCO hit me on the leg in the form of a stone thrown by a soldier's wife. Then, my ears were buffeted with insults in Swahili and Lingala - two of DRC's four national languages.
The conflict between the M23 rebel group and the Congolese army (FARDC) near Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the country's troubled east, has intensified since 14 July.
The struggle is being fought on two battlefields: with heavy weaponry around the deserted town of Kanyarucina, 14 km north of Goma, and in North Kivu's rumour mills. The heavy fire of the FARDC in the former is troubling the M23, whilst barbed words and unsubstantiated claims are putting the UN Stabilization Mission in Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in the firing line.
Yesterday, Thursday 18 July, protests in Goma against MONUSCO led police to use tear gas and fire warning shots. Foreign NGOs advised their staff to stay inside their compounds and MONUSCO's Pakistani contingent prepared to increase patrols or even intervene.
Rumour chasing
Colonel Ndala Mamadou, the operational commander of the FARDC's latest campaign, paraded through Goma as a hero on Thursday morning. Passers-by and motorbike taxi drivers (so called motards) escorted his camouflaged Land Cruiser pick-up with mounted machine gun through the centre of the town. Crowds cheered Mamadou's name as he inspected a lorry being filled with fuel for the troops at the front and visited the Command Centre of the 802nd Infantry Regiment in Goma.
Four days into the renewed fighting, in which over 100 rebels have reportedly been killed, Mamadou is clearly adored by the citizens of Goma. Friendly, with a big toothy smile, he is a likeable character and on Thursday he was elevated to quasi-sainthood in the popular imagination of this lava-covered city. His popularity was explained by a woman in the crowd making menacing throat cutting gestures. The Colonel, she thinks, is the man to cut the M23's throat.
Support for Mamadou only appears to be matched by deep hostility towards MONUSCO. When following the Colonel around town for an interview, this was made clear.
First, outside a hospital, the aggression towards MONUSCO hit me on the leg in the form of a stone thrown by a soldier's wife. Then, my ears were buffeted with insults in Swahili and Lingala - two of DRC's four national languages.
My motorbike driver, in Swahili, and I, in poor Lingala, were forced to protest to an advancing mass of angry women and children that I was not from MONUSCO. Eventually, the woman who threw the stone smiled at me apologetically and the hatred was converted into a desire to help my reporting.
Radio trottoire
Back on the trail of the Colonel, following him out of town on the road to the airport, we discovered what the rumour of the day was: The colonel had been called to Kinshasa and was to be redeployed to Kisangani.
Rumours are rife in the DRC. In 2010, Kinshasa Chegues (street kids) proudly mocked my smartphone and explained that radio trottoire (the pavement radio that spreads gossip and rumour by word of mouth) was "faster than the internet".
In Goma, eager-eyed adolescents recounted Elvis-style rumours about Michael Jackson's death, implicating the CIA and claiming that the King of Pop was living in Lubumbashi and about to release a new single. Recent rumours, however, have had more serious implications.
As this new rumour spread, chants of "don't go!" and "he won't go!" wafted through billowing clouds of dust as the Land Cruiser and its cavalcade sped along the unfinished road towards the airport...and then continued past it. Rumours are that easily disproven. Mamadou wasn't off to Kinshasa and that should have been the end of it.
But it wasn't. The very idea that the central government might block FARDC's victory under Mamadou was enough to sustain anger - one banner read "Mamadou reste et Kabila part. RIP Kabila" (Mamadou stays [in Goma] and Kabila leaves. RIP Kabila). The chanting continued and became a carnival protest as the motards could no longer follow Mamadou as he sped through police barriers towards the front line.
The atmosphere and language used by people in Goma is of battle and all out victory. For many, it is MONUSCO that stands in the way. One young man protesting told Think Africa Press that "If Colonel Mamdaou leaves, we will attack all MONUSCO property". Other angry protesters insisted that their man could defeat the M23 but MONUSCO won't let him.
Fighting talk
The motard's party at the barrier was broken up by the need to get back to earning a living and the calming words of National Police Commander of the District of Nyragonga, Jean-Marie Malosa.
Having successfully cooled the motards off and shifted them from his patch, he said that he was pleased to see that "the population is behind the army". An obvious lesson from this episode is precisely that: the population supports the army and morale is high. As I bumped around in the back of a military truck on its way to the front line through the eerily silent town of Kanyaruchina to meet the Colonel, the motards were busy on another patch.
News of the protests had reached the forward base where soldiers were taking a rest from front line duties and eating. The population's reaction to the rumours seemed to flatter the Colonel.
With a smile, he told Think Africa Press that they were not true. His mobile phone rang incessantly and between negotiating with the representatives of a private company in Goma to supply rations and water to troops, he gave orders to spread the word that he had not been called to Kinshasa.
Over-paid, over-sexed and over here
There are many frustrations with the UN in Goma. In November 2012, MONUSCO did not protect the city from the M23 who went on to hold it for ten days. Residents remember MONUSCO soldiers standing by as the M23 rolled into the provincial capital and then looted government offices and a hospital.
Not only do locals feel MONUSCO does not protect them, but there is a perception that members of MONUSCO are over-paid, over-sexed and over here. Whilst controversy in the past has led to tougher rules to reduce sex scandals, MONUSCO staff are still widely considered to be over-paid.
Speaking to motards over the last week, the perception is that Goma is awash with money. Not just from international humanitarian aid agencies, UN staff salaries and the service economy that springs up around these, but also in the supply of goods and services by local businesses to the charity sector. However, residents believe that this money fails to trickle down to them. "Expats are here to make money and take it back home", said one street vendor.
The UN hopes this mistrust will decrease once the newly formed Intervention Brigade comes to full strength next month. Formed by South Africans, Malawians, and Tanzanians, the Brigade - which is explicitly mandated to use force in combating destabilising militia - is currently deployed in Sake in North Kivu. Logistics equipment arrived in Goma on Monday and proceeded to Sake overnight.
Winning the street round
Rumours spread like wildfire and Goma is a tinderbox. Once a rumour takes hold it is hard to shake it off. The dispersed motards, despite Colonel Mamadou heading towards the front and not to the airport, still clung to the idea that their saviour was being sent away. And somehow MONUSCO was to blame.
On Thursday afternoon, Mamadou together with Lambert Mende, the government's spokesperson in Kinshasa, and Colonel Amuli, FARDC's spokesperson in Goma, called for calm and a stop to the protests against the MONUSCO on Radio Okapi. All three claimed that the rumours are a tactic by the M23 to destabilise the city.
However, the battle to dominate the discourse is not only taking place through radio trottoire. There are constant skirmishes occurring online too. From twitter to blogs, information and misinformation is playing an important role in manipulating perceptions of the state of play in North Kivu.
Blatant inventions on Twitter abound from the various accounts peddling false reports of the position of M23 fighters which have appeared every day since Monday alongside other rumours. With the situation so volatile and unreliable information so prevalent, perhaps it is a blessing that so few people have access to the internet in DRC.
Even when the Intervention Brigade arrive and alleviate some of the hatred towards MONUSCO, the motards will not be entirely satisfied. They will still have their own particular gripe because UN staff and aid workers are not allowed to use their service on security grounds. In the future, winning over the influential radio trottoire will remain as tough a challenge, as taking on the M23.
Joseph Kay is a consultant with StandProud. Currently based in DRC, he tweets and blogs in his own capacity at @joseph__kay and http://josephkayblog.wordpress.com
Congo protesters decry UN concern over army abuse
NICK LONG July 19, 2013GOMA, Congo (AP) — About 200 demonstrators marched toward a United Nations base in eastern Congo on Friday to protest a statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressing concern over alleged rights abuses committed by the military.
Carrying placards with slogans
including "The UN is mocking us" and "Let our armed forces do their job," the
marchers were dispersed by police before reaching the base, which is the
headquarters for the U.N.'s 19,000-strong MONUSCO peacekeeping mission.
The protesters were angry about a statement issued by Ban on Wednesday amid
fresh fighting between the military and the M23 rebel group, said Serge Sivya, a
spokesman for the group.The statement said Ban was "deeply concerned" over reports Congolese soldiers were desecrating rebel corpses, and that the U.N. peacekeeping mission was reviewing its support for army units suspected of being involved. Congo's government announced Thursday that a deputy commander had been arrested over his alleged role in the practice.
"We are protesting that the U.N. is asking for our troops to be put on trial, and we think they are targeting commanders who have shown their prowess in battle," Sivya said.
."
View gallery
Residents supporting Congo's army gather to protest
against President Joseph Kabila and the United N …
The same demonstrators
took to the streets earlier in the week, before Ban's statement was issued,
protesting a decision by the government to halt apparently successful military
operations against the rebels north of Goma. Those protests were broken up by
police firing tear gas and live ammunition into the air.
The U.N. peacekeeping
mission was heavily criticized last year for standing by when the M23 rebels
swept into Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, having routed government
forces. The rebels withdrew in return for peace talks, which have repeatedly
stalled.
In fresh fighting that
began Sunday, the Congolese army pushed the rebels back and, according to the
government, inflicted heavy casualties. The area around Goma fell quiet Thursday
after four days of heavy fighting.
Civil society
representative Nestor Bauma said he believed Ban had a right to express concern
about rights abuses. "But he should not forget the realities on the ground. If
people think the U.N. is trying to block an army advance you can imagine what
can happen," he said.
A Congolese army officer, who insisted on anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to the press, said the army condemned the desecration of
corpses but said the perpetrators' "combat stress" should be taken into
account.----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 10:52 AM
Subject: [wanabidii] It is Time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
To:
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 10:52 AM
Subject: [wanabidii] It is Time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
Account,
I
agree with you in totallity................it is the reason why I feel that
Independence of Congo must be guaranteed away from vested interest of Kagame and
Museveni who eventually is going to mess the whole of Great Lakes of East
Africa. In saving Congo, justice must be seen to be done with the support
intervention of USA and UK leadership and not allowing the UN to continue
messing Congo. I believe UN is working or supporting the Corporate Special
Business Interest who are networking with Museveni and Kagame and are benefiting
from the loot and theft of Congo........and to save Congo, this must stop.
Therefore, UN in Congo is not genuine but will
play a biased role against Congo all the times.........It is therefore very sad
indeed that UNs Ban-Ki-Moon is biased against Congo.
The problem of Congo is spilling over to
become the problem of East Africa Region of the Great Lakes. Having spilled to
Migingo with Mombasa Port by Museveni, it then becomes the worlds concern too
and it cannot be treated in isolated. Al-Qaeda and Alshabaab will be the
mercenary to infuse M23 strength for Congo invasion since Museveni's brother a
Somali (Salim Saleh) having been mentioned intra-earlier as an insurgency in the
area is feared to have joined M23 the reason for resumption of todays attack by
M23 and this cannot be accepted.
The Democratic
Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, also known as Congo-Kinshasa, occupies a
landmass on west-central Africa roughly equal to the size of Western Europe and
a third of the United States. It borders nine other nations, including Angola,
Rwanda, Uganda and Sudan, and has an estimated population of 74 million.
The history of DRC, metaphorically and literally, encompasses the history of the African continent as we know it. After 400 years of Portuguese domination, in the late 19th century King Leopold II of Belgium established it as his private colony. And at the historic Conference of Berlin -- we all know about the start of "scramble for Africa" -- the European powers acknowledged his claim to the Congo Basin. Pressured by the international abolitionist movement, Leopold ceded control of the Congo Free State to the state of -- to the Belgian nation, and in 1960 Congo got its independence.
The history of DRC, metaphorically and literally, encompasses the history of the African continent as we know it. After 400 years of Portuguese domination, in the late 19th century King Leopold II of Belgium established it as his private colony. And at the historic Conference of Berlin -- we all know about the start of "scramble for Africa" -- the European powers acknowledged his claim to the Congo Basin. Pressured by the international abolitionist movement, Leopold ceded control of the Congo Free State to the state of -- to the Belgian nation, and in 1960 Congo got its independence.
In 1965, with
backing from Western powers, Colonel Joseph Mobutu seized power after conspiring
in the killing of Patrice Lumumba who was the Prime Minister with Kasavubu as
the President. Mobutu then became Congo’s President and turned the
a country into a springboard for operations against Soviet-backed Angola. Mobutu
retained his Presidential position for 32 years, until in the late 1990s when
Rwandan and Ugandan forces invaded Congo from the eastern region and defeated
Mobutu.
In 1994, 4 years
later, anti-Mobutu rebels led by Laurent-Desire Kabila father to the now
President Kabila, seize power and topple the Mobutu regime. Soon
thereafter a rift between Kabila and his former allies sparked a new
insurrection in what became known as Africa's world war. The DRC government
forces, supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, battled rebels backed by
Uganda and Rwanda. And midway through this five-year conflict, in which an
estimated 4 million people died, Laurent Kabila was assassinated, and his son
Joseph Kabila was installed as president.
Although the war
was officially ended in 2003, fighting continued in the mineral-rich east where
Kagame and Museveni had shown great interest and which was the reason for Kagame
and General Bosco Ntaganda forming and financing Tutsi M23 to weaken and destroy
DRC Congo Government.
Therefore, Congo’s
progress cannot take effect when Rwanda with Museveni continue to have vested
interest in Congo and are treating Congo like their own territorial sovereignty
Government.
Congo is facing
INVASION of LAND GRABBING conflict, which is expounding insecurity challenge in
the east manufactured by Kagame and Museveni.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson &
Executive Director for
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa
USA
From:
To:
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 8:56 AM
Subject: RE: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
To:
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 8:56 AM
Subject: RE: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
Good people:
This congo thing has taken long. Congo had Patrick Lumumba, killed: It had
Mobutu another unfortunate african man. The man spent his life building palaces
in Europe than in his african continent. Sometimes one wonders why God gave
Congolese people somebody like Mobutu. On the eve of africa`s liberation, the
great Congo was divided into 2 parts. One supported by the Russians then the
other by the French. Ideology was thrown to the dogs. Both Congos were just
needed by the west and east to supply minerals. Congolese minerals have built
both Europe and USA. Now the world mobile phone companies are booming because of
Congo. People like Donald Trump who openly hates a black USA president ( Obama)
got their parts of Diamonds from the dirty congolese wars. Non of them have been
taken to ICC like Charles Taylor. Now these 2, Kagema and Museveni are speaking
a different language about Congo than what they speak to their own citizens at
home. Museveni has been in power now for over 24 years. What does such a leader
know about freedom, democracy, or his people´s rights to elect their own
leader?. Museveni is known to be drumming for his son to take over. Kagema which
came to office through the international community´s support has turned to be
another dictator at home. He Kagema allows no criticism at home, changes laws
like a chameleon to make him stick to power for good.
Changes can be made in Congo and the international community needs that
change too. But must the change be done by Hitler´s type?. Both Kagema and
Museveni will only put their stooge in Congo incase they succeed. That is why it
is good for the Congolese to get help and seek for a basic change. Basic changes
will allow for a new country`s constitution to be made, passed and put to
practice. Remember the new constitution which is still giving even the new
Kenyan president plus his supporters head ache in Kenya today. So it s not an
easy thing to go through. People who want to eat larger food portions will not
allow it freely. do not forget this: Big mouth equals little brain.
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 04:07:59 -0700
From:
Subject: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
To:
CC:
From:
Subject: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
To:
CC:
My grammar is perfect........it has no problem........
If
I use "took" it will have a different meaning of the present tense.......mine is
formed
by action of infinitive of present participle of the
continuous state-of-affair
that
should have been in the past but is still
in the present continous.....so to qualify
the
tense, which is why I backed it up with an existing correct
form in the finite verb
clause
that distinguishes the tense of the action......of "take
back" in the now time.
I
use present participle tense to the base form of "Take" by adding qualitative
verb
of the finite action of "back" thus: "need to Take Back what belong" is
a
need for action (verb) that form progressive tense whose auxiliary
state of the
"be"
function replaces adjective of conjuctions thus avoiding -ing with other
conjuctional
adjectives needed to complete the
sentense.........
Maybe
I am missing something, or it is new english........explain to me why you
think
my statement is wrong with that.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
The Independent (Kampala)
East Africa: How Did Ivory Seized in Kenya Worth Sh4 billion Enter From Uganda?
19 July 2013
When Kenyan customs officers on July 8 confiscated about 3,500kgs of elephant ivory alleged to have been smuggled into the country from Uganda, the ministry of Wildlife and related organisations in Kampala reacted with unusual quiet.
There was nothing of the usual quickly assembled briefings to journalists over an incident that has obviously put the country on the spot. Instead Tourism Minister Maria Mutagamba and the Uganda Wildlife Authority Executive Director Andrew Seguya have, according to inside sources, opted to conduct a quiet internal investigation.
Among the lines being investigated is the assertion by Kenyan authorities that the ivory was from the so-called 'big elephants', which points to the Democratic Republic of Congo as the origin.
If the DR Congo was indeed the origin of the illicit cache, how did it clear through Uganda and end up in the Kenya port of Mombasa? Which officers, if any, on the Ugandan side were complicit in the smuggling racket?
There have been a series of ivory seizure in Kenya but the July 9 cache was the largest. The consignment was of some 770 pieces, hacked out of elephants.
Export documents showed that the ivory had come by vehicle from Uganda on 12 June.
The vehicle was then "parked" at a petrol station in Mombasa, until the consignment was brought into the port.
"The ivory was stashed in 69 bundles of several pieces and had been disguised as sun-dried fish," said Paul Utodo, the Communications Manager of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
"Some bags had worked polished pieces of ivory, while others had raw ivory," he added. Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Mbugua said the 3,287 kilogrammes of ivory were hidden in a shipment of groundnuts in Mombasa.
Some tusks were so big they weighed almost 60 Kgs which shows they were from really mature animals.
According to Mbugua, preliminary investigations by Kenya police point to the ivory being "packaged locally" in Kenya.
Earlier in July, another cache of ivory, weighing about 1,500kgs, was netted by Kenya police. It was hidden underneath dried fish to put the port sniffer dogs of the spoor. Both shipments were destined for Malaysia.
In January, KWS officials said that 3.8 tonnes of ivory were seized, also at Mombasa, apparently on transit from Tanzania to Indonesia. Ivory trade is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
On July 12, a court in Arusha, Tanzania, charged a businessman with smuggling more than 1000 elephant ivory tusks.
SelemaniIsanzu Chasema, in his 50s, is believed to have exported 781 tusks through Malawi in May according to the prosecution. He denied the charges.
Poaching has risen sharply in Africa in recent years. Besides targeting rhinos, whole herds of elephants have been massacred for their ivory.
Inconclusive evidence
The illegal ivory trade, estimated to be worth between US$7 billion and US$10 billion a year, is mostly fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns are used in traditional medicine and to make ornaments.
The value of the ivory seized on July 9 has not yet been determined, Udoto said, but the two tonnes of ivory seized in January were estimated to be worth US$1 million.
On his recent three-nation visit to Africa in June ending July, U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order launching a US$10 million bid to cut wildlife trafficking in Africa, with US$3 million in assistance earmarked for Kenya.
Akankwasah Barirega, the Prinicipal Wildlife Officer and acting spokesperson of the Uganda Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, the government is still investigating the origin of the ivory seized in Kenya.
He says the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) together with the Nairobi-based Lusaka Agreement Taskforce--a regional group charged with controlling and eliminating the illegal trade in wildlife products are spearheading the investigation.
"We haven't got conclusive evidence but we suspect the ivory came from Congo [Democratic Republic]," Akankwasah told The Independent on July 13. Although, the intercepted ivory's origin is said to be Uganda, Akankwasah said, it cannot be from Ugandan elephants because the sheer volume confiscated would mean that Uganda remained without any elephants.
"We have about 4000 elephants in Uganda," he said, "We are quite sure this ivory is not from our elephants." However, he said the government is doing everything possible to stop Uganda's territory acting as a transit route for the illicit trade in wildlife products.
Akankwasah said that beside the recent establishment of an intelligence and investigation department at UWA, they have also beefed up their surveillance at the border points by working closely with the Uganda Revenue Authority.
He added that an amended Uganda Wildlife Act which is aimed at making the penalty of trading in wildlife products more punitive will soon be tabled before Parliament to tackle the problem which has re-emerged across the continent.
He said the recent interception of the two containers of ivory in Kenya is part of a wider continental syndicate that stretches from Nigeria, through the Central African Republic, Congo, way up to South Africa.
Akankwasah noted that although most African countries had contained the problem about 10-20 years ago, the vice had made a come-back mainly because of the proliferation of wars in Congo.
"Congo is the biggest driver of illicit trade in endangered species products like ivory," he said.
Late last year, game rangers in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo alleged they had spotted a Ugandan military helicopter flying very low over the park, on an alleged unauthorised flight in an area where poachers had killed 22 elephants and carried off their treasured tusks.
In the most quoted report of the incident, from the U.S. newspaper The New York Times, the UPDF was portrayed with suspicion.
African Parks, the South Africa-based conservation organisation that manages Garamba, said it had photographs of the Ugandan military transport helicopter.
Then-Army and UPDF Spokesman, Col. Felix Kulayigye, told The Independent there was no evidence to prove the game rangers allegation.
Congo connection
He said it was not unusual for a UPDF chopper to fly over Garamba because that is the route the aircrafts of the Uganda army to Nzara and Obbo, where they are hunting the internationally wanted criminal warlord, Joseph Kony.
At the time, Ugandan media was awash with stories on the plight of elephants after the Uganda Wildlife Authority confirmed the September 2012 slaying by poachers of two elephants, including Baraka, a 40 year old male elephant believed to have been the oldest and most peaceful in Semliki wildlife reserve in western Uganda.
At the time, minister Mutagamba said a 2010 UWA large mammal census had revealed that the elephant numbers for Queen Elizabeth National Park had increased from 400 in 1988 to 2,959 in 2010. The minister praised the UPDF for supporting the Uganda Tourism Police to combat poaching.
In June 2012, 36 tusks were seized at the Entebbe airport in Uganda. Eighteen of the 22 elephants killed in Garamba in March were adults that had their ivory hacked out, which would usually mean 36 tusks.
Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, the Islamic rebel militia al-Shabab and Darfur's Janjaweed, are all accused of hunting down elephants and using the tusks to buy weapons and sustain their mayhem.
Organised crime syndicates are linking up with them to move the ivory around the world, exploiting turbulent states, porous borders and corrupt officials from sub-Saharan Africa to China, said a New York Times story that quoted law enforcement officials.
In 2011, the New York Times story said, poaching levels in Africa were at their highest since international monitors began keeping detailed records in 2002. It said worldwide, 38.8 tons (equaling the tusks from more than 4000 dead elephants), had been seized.
Uganda lost 25 elephants in 2011 and an investigations report by the Auditor General's Office described the killings as the "worst ever reported scenario in a single conservation area, considering that Uganda was previously losing only 3 elephants annually."
The smugglers are "Africa-based, Asian-run crime syndicates," said Tom Milliken, director of the Elephant Trade Information System, an international ivory monitoring project, and "highly adaptive to law enforcement interventions, constantly changing trade routes and modus operandi."
Conservationists say the mass kill-offs taking place across Africa may be as bad as, or worse than, those in the 1980s, when poachers killed more than half of Africa's elephants before an international ban on the commercial ivory trade was put in place.
"We're experiencing what is likely to be the greatest percentage loss of elephants in history," said Richard G Ruggiero, an official with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Some experts say the survival of the species is at stake, especially when many members of the African security services entrusted with protecting the animals are currently killing them.
Additional reporting by Ronald Musoke
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 2:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Mabadiliko] Re: [wanabidii] Re: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
There was nothing of the usual quickly assembled briefings to journalists over an incident that has obviously put the country on the spot. Instead Tourism Minister Maria Mutagamba and the Uganda Wildlife Authority Executive Director Andrew Seguya have, according to inside sources, opted to conduct a quiet internal investigation.
Among the lines being investigated is the assertion by Kenyan authorities that the ivory was from the so-called 'big elephants', which points to the Democratic Republic of Congo as the origin.
If the DR Congo was indeed the origin of the illicit cache, how did it clear through Uganda and end up in the Kenya port of Mombasa? Which officers, if any, on the Ugandan side were complicit in the smuggling racket?
There have been a series of ivory seizure in Kenya but the July 9 cache was the largest. The consignment was of some 770 pieces, hacked out of elephants.
Export documents showed that the ivory had come by vehicle from Uganda on 12 June.
The vehicle was then "parked" at a petrol station in Mombasa, until the consignment was brought into the port.
"The ivory was stashed in 69 bundles of several pieces and had been disguised as sun-dried fish," said Paul Utodo, the Communications Manager of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
"Some bags had worked polished pieces of ivory, while others had raw ivory," he added. Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Mbugua said the 3,287 kilogrammes of ivory were hidden in a shipment of groundnuts in Mombasa.
Some tusks were so big they weighed almost 60 Kgs which shows they were from really mature animals.
According to Mbugua, preliminary investigations by Kenya police point to the ivory being "packaged locally" in Kenya.
Earlier in July, another cache of ivory, weighing about 1,500kgs, was netted by Kenya police. It was hidden underneath dried fish to put the port sniffer dogs of the spoor. Both shipments were destined for Malaysia.
In January, KWS officials said that 3.8 tonnes of ivory were seized, also at Mombasa, apparently on transit from Tanzania to Indonesia. Ivory trade is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
On July 12, a court in Arusha, Tanzania, charged a businessman with smuggling more than 1000 elephant ivory tusks.
SelemaniIsanzu Chasema, in his 50s, is believed to have exported 781 tusks through Malawi in May according to the prosecution. He denied the charges.
Poaching has risen sharply in Africa in recent years. Besides targeting rhinos, whole herds of elephants have been massacred for their ivory.
Inconclusive evidence
The illegal ivory trade, estimated to be worth between US$7 billion and US$10 billion a year, is mostly fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns are used in traditional medicine and to make ornaments.
The value of the ivory seized on July 9 has not yet been determined, Udoto said, but the two tonnes of ivory seized in January were estimated to be worth US$1 million.
On his recent three-nation visit to Africa in June ending July, U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order launching a US$10 million bid to cut wildlife trafficking in Africa, with US$3 million in assistance earmarked for Kenya.
Akankwasah Barirega, the Prinicipal Wildlife Officer and acting spokesperson of the Uganda Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, the government is still investigating the origin of the ivory seized in Kenya.
He says the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) together with the Nairobi-based Lusaka Agreement Taskforce--a regional group charged with controlling and eliminating the illegal trade in wildlife products are spearheading the investigation.
"We haven't got conclusive evidence but we suspect the ivory came from Congo [Democratic Republic]," Akankwasah told The Independent on July 13. Although, the intercepted ivory's origin is said to be Uganda, Akankwasah said, it cannot be from Ugandan elephants because the sheer volume confiscated would mean that Uganda remained without any elephants.
"We have about 4000 elephants in Uganda," he said, "We are quite sure this ivory is not from our elephants." However, he said the government is doing everything possible to stop Uganda's territory acting as a transit route for the illicit trade in wildlife products.
Akankwasah said that beside the recent establishment of an intelligence and investigation department at UWA, they have also beefed up their surveillance at the border points by working closely with the Uganda Revenue Authority.
He added that an amended Uganda Wildlife Act which is aimed at making the penalty of trading in wildlife products more punitive will soon be tabled before Parliament to tackle the problem which has re-emerged across the continent.
He said the recent interception of the two containers of ivory in Kenya is part of a wider continental syndicate that stretches from Nigeria, through the Central African Republic, Congo, way up to South Africa.
Akankwasah noted that although most African countries had contained the problem about 10-20 years ago, the vice had made a come-back mainly because of the proliferation of wars in Congo.
"Congo is the biggest driver of illicit trade in endangered species products like ivory," he said.
Late last year, game rangers in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo alleged they had spotted a Ugandan military helicopter flying very low over the park, on an alleged unauthorised flight in an area where poachers had killed 22 elephants and carried off their treasured tusks.
In the most quoted report of the incident, from the U.S. newspaper The New York Times, the UPDF was portrayed with suspicion.
African Parks, the South Africa-based conservation organisation that manages Garamba, said it had photographs of the Ugandan military transport helicopter.
Then-Army and UPDF Spokesman, Col. Felix Kulayigye, told The Independent there was no evidence to prove the game rangers allegation.
Congo connection
He said it was not unusual for a UPDF chopper to fly over Garamba because that is the route the aircrafts of the Uganda army to Nzara and Obbo, where they are hunting the internationally wanted criminal warlord, Joseph Kony.
At the time, Ugandan media was awash with stories on the plight of elephants after the Uganda Wildlife Authority confirmed the September 2012 slaying by poachers of two elephants, including Baraka, a 40 year old male elephant believed to have been the oldest and most peaceful in Semliki wildlife reserve in western Uganda.
At the time, minister Mutagamba said a 2010 UWA large mammal census had revealed that the elephant numbers for Queen Elizabeth National Park had increased from 400 in 1988 to 2,959 in 2010. The minister praised the UPDF for supporting the Uganda Tourism Police to combat poaching.
In June 2012, 36 tusks were seized at the Entebbe airport in Uganda. Eighteen of the 22 elephants killed in Garamba in March were adults that had their ivory hacked out, which would usually mean 36 tusks.
Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, the Islamic rebel militia al-Shabab and Darfur's Janjaweed, are all accused of hunting down elephants and using the tusks to buy weapons and sustain their mayhem.
Organised crime syndicates are linking up with them to move the ivory around the world, exploiting turbulent states, porous borders and corrupt officials from sub-Saharan Africa to China, said a New York Times story that quoted law enforcement officials.
In 2011, the New York Times story said, poaching levels in Africa were at their highest since international monitors began keeping detailed records in 2002. It said worldwide, 38.8 tons (equaling the tusks from more than 4000 dead elephants), had been seized.
Uganda lost 25 elephants in 2011 and an investigations report by the Auditor General's Office described the killings as the "worst ever reported scenario in a single conservation area, considering that Uganda was previously losing only 3 elephants annually."
The smugglers are "Africa-based, Asian-run crime syndicates," said Tom Milliken, director of the Elephant Trade Information System, an international ivory monitoring project, and "highly adaptive to law enforcement interventions, constantly changing trade routes and modus operandi."
Conservationists say the mass kill-offs taking place across Africa may be as bad as, or worse than, those in the 1980s, when poachers killed more than half of Africa's elephants before an international ban on the commercial ivory trade was put in place.
"We're experiencing what is likely to be the greatest percentage loss of elephants in history," said Richard G Ruggiero, an official with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Some experts say the survival of the species is at stake, especially when many members of the African security services entrusted with protecting the animals are currently killing them.
Additional reporting by Ronald Musoke
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 2:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Mabadiliko] Re: [wanabidii] Re: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
Exactly Mobhare. You are 100% correct. The correct grammar is "took".
Courage
On Mon, Jul 22, 2013 at 3:10 AM, Mobhare Matinyi <matinyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Please, correct that verb on your headline: "took" not
"take".
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 16:06:10 -0400
Subject: [Mabadiliko] Re: [wanabidii] Re: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
From:
To:
CC:
Courage
-----Original Message-----
From: Maurice Oduor <mauricejoduor@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:03:42
To: <jbatec@yahoo.com>
Cc: <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>; <mabadilikotanzania@googlegroups.com>; <uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com>; <youngprofessionals_ke@googlegroups.com>; <jaluo@jaluo.com>; <wanakenya@googlegroups.com>; <changemombasa2012@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [wanabidii] Re: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their
Rebel Groups out of Congo
Subject: [Mabadiliko] Re: [wanabidii] Re: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their Rebel Groups out of Congo
From:
To:
CC:
Laurean,
Hapa kusema kweli nami nimeshangaa. I don't think
Judy is railing against Kagame and Museveni out of nowhere. There's a personal
reason in there somewhere. Could Judy be related to Kabila? Or is Judy's NGO
getting funding to do some work in Congo? Where there's smoke, there's fire.
On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 5:10 AM, Laurean Rugambwa <rugambwa@hotmail.com> wrote:
Maurice:
She is also obsessed with it; to the extent you can't figure out what is
the objective analysis or her prejudice!
I remember she did the same for Odinga during the election, strange way of disseminating hatred.
Have a good day,
Laurean
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Tanzania.
I remember she did the same for Odinga during the election, strange way of disseminating hatred.
Have a good day,
Laurean
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Tanzania.
-----Original Message-----
From: Maurice Oduor <mauricejoduor@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 09:03:42
To: <jbatec@yahoo.com>
Cc: <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>; <mabadilikotanzania@googlegroups.com>; <uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com>; <youngprofessionals_ke@googlegroups.com>; <jaluo@jaluo.com>; <wanakenya@googlegroups.com>; <changemombasa2012@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [wanabidii] Re: It is time Kagame and Museveni take back their
Rebel Groups out of Congo
Judy,
You're really intense about this Rwanda-Congo-Uganda thing. Do you have a personal stake in Kabila staying in power? If Kabila's presence in power is inspiring all these wars, then maybe it's time we looked at the possibility of Kabila leaving and the AU sponsoring a fresh round of elections, real elections this time. What do you think?
You're really intense about this Rwanda-Congo-Uganda thing. Do you have a personal stake in Kabila staying in power? If Kabila's presence in power is inspiring all these wars, then maybe it's time we looked at the possibility of Kabila leaving and the AU sponsoring a fresh round of elections, real elections this time. What do you think?
As it is, Kabila seems to be a President of the Kinshasa and Lubumbashi
regions only. The rest is under rebel control. How many congolese have to die
before we can start asking Kabila to leave? What has he really done for his
country since he came into power?
Courage
On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 10:22 AM, Judy Miriga <jbatec@yahoo.comjbatec@yahoo.com
Courage
On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 10:22 AM, Judy Miriga <jbatec@yahoo.com
Good People,
The UN led invasion on the Rebel groups in Congo did well to start bombarding the Tutsi-led M23 which were advancing to re-capture Goma because of the failed talks in Uganda.
They were out to teach Kabila the President of Congo a big lesson. It was
the reason Kagame bragged he was going to hit Kikwete when he least expected
using the B words in Ki-Rwanda.
The sin of Kikwete was to request and advice Kagame to engage peace in the
great lakes of East Africa.
All the Tutsi-led rebels of the M23 movement or the Hutu-led anti-Rwandan
government Democratic Front for the Liberation Rwanda (FDLR) and the The Allied
Democratic Forces (ADF) sponsored and led by Salim Saleh, who is Museveni's
brother; are all doing big business with the Corporate Special Business Interest
in Washington by spilling the blood of Congolese people and are exterminating
and destroying livelihood and survival of the DRC Congo people.....the reason
why DRC Congo do not have any peace however much Congo people try to stabilize
their country. This state-of-affair is unacceptable.
Since this matter has gone out of control with Rwanda and Uganda invasion
getting lethal...the UN mission team in Congo with now the 3,000-additional
strong special UN force may need to be more subjective in their attack of the
Rebel groups with precision and they must genuinely help to save the situation
conclusively and not allow themselves to be compromised by the Corporate Special
Interest. Congo people too have a right to pursuit of happiness.
There is no more waiting to negotiate at the expense of Human Rights violation, crime and abuse with destructions of livelihood and survival of the Congolese except, to drive these Rebel groups back to their Country from where they belong into Uganda and Rwanda. Kabila also must stand his ground to add pressure to save his country from these extreme terrorism which emanates from instigations with engineered conspiracies by Kagame and Museveni to protect these groups for their profit. Kagame is a man and he must remain so........
Problems can only be solved by tackling and fixing the root-cause of it. The root cause of problem of Congo people is Rwanda and Uganda private marcinaries lodged inside DRC Congo but controled from Rwanda and Uganda; forming a foreign Government inside Congo. No one can accept this kind of behavior. Kagame and Museveni must behave or else, they are both headed to a much more bigger trouble they have never seen before in their life time. They are not bigger than the world.........they will not cause us heartache and disturb our peace and we sit pretty..........They are the aggressors and instigators and they will not get away with it.......It is because Civil Rights Justice must take precedence against them instantaniously..........
We must not ignore such butchery that has taken in Congo for over twenty years. This butchering started with the elimination and brutal death of Patrice Lumumba. Since then Congo has not seen peace. The Congo people have paid enough price with their blood, it is time things must be done differently.
Obscurity seems to confer immunity in high places where, strong men are judged only by their readiness to kill and take away Human Rights as they wish. Quoted in St. Augustine's ''City of God,'' how lawless armies dismembered the Roman Empire. If there be no "JUSTICE" there remain Kingdoms of selfish and greedy gangs of criminals left to control ways of life?
These Rebel/Mercenaries are gang groups of men formed under the command of a unscrupulous business community who work alongside bad leaders of the world in a compact of association to do business without paying taxes to the people's Government, where with the control power, they plunder public wealth and resources for their selfish greedy gains and divide the loot according to an agreed Treaty they form amongst their network. This is how they establish their base, captures cities and subdues people for slavery by the attainment of impunity.
Shall we sit pretty and watch when Human Rights is abused??? Is this not a problem for the world??? Dont we need to stand our ground together under Civil Rights Justice Movement to protect Peoples Equal Justice and Liberty with pursuit for happiness for all without discrimination for the sake of Peace ???
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com/
VOICE OF AMERICA
News / Africa
In Eastern Congo, M23 Rebels Battle for Hearts, Minds
In Eastern Congo, M23 Rebels Battle for Hearts, Minds
July 22, 2013
EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are trying to strengthen their grip on areas under their control as they come under attack by the Congolese army. The residents of rebel-held towns in eastern Congo, however, are growing weary of the ongoing conflict.
At a church in eastern Congo, the faithful pack the pews in what looks like a regular prayer service. But this is not about religion. It’s a lesson in rebellion taught at the M23 rebel group's military academy.
The people here, gathered from nearby towns, are being taught the ideology of this group of disaffected soldiers that has controlled territory in eastern Congo since breaking away from the army last year.
M23 rebels are trying to cement control over this area, which they say has been neglected for too long by the government in Kinshasa.
War's strife
Outside the academy walls, though, the rebels have been losing ground to the Congolese army in a week of fighting a few kilometers from the economic hub of Goma, which was held by the rebels for 10 days last year.
Meantime, continuing peace talks in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, have shown little progress.
M23 spokesman Vianney Kazarama said that with weapons they took from their raid on Goma, his group has no problem continuing the military campaign, but they would rather see a political solution.
“We don’t have the intention to continue the war. There is no benefit to war, for solving the problems of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Kazarama.
In the M23 stronghold of Rutshuru, residents have long paid the cost of conflict since the rebellions of the 1990s.
Civilians pay the price
People here want nothing to do with war and politics.
That includes Valerie Baoukahe, who heads an association for victims of sexual violence. “We want to get peace. Whoever wins can win, whoever loses can lose. For us, all we want is peace,” she said.
Other residents complain of looting, abductions and murders being committed in the area, with no one ever brought to justice.
Ntamu Gashamba, a history professor at Rutshuru Institute, said businesses also have been hurt by the insecurity brought by the M23 rebels.
“If the army could return it would be better, because the sellers would be able to sell their merchandise without any problems, it would be a good situation,” said Gashamba.
Back at the church, M23 still hopes to win the hearts and minds of the population.
With pressure on the battlefield, and growing discontent in towns, though, the future of the rebels is far from certain.
At a church in eastern Congo, the faithful pack the pews in what looks like a regular prayer service. But this is not about religion. It’s a lesson in rebellion taught at the M23 rebel group's military academy.
The people here, gathered from nearby towns, are being taught the ideology of this group of disaffected soldiers that has controlled territory in eastern Congo since breaking away from the army last year.
M23 rebels are trying to cement control over this area, which they say has been neglected for too long by the government in Kinshasa.
War's strife
Outside the academy walls, though, the rebels have been losing ground to the Congolese army in a week of fighting a few kilometers from the economic hub of Goma, which was held by the rebels for 10 days last year.
Meantime, continuing peace talks in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, have shown little progress.
M23 spokesman Vianney Kazarama said that with weapons they took from their raid on Goma, his group has no problem continuing the military campaign, but they would rather see a political solution.
“We don’t have the intention to continue the war. There is no benefit to war, for solving the problems of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Kazarama.
In the M23 stronghold of Rutshuru, residents have long paid the cost of conflict since the rebellions of the 1990s.
Civilians pay the price
People here want nothing to do with war and politics.
That includes Valerie Baoukahe, who heads an association for victims of sexual violence. “We want to get peace. Whoever wins can win, whoever loses can lose. For us, all we want is peace,” she said.
Other residents complain of looting, abductions and murders being committed in the area, with no one ever brought to justice.
Ntamu Gashamba, a history professor at Rutshuru Institute, said businesses also have been hurt by the insecurity brought by the M23 rebels.
“If the army could return it would be better, because the sellers would be able to sell their merchandise without any problems, it would be a good situation,” said Gashamba.
Back at the church, M23 still hopes to win the hearts and minds of the population.
With pressure on the battlefield, and growing discontent in towns, though, the future of the rebels is far from certain.
News / Africa
Uganda Opposition to Petition Court to Impeach President Museveni
Last updated on: July 22, 2013 4:44 PM
Uganda’s opposition political parties and civil society groups plan to petition the Constitutional Court on Tuesday seeking to impeach President Yoweri Museveni.
If the Constitutional Court gives the go-ahead, then the parties and civil society groups could ask Parliament to impeach.
“I will certainly back whoever thinks President Museveni should be impeached for abrogating the constitution, because this level of impunity must be rejected with all the disgrace it deserve,” said Gerald Karuhanga, a member of Uganda’s parliament.
The groups accuse Mr. Museveni of flouting the constitution after he installed General Aronda Nyakairima as Internal Affairs Minister over the weekend. Nyakairima is still a top official of the national army, the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF).
Article 208(2) of Uganda’s constitution bars serving army officers from participating in partisan politics.
A cabinet minister’s position is seen as political whereas military officers are mandated to remain neutral.
Karuhanga says the president refused to abide by the constitution in spite of repeated warnings from some members of parliament.
“At first we thought it was a joke that a military general can become a cabinet official in a multiparty system of government. It was pushed on and pursued by President Museveni until the general became a cabinet minister,” said Karuhanga.
But, last week, Nyakairima was approved by the Appointments Committee of parliament. Karuhanga said he disagreed with the decision.
“It was very disturbing that the Appointment’s Committee actually approved him because we had made it so clear to them and informed them and we thought they would reason it out legally,” said Karuhanga. “Unfortunately, political influence overwhelmed them.”
The government has rejected criticisms that President Museveni contravened the constitution.
“There is no legal instrument for General Aronda to resign or retire from the army before he can be appointed minister. That section of the UPDF Act is not applicable in this case because ministers are appointed,” Attorney General Peter Nyombiu was quoted as telling Ugandan media. “The appointment of General Aronda should be effected without requiring him to resign from the army or requiring taking leave.”
Political commentators in Uganda say it is unlikely that the legislators or civil groups will succeed in their efforts to impeach Museveni since his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) enjoys a comfortable parliamentary majority. They contend that the NRM will block any of the opposition’s legislative maneuvers to impeach Museveni.
If the Constitutional Court gives the go-ahead, then the parties and civil society groups could ask Parliament to impeach.
“I will certainly back whoever thinks President Museveni should be impeached for abrogating the constitution, because this level of impunity must be rejected with all the disgrace it deserve,” said Gerald Karuhanga, a member of Uganda’s parliament.
The groups accuse Mr. Museveni of flouting the constitution after he installed General Aronda Nyakairima as Internal Affairs Minister over the weekend. Nyakairima is still a top official of the national army, the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF).
Article 208(2) of Uganda’s constitution bars serving army officers from participating in partisan politics.
A cabinet minister’s position is seen as political whereas military officers are mandated to remain neutral.
Karuhanga says the president refused to abide by the constitution in spite of repeated warnings from some members of parliament.
“At first we thought it was a joke that a military general can become a cabinet official in a multiparty system of government. It was pushed on and pursued by President Museveni until the general became a cabinet minister,” said Karuhanga.
But, last week, Nyakairima was approved by the Appointments Committee of parliament. Karuhanga said he disagreed with the decision.
“It was very disturbing that the Appointment’s Committee actually approved him because we had made it so clear to them and informed them and we thought they would reason it out legally,” said Karuhanga. “Unfortunately, political influence overwhelmed them.”
The government has rejected criticisms that President Museveni contravened the constitution.
“There is no legal instrument for General Aronda to resign or retire from the army before he can be appointed minister. That section of the UPDF Act is not applicable in this case because ministers are appointed,” Attorney General Peter Nyombiu was quoted as telling Ugandan media. “The appointment of General Aronda should be effected without requiring him to resign from the army or requiring taking leave.”
Political commentators in Uganda say it is unlikely that the legislators or civil groups will succeed in their efforts to impeach Museveni since his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) enjoys a comfortable parliamentary majority. They contend that the NRM will block any of the opposition’s legislative maneuvers to impeach Museveni.
Clottey interview with Gerald Karuhanga, a member of Uganda’s parliament
Congo-Kinshasa: Stalled Kampala Talks Linked to Congo Clashes
By Mark Caldwell, 16 July 2013
interview
The Congolese army is battling two militias in eastern DRC, the M23 rebel group, comprising mostly ethnic Tutsi militia, and the ADF, a Ugandan Muslim armed force. The UN has a new intervention force.
The Democratic Republic of Congo said on Monday (15.07.2013) it had killed 120 fighters belonging to the M23 rebel movement to the north of Goma.
The insurgents deny these claims. The fighting comes after Uganda's Red Cross Society confirmed 66,000 Congolese refugees had crossed into the east African country.
They were fleeing another battle zone in which the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) was attacking Kamangu, a town in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN has deployed a new 3,000-strong Intervention brigade with a tough mandate to fight armed groups in eastern Congo.
DW's Mark Caldwell spoke to Thierry Vircouloun, Project Director for Central Africa with the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Why has this fighting flared up on two fronts?
I think it's mainly a coincidence. There is no link between them. It's clear that the fighting between the M23 and the Congolese army is a direct result of the dead end of the Kampala negotiations. The talks in Kampala have dragged on since December last year without any meaningful results.
Therefore it's very clear for all the stakeholders that there won't be a diplomatic settlement to the problem between the M23 and the Congolese government. Therefore the only way to change the situation is actually through the military way.
I would say that in the northern part of Kivu, the ADF is not involved in the same kind of fighting with the Congolese army.
It's small clashes that have happened and the ADF has withdrawn to remote areas after temporarily taking some villages and taking some hostages. The main fighting is happening between M23 and the Congolese army and the M23 remains the main target of the Congolese army.
The UN has its largest peacekeeping mission in the world in the DRC, including a new intervention brigade. What have they done so far to stop the fighting?
interview
So far the UN has not done anything to stop the fighting.
They have called on the Congolese army and other parties to calm down, but it's clear that there is a window of opportunity for military action as seen from Kinshasa, firstly because the Kampala negotiations are not moving forward and secondly because fighting the M23 is very popular in Congo unlike negotiating with them.
Thirdly, it seems like the M23 itself was very weakened by the internal fighting that happened at the beginning of the year
So what are the M23's objectives at the moment?
I think at the moment the objective of the M23 is to resist the Congolese army and try to keep its position close to Goma.
What can you tell us about the UN's new intervention brigade, what is its current status?
The brigade is not fully operational, the Tanzanian and South African components of the brigade have arrived in Goma, north Kivu, but the contingent from Malawi is not yet here. I also understand that the brigade has not received all its equipment.
However the MONUSCO commander has sent a very strong warning saying all civilians with a gun won't be considered as civilians. It's not clear at this stage what is going to be the first target of that intervention brigade.
As far as I understand, no operation by this brigade had been planned before this coming September. Howeve, given the development on the ground, the UN may be forced to intervene faster than they wanted to.
Thierry Vircoulon is the Project Director for Central Africa with the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Congo-Kinshasa: UN Blue Helmets On 'High Alert' As M23 Rebels Advance Towards Goma
15 July 2013
United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are on high alert today and stand ready to use force to protect civilians in Goma from an advancing rebellion by the March 23 movement (M23), the top UN official in the country said, urging all parties to exercise restraint.
The UN Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) expressed "deep concern" about the latest bout of fighting which broke out after a significant group of the M23 attacked the national forces (FARDC) on 14 July in Mutaho, eight kilometres northwest of Goma, in eastern DRC. According to the Mission, heavy artillery and a battle tank were used in the attack.
"Any attempt by the M23 to advance toward Goma will be considered a direct threat to civilians," the Mission warned. It also noted that the UN blue helmets stand ready to take any necessary measures, including the use of lethal force, in order to protect civilians.
The acting Special Representative of the Secretary General in the country, Moustapha Soumaré, urged restraint to avoid a further escalation of the situation.
"I call on all to abide by the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework Agreement and to allow the political process towards peace to move forward," Mr. Soumaré said, referring to the UN-brokered accord adopted in February with the support of 11 nations and four international organizations (11+4), with the aim of ending the cycles of conflict and crisis in the eastern DRC and to build peace in the long-troubled Great Lakes region.
"I urge all signatories of the PSC Framework to exercise their influence in order to avoid an escalation of the situation," he added.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Mary Robinson, the UN Special Envoy for Africa's Great Lakes Region, along with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, visited the DRC in May to bolster support for the PSC Framework which Ms. Robinson dubbed a "framework for hope."
Last month, there was talk of a possible resumption of peace talks between the Government of the DRC and the M23. At that time, Mrs. Robinson had urged both sides to engage in earnest discussion under the auspices of the Chairperson of the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Mr. Robinson was convened in Burundi last week a conference to help develop a road map for women's engagement in efforts to bring peace to Africa's long-trouble Great Lakes countries.
Since March, tensions in the region have been heightened, leading to the Security Council to authorize in March the deployment of an intervention brigade within MONUSCO to carry out targeted offensive operations, with or without FARDC, against armed groups that threaten peace in eastern DRC.
Uganda: DRC-Based Ugandan Rebel Group 'Recruiting, Training'
11 July 2013
Kampala - The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) (sponsored by Salim Saleh Museveni's brother Mercenary/Rebel group which installed Museveni and Kagame to power and who moved from Uganda to Rwanda into Congo-----where Museveni conspired for them to occupy land in Congo), a Ugandan rebel movement based in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is recruiting, training and reorganizing to carry out fresh attacks on Uganda, officials say.
"The threat is real. ADF is recruiting, training and opening new camps in eastern DRC. We are alert and very prepared to deal with any attack on our side of the border," said Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF). "We are sharing intelligence information with the DRC government [and] FARDC [DRC's national army] about their activities. We hope FARDC will be able to deal with the group."
According to media reports in DRC, early on Thursday morning the group clashed with FARDC in Kamango, a town in North Kivu Province close to the Ugandan border, briefly ousting the army before withdrawing. Uganda's NTV tweeted that thousands of Congolese had fled across the border to the western Ugandan town of Bundibugyo.
The ADF was formed in the mid-1990s in the Rwenzori mountain range in western Uganda, close to the country's border with DRC. The group killed hundreds in several attacks in the capital, Kampala, and in parts of western Uganda, and caused the displacement of tens of thousands. The rebellion was largely contained in Uganda by 2000, with reportedly just about 100 fighters finding refuge in eastern North Kivu. From the mid-1990s till 2007, ADF was allied to another Ugandan rebel group, the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda; together, becoming ADF-NALU.
The ADF's leader, Jamil Mukulu, a former Catholic, converted to Islam in the 1990s, and the Ugandan government has long claimed the group is linked with Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda and the Somali militant group Al-Shabab. The US placed the ADF on its list of terrorist organizations in 2001.
UPDF's Ankunda said: "There is no doubt; ADF has a linkage with Al-Shabab. They collaborate. They have trained ADF on the use of improvised explosive devices."
Kidnapping, recruitment
According to Ankunda, the ADF - now thought to have up to 1,200 fighters - has tried to increase its troop numbers through kidnapping and recruitment in North Kivu Province and in Uganda.
"What is worrying us is that the ADF has been carrying out a series of abductions, recruitment and attacks in DRC without much resistance from FARDC," Ankunda told IRIN. "We are critically following up their recruitment in Uganda. We have made some arrests."
According to a December 2012 report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), the ADF is "more of a politically convenient threat for both the FARDC and the Ugandan government than an Islamist threat lurking at the heart of Central Africa".
"They are still isolated, and actions against their logistic and financial chains have been quite successful," Marc-Andre Lagrange, DRC senior analyst at ICG, told IRIN. "As in 2011, ADF are now engaged in providing military support to other armed groups to sustain their movement. This demonstrates that ADF, as such, is now a limited threat despite the fact they remain extremely violent."
According to experts in Uganda, the continued presence of armed groups like ADF is a major concern for peace and stability in DRC, Uganda and the wider Great Lakes region.
"The allegations that ADF is regrouping are not new and should not come as a surprise. What should worry us as a country is the apparent collective amnesia of treating our own exported armed insurgencies as other people's problems," Stephen Oola, a transitional justice and governance analyst at Uganda's Makerere University's Refugee Law Project, told IRIN. "The LRA [Lord's Resistance Army] and ADF are Uganda's problems and will remain so, no matter where they are located at a particular time, until we seek a comprehensive solution to conflicts in this country."
Neutralizing the threat
At the moment, Uganda has no mandate to pursue the rebels within DRC. Ankunda said he hoped the new UN Intervention Brigade - tasked with defeating "negative forces" in eastern DRC and due to be fully operational at the end of July - will step in to curb the group's efforts to destabilize the two countries.
The ICG's report warned that it would be important to neutralize the ADF's cross-border economic and logistical networks; the group allegedly receives money transfers from Kenya, the UK and Uganda, which are collected by Congolese intermediaries in the North Kivu cities of Beni and Butembo. It also derives funding from car and motorcycle taxis in North Kivu and profits from gold and timber exports to Uganda.
"It would be wise to separate fiction from fact and instead pursue a course of weakening its socio-economic base, while at the same time offering a demobilization and reintegration programme to its combatants," the report's authors stated, adding that "Congolese and Ugandan military personnel colluding with these networks should be dealt with appropriately by the authorities of their country".
According to Makerere's Oola, Uganda needs to do some soul-searching if it is to defeat the rebellions that continue to destabilize the country: "We must sit down as country in judgment of oursel[ves], through truth-seeking and national dialogue, to ask the right questions. Why are they fighting? What should be done to end their rebellion? How do we address the impact of the cycle of violence that has bedevilled this country from independence?"
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. ]
Salim Saleh was haunted by Jet Mwebaze's
death. Why? <http://bitukirire.webs.com/apps/blog/show/7305710-salim-saleh-was-haunted-by-jet-mwebaze-s-death-why->
Posted by Bitukirire Isaac Newton <http://bitukirire.webs.com/apps/profile/67293286/>
on June 6, 2011 at 2:59 PM
<http://bitukirire.webs.com/salim%20saleh%202.jpg>
<http://bitukirire.webs.com/salim%20saleh%202.jpg>
In Sept. 1997, an army officer and brother to Brig. James Kazini, another
senior army officer, died in western Uganda under circumstances that remain
mysterious. The then Minister of State for Defence, Steven Kavuma, gave
conflicting accounts of what had happened to the private plane carrying Mwebaze.
The media also reported various accounts. Appearing on the Capital Gang talk
show on 91.3 Capital FM at the time, the then Lt. Gen. Salim Saleh was grilled
by the then Mbarara Member of Parliament, Winnie Byanyima, also a panelist on
the Capital Gang, to explain what Saleh's employees were doing on that plane in
which Mwebaze was said to have died. Saleh did not have an answer. Maj. Gen.
James Kazini the former army commander died on Nov. 10, 2009 still convinced
that his brother had been killed by the state or at least an actor in the state.
But for several months, Saleh found himself almost unable to sleep. He disclosed
to some people that he was being haunted by the spirit of Jet Mwebaze.
Apparently it was tormenting him night and day. On the day of Mwebaze's burial,
an unusually heavy downpour of rain swept over the area. It rained heavily and
continually all through the burial proceedings and convinced many onlookers that
there was something suspicious about Mwebaze's death. In 1998, Saleh tried to
find a way out of the nightmare he was facing. He sought the help of a
traditional fortune teller, a soothsayer of some sort, to go to Mwebaze's grave
and perform a number of rituals to appease the spirit of Mwebaze. A young man
approached by Saleh refused to look up the fortune teller. Saleh finally found
another young man to go to Mwebaze's grave with the medium on his behalf. What
happened, however, shocked Saleh. The young man, usually meek and modest in
personality, suddenly burst out into a loud wail when he met Saleh. He shouted
at Saleh and insulted him, speaking as one possessed by a strange spirit or
invisible force. What happened next is not clear but this episode is a glimpse
into the dark and sinister world that Uganda's leaders since 1986 live in. Their
abnormal lust for power and material things, their casual way with shedding
blood speaks not of ordinary human beings, but of people possessed by what some
might refer to as the spirit of death and murder. It is this spirit in Museveni,
his brother Salim Saleh, and Museveni's wife Janet Museveni that I went to
investigate in July 2006 when I met a Seer outside Kampala. I ended up
discovering the most astonishing things imaginable. But the net result of that
experience was that all my fear of the state, what it can do, and of Museveni
vanished from me the next day. I had stumbled onto what in the Bible is referred
to as the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil", the ultimate in knowledge of
the deep mysteries of the universe. That spirit of death and murder hangs over
the other leader in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, President Paul
Kagame of Rwanda. About Mwebaze's death, Saleh had planned to mobilise soldiers
and army veterans to go to the Democratic Republic of Congo to offer support
security to the new government of President Laurent Kabila. But failing to
successfully convince these men to go to Congo, the task fell to Mwebaze, who
easily assembled the men and these men waited for the flight at Entebbe
International Airport. For whatever reason, Saleh started to view Mwebaze as
threat to his power and influence within the army and plotted against Mwebaze.
Just before Mwebaze was to have taken that flight, Saleh --- who knew Mwebaze's
love of money --- convinced him to give up on the military mission and instead
fly to Congo on a diamond business mission. Mwebaze agreed to. Employees of
Saleh's company, including some Israelis, boarded a plane. When the plane
arrived in the skies over Kasese, it came down to the ground. Later, Mwebaze was
shot dead by the army in Kasese, then under the command of Brig. Nakibus Lakara.
Who gave the order for Mwebaze's murder? Who else but the man who would later be
haunted by what he himself said was the spirit of Mwebaze. It is no coinsidence
that it is he, Saleh, who made the call to Lydia Draru or Lydia Atim, asking her
to call Mwebaze's brother to Namowongo, only for three hit men, not Draru, to
beat Kazini to death --- and then reports of a domestic quarrel conveniently fed
to the media. According to NRA fighters in Luwero, Saleh was given the nickname
"Rufu" which in the languages of western Uganda means "death." This nickname was
not because of any extraordinary military achievements or bravery on the
battlefield, but rather, according to the former NRA guerrillas, because it was
to him that Yoweri Museveni entrusted the task of eliminating Museveni's real or
perceived enemies in Luwero. These NRA veterans say that such major
assassinations as that of the first NRA commander, Lt. Ahmed Seguya and many
others --- including, now, the killing of Maj. Gen. James Kazini --- were the
core assignment of Salim Saleh during their guerrilla war. In Kampala, most army
generals, intelligence officers, and others familiar with the workings of the
NRM government do not believe that Kazini was killed by Lydia Draru. Maj. Gen.
Kahinda Otafiire's melodramatic questioning of why God allowed Kazini to die
without first consulting he, Otafiire, reflects the amount of fear being felt
within top military circles than that Otafiire was trying to express black
humour. END
Exposed! NRM's plans to rule Uganda till 2042
Written by Our Editor
Monday, 29 June 2009 04:15
The Uganda Citizen today exposes a Master Plan by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) to stay in power until 2042. Hatched in March 1992 at Rushere, Nyabushozi, home of President Yoweri Museveni, the plan exposes the NRM as having lied to the whole world in general and to Ugandans in particular, when they said, in 1986, that theirs was not merely a change of guard but a new movement offering fundamental changes.
Exposed! NRM's plans to rule Uganda till 2042
Written by Our Editor
Monday, 29 June 2009 04:15
The Uganda Citizen today exposes a Master Plan by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) to stay in power until 2042. Hatched in March 1992 at Rushere, Nyabushozi, home of President Yoweri Museveni, the plan exposes the NRM as having lied to the whole world in general and to Ugandans in particular, when they said, in 1986, that theirs was not merely a change of guard but a new movement offering fundamental changes.
<https://us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com/images/stories/muhoozi%20200%20x%20225%20x.jpg>
Muhoozi (left): Museveni's sonIn an attempt to isolate the rest of Uganda and concentrate power into the hands of two clans from Western Uganda, the ingenuous plan sets out in detail how two Western Uganda clans, the Bahima and the Basita, planned to stay in power for 50 years before allowing anybody else to get into power.The plan of action that was read out by Mr Museveni to all the 76 people that attended the secret planning, sought to make sure that all top posts in the army were held by the Bahima. It arranged, among other plans, to:
Muhoozi (left): Museveni's sonIn an attempt to isolate the rest of Uganda and concentrate power into the hands of two clans from Western Uganda, the ingenuous plan sets out in detail how two Western Uganda clans, the Bahima and the Basita, planned to stay in power for 50 years before allowing anybody else to get into power.The plan of action that was read out by Mr Museveni to all the 76 people that attended the secret planning, sought to make sure that all top posts in the army were held by the Bahima. It arranged, among other plans, to:
Make sure their people had the highest educational qualifications during
his term of office for their children.
Make sure they were the richest people in Uganda with the 50 years master plan.
Make sure they controlled the army and had the highest ranks in the army.
Make sure they were the richest people in Uganda with the 50 years master plan.
Make sure they controlled the army and had the highest ranks in the army.
<https://us-mg6.mail.yahoo.com/images/stories/museveni_kagame%20300%20x%20240.jpg>
Museveni (left) and Paul Kagame (right) - Rwanda's president and former Uganda intelligence chiefEnsure that they take charge of all the resources in the country.
Museveni (left) and Paul Kagame (right) - Rwanda's president and former Uganda intelligence chiefEnsure that they take charge of all the resources in the country.
Ensure that none of those not concerned, needed to know about the action plan.
This last wish may have already backfired as those that attended the meeting have already fallen out with Museveni. These include, among others, Hope Kivengere who minded to act as the link between Museveni and the grass roots.
Museveni asked the meeting to help recruit several of their relatives in the armed forces where he would install them in the security services especially the ISU, PPU, ESSO and Military Police. "This," Museveni said, "would assist in the resisting of other tribes that would attempt to take power by the use of force."
In order to ensure that power remained in the hands of the two clans, the meeting directed that Elly Karuhanga take the responsibility of ensuring that 80 per cent of their children were educated to a level that would ensure their sustaining power. He was instructed to send their children for studies abroad in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa and India. A Mr Kirimani was charged with educating the daughters and sons internally, especially to ensure that he put up special school in Nyabushozi to cater for the interests of the group. It was at this juncture that Sam Kutesa suggested upgrading Bunyanyeru Settlement School from Nursery to Secondary School.
Mr. Elly Rwakakoko interjected the chairman's speech by introducing a new chapter of how Museveni could be succeeded after his term of office. On this point, Mrs. Jovia Salim Saleh begged the members to ensure that after Museveni, the next president must come from the Basita clan. She said that she had done a lot for the Basita and taken many risks for the last 20 years and therefore it was important that the Basita take charge of the resources of the country. The members resolved that she was not in order.
Mzee Ephrann Rusimira suggested that the new president should be the brother to the president if the master plan was to succeed. He warned that if the Bairu and non-Bahima clans got to know about the action plan, it would fail to take off.
Mzee Rutamwebwa suggested that Salim Saleh (Museveni's half-brother) should go back to school if the objectives of their action were to be met. It was unanimously agreed that Salim Saleh had to get a A' Level Certificate of Education.
He also suggested that someone close, possibly the son of the president should be groomed to take over the reigns from Salim Saleh. This too was agreed on and the group begged Museveni to look around for a boy who would be groomed.
The group also brainstormed about how to destroy those who would gang up to take power from the clan. Death was suggested for the potential leaders who would attempt to fail the master plan.
The group deliberated that they should:-
a) Deny other people access to economic resources through:
(i) Overtaxing individuals and companies, which don't belong to their' people and protect those that belong to them.
(ii) Destroy co-operative societies and unions.
(iii) Sell parastatals and public enterprises that those not with the Bahima and Basita clans don't gain from.
(iv) Commercialize education and health services.
c) Destroy the economic, military and political will of Northern and Eastern Uganda.
d) Ensure that a non-political Kabaka of Buganda is installed on the Buganda throne, while at the same time promoting disunity among the Baganda.
e) Unite all the Bahima in the Great Lakes Region and awaken their political, military and economic process.
f) Participate in the exploitation of economic resources of rich neighbouring states.
g) Making strategic alliances with whatever power in the world that will enhance achievement of this plan.
Members recommended that all those given responsibility must ensure the achievement of the objectives. Museveni was mandated to appoint committees or individuals to implement the different aspects of the master plan. It is quite clear from the points made above that many of these plans have been fulfilled. However disagreement among the two clans has led to some in this group to approach the press with a copy of the deliberations.
The following people attended this meeting:-
NAME & HOME AREA
1. Mr.Y.K. Museveni - Nyabushozi
2. Mrs. J. Museveni - Nyabushozi
3. Mr. Elly Rwakakoko - Ruhama, Ntungano
4. Mr. Eric Kabango - Rukungiri
5. Akwandanaho Salim Saleh- Nyabushozi
6. Mr. Sam Kutesa - Nyabushozi
7. Mr. Abel Katemowe - Rukungiri
8. Canon Rwabugaire Buyania - Rukungiri
9. Mrs. Rwabugaire Buyanja - Rukungiri
10. John Wycliff Karigire - Ntungamo
11. Mrs. Karazarwe Ntungamo
12. Mrs. Rwakakoko Ruhama - Ntungamo
13. Bob Kabonero - Ntungamo
14. Mr. Jim Muhwezi - Rukungiri
15. Mrs. Susan Muhwezi - Rukungiri
16. Mr. Jotham Tumwesigye - Nyabushozi, Mbarara
17. Mr. John Nasasira - Kazo
18. Mzee Nyindombi - Kebisoni
19. Mrs. Faith Bitamurire- Kebisoni
20. Mugisha Muhwezi Nyindobi - Kebisoni
21. Mrs. Jane Mwesigye - Sembabule
22. Mrs. Mwesigye - Sembalue
23. Mr. Kamugisha - Kebisoni
24. Mrs. Kamugisha - Kebisoni
25. Mr. John Kazoora - Ntungamo
26. Mr. Christopher Kiyombo - Ntungamo
27. Major Henry Tumukunde - Buyanja Kitojo
28. Mrs. Tumukunde - Buyanja Kitojo
29. Mzee Rwakanengere - Kashari Rubaya
30. Jolly Rwakanengere - Kampala, Rubaya
31. Mrs Salim Saleh - Nyabushozi
32. Rev. Kajangye Buyanja - Kitojo
33. Aronda Nyakeirima Buyanja -Kitojo
34. Mzee Mpira Nuyanja - Nyakibungo
35. Charles Muhhozi Kifaburaza - Kagunga
36. Justus Katono - Karishunga Buyanja
37. Elly Karuhanga Nyabushozi - Mbarara
38. Mzee Kafumusi - Ibanda
39. Sikora B.K. Buhweju - Buyaruguru
40. P. Kaitirima - Sembabule
41. Mathew Rukikakire - Sembabule
42. Mrs. Rukikare Kabura - Rukungiri
43. Sam Baingana - Rukungiri
44. Mrs Baingana - Rukungiri
45. Mzee Amos Nzei - Kabale
46. Mrs. Nzei - Kabale
47. Mzee Rutamwebwa - Nyabushozi
48. Mrs. Mary Rutamwebwa - Nyabushozi
49. Rev. Canon Sam Rubunda - Nyabushozi
50. Mrs. Jennifer Kutesa - Sembabule/Ntungamo
51. Eriya Kategaya - Rwampara
52. Jovia Kankunda - Mbarara
53. Mzee Rwakiturate - Nyabushozi
54. Rwabantu Rusheyi - Ntungamo
55. Col. Chefali - Kazo
56. Col. Kazini J. - Nyabushozi
57. Major Kashaka - Nyabushozi
58. Jero Bwende - Nyabushozi
59. Augustine Ruzindana Rubaya - Ntungamo
60. Ephraim Rusimirwa - Nyakabuye
61. Mzee Kaino - Nyakininga
62. Rev. Rujoki - Nshwerunkuye
63. Mrs. J. Rujoki - Nshwerunkuye
64. Prince John Barigye - Kashari
65. Kanyesigye Barigye Junior - Kashari
66. Kirimani - Nyabushozi
67. Fred Kanyabubale - Kitojo Buyanja
68. Kakurungu - Kitojo
69. Captain Biraro - Nyabushozi
70. Mrs. Nasasira Kazo
71. Herbert Rwabwende - Kashari
72. Odrek Rwabwogo - Nyabushozi
73. Hope Kivegere - President's Office
74. Bishop Justus Ruhindi - Rukugiri
75. Justin Sabiiti - Mbarara
76. Maama Rubindi - North Kigezi Diocese
majid alemi junior. in bc. - Exposed NRM & M7 Secrets Plan On Westnilers
Re: this message i forwarded under united nations convenson charter of 1942/45 citizens right to know act. international law. to all community of nations U.N. members including uganda. based on what is the article, we the voice of voiceless appeals to united nations secretary general. to take and present this case to the united nations security council to aprove united nations peace keeping forces to westnile region. which faced war for long time. their properties destroyed, no power electricity in region,roads are in bad shape, bridges are all damaged needs repair, education system are poor, unemployments problems are high, the present government dont care about the people in westnile region. based on all major problems facing the the people in the region. we request united nations international protection branch to take charge of the region. on humaniterian cause. people in westnile was refugees for many years, now they are returnees. they have nothing, united nations to rebuil...
Sewagaba - Even Museveni will fall.
Man proposes and God disposes.God said that,"Iam the one who frustrates the ways of wise men."Even Hitler had a dream that his Third Reich would last for a thousand years, but only lasted for twelve years. All leadership comes from God.God knows the day and hour Museveni will get out of power. Milton Obote had the same ambitions, but he ran away one night without saying bye bye to the Ugandan people. Even Museveni will fall and never rise again, because he is a liar, a thief and a hypocrite.
Anonymous
:evil: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Evil-Toothy.gif>
Museveni is making Ugandans to suffer on his behalf but he should remember how
he came to power ,and he should remember that it's the baganda who brought him
to power so he should dictate accorddingly and hope one time he will go back
successfully
wanted - security puposes
i think this not a dream, when you look what is happening in all activitise as planed, they are working. employment, education,death, disruption of tribes,security and on top of that corruption is rampant in nrm reign due to diplomatic immunity....sit back & we fall....come 2gether we shall revive the glory of uganda. ''FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY'' UG as THE PEARL OF AFRICA.....FOR the case of a NRM ''for me my tribe and relatives and clans mate'' as thier motto :angry-red. :angry-red: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Angry-Red.gif> :pirate: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Pirate.gif> :angry: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Angry.gif>
wanted - security puposes
i think this not a dream, when you look what is happening in all activitise as planed, they are working. employment, education,death, disruption of tribes,security and on top of that corruption is rampant in nrm reign due to diplomatic immunity....sit back & we fall....come 2gether we shall revive the glory of uganda. ''FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY'' UG as THE PEARL OF AFRICA.....FOR the case of a NRM ''for me my tribe and relatives and clans mate'' as thier motto :angry-red. :angry-red: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Angry-Red.gif> :pirate: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Pirate.gif> :angry: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Angry.gif>
grace nalubega kalema - human rights activist
:ooo: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Oooo.gif>
Its such a pity that greed e
ncrunched their heart they (Nrm)owners i call owners because their resons
to stay is not that they have love and mercy for millions of citizens suffering
with unemployment,poor education skill ,corruption every where museveni would
insist to stay and we opity to go and leave in others countries inorder to earn
a living
king concerned - concerned
king concerned - concerned
It is only a matter of a few years that this govt goes down. we shall neva
allow this kind of domination. am particularly alarmed by the big numbers of the
same clan or tribe in makerere and other higher institutions of learning (around
60 per cent). a single county in that area has over 500 students in makerere,
yetthe whole of karamoja, bugweri, kumam, as tribes and oothers may not even
raise such a number. this is so so unfair :angry: <http://www.theugandacitizen.com/components/com_comment/joscomment/emoticons/modern/images/Angry.gif>
James Arinaitwe - MD POSTA
Hi, am so surprised about this, and this further confirms that MUSEVENI IS NOT A UGANDAN, but A RWANDASE.
honestly u have made us banyankole and banyarwanda suffer in the future, because the truth is u can not stay in power forever, so the day u will go is the day we shall start suffering,
we are going to be slaughtered like goats.
and u are forgeting that this is life and one time u will die, though am worried that u will die of hard disease like cancer of course mixed with your HIV/AIDS. and your children are going suffer too.
u have impregnated so manypeople's women, all this is on record.
but your days are numbered, God is seeing all
James
http://www.theugandacitizen.com/news/66-oureditor.html
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Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Yoweri Museveni is the African genocide machine
Peoples' Media:
Dictator Museveni has since 1997 been involved in the systematic destabilisation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the resultant horrific civil war. This involvement continues to this day.As early as 1992 'The Guardian' reported that:
Yoweri Museveni is the African genocide machine
Peoples' Media:
Dictator Museveni has since 1997 been involved in the systematic destabilisation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the resultant horrific civil war. This involvement continues to this day.As early as 1992 'The Guardian' reported that:
"In the six years since Yoweri Museveni took power, his government has managed to alienate three of its five neighbours. Relations remain good with only Tanzania and Congo DRC." Museveni sparked off Africa's most tragic humanitarian crisis when it subsequently sought to destabilise Congo DRC. In 1997, the London 'Times' reported that "Uganda ... backed an uprising by rebels in eastern Congo DRC who's aim was to drive the Zairean Army from the region and bring down President Mobutu"
In 2001, Human Rights Watch documented this involvement, stating that Museveni had "fuelled political and ethnic strife in eastern Congo with disastrous consequences for the local population."This had included stirring up ethnic violence, murdering civilians and "laying waste their villages."
Human Rights Watch had also previously noted that Uganda was responsible for the murder of large numbers of civilians in north- east Congo.This was also confirmed by Congolese human rights organisations.In late 2002, Uganda was subsequently again accused of deliberately seeking to "provoke ethnic conflict, as in the past" - actions which the United Nations warned risked genocide in the region. In July 2003, a Human Rights Watch report, '"Covered in Blood": Ethnically Targeted Violence', stated, for example, that Uganda was involved in the ethnically-motivated murder of several thousand Congolese civilians in the Ituri area of north-eastern Uganda. Uganda continues to arm Congolese gunmen responsible for horrific acts of terrorism - acts every bit as horrific as those attributed to the LRA in northern Uganda. The Museveni regime was also accused of militarily and logistically assisting the UNITA rebel movement in Angola.
Additionally, the UN has repeatedly stated that Uganda was criminally and systematically stealing Congo's resources. A Human Rights Watch report also noted that Ugandan forces "have blatantly exploited Congolese wealth for their own benefit and that of their superiors at home."
The hypocrisy of Museveni's public bleating about neighbouring states allegedly destabilising his government is clear.
The International Community's Responsibility for Continuing Conflict in Uganda.
The international community itself shares a partial responsibility for the continuing war in northern Uganda. This responsibility is at least two-fold. Western governments continue to project Uganda as a success story when the reality is that it is wracked by political turmoil and Uganda's economy is artificially buoyed by aid. A Refugees International report has observed, for example, that according to one estimate donors provide about 53 percent of Uganda's budget. They also cited a UN official as saying: "[D]onors don't want to portray Uganda as another African country that is going down the drain. Because they give so much to Uganda, donors have a political motivation to make sure that it is seen as a success story."
This pretence ignores, in addition to the conflict in northern Uganda, Museveni's responsibility for the deaths of millions of civilians in Congo. The international community, by facilitating a military rather than a peaceful solution, also bears a direct responsibility for prolonging conflict.
A UN news report, for example, has noted: "Some aid agencies working in the north have criticised the international community for allowing Museveni's government to keep the humanitarian crisis in the north on the back burner ... For example, they have expressed concern over the government's recent decision to re-allocate 23 percent of funds from other ministries to defence, seen by some as indicating a preference for a military solution over a peaceful settlement in the north."
We call
upon all our friends around the world to publish the crimes of Yoweri Museveni
and also educate their local communities about the african
Polpot.
COMMENTS:
Museveni in Congo and Sudan:
The former commander of the Ugandan People's Defense Forces (UPDF), Gen. James Kazini, a nephew of Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni, was at the center of charges against the Ugandan army of wholesale looting in Uganda and southern Sudan. As EIR reported in its last issue (see pp. 58-65), Kazini was also caught in a covert caper to smuggle arms to the Sudanese People's Liberation Army of John Garang, operating in cahoots with Roger Winter of the U.S. Committee on Refugees, Daniel Eiffe of Norwegian Peoples Aid, and notorious gun-smugglers Michael Harari, formerly Israeli Mossad station chief for South America, and Alberto P. Herreros, formerly a prime contract for the illegal George Bush-Oliver North Contra supply operation of the 1980s.
The question now being raised is whether the covert supply of arms was being paid for by booty gathered by the Ugandan Armed Forces, which invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo on Aug. 2, and followed that with an invasion of Sudan in September. According to some sources, the money gained from the sale of the gold, timber, and diamonds, being looted out of Congo and southern Sudan, was put into offshore bank accounts, and then used to buy the arms and other supplies to keep the wars going.
According to a South African intelligence source, Kazini was in command of the invasion of the Congo, the source having accompanied him during the campaign in western Congo, which failed. Kazini's presence in Congo is not just military, but is also for business-a fact that came to light when Kazini's brother, Col. Jet Mwebaze, was killedin a crash on Sept. 26 of a private plane, apparently on its way to the Congo. Soon after the rescue of some of the survivors of the crash, news began to leak out that pointed to far more than a technical failure or weather problems:
The pilot of the plane was found with a bullet in his head.
Colonel Mwebaze was reportedly also shot before or after the plane crashed.
More than $1 million in cash was found on the plane.
Other passengers on the plane included Asian businessman Arif Mulfi and Israeli businessman Zeev Shif, a partner in the Eforte Corp., a company of Salim Saleh, half-brother to Dictator Museveni and Museveni's top military adviser.
Speculation was rife throughout Uganda that the plane was going to the Congo for a pick-up of gold in areas under the occupation of Ugandan troops.
Corroboration of this idea soon came from an unexpected source: an article appearing in the Oct. 12 issue of New Times, the semi-official newspaper of the Rwandan government, a military satellite of Museveni's Uganda. The paper reported a "growing rift" between the Rwandan and Ugandan forces now occupying eastern portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, blaming the tensions on a "clique" in the UPDF centered on Kazini and Salim Sateh. Titled "Saleh Reducing the UPDF to a Thieving Gang," the article said, "When the war against [Congo President Laurent] Kabila broke out in the Congo, this clique saw it as a windfall-literally as a goldmine . . .. The clique now wreaking havoc in the Congo includes Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh, Brigadier Kazini, Colonel Kerim, Major Ikondere, and the late Lt. Col. Jet Mwebaze. The list reads like a who's who of the UPDF's top convicts."
The article charged, "A brave and personable officer, Colonel Mwebaze died on a gold mission in the company of elements of a murky international gold- and money-laundering syndicate, heading for the part of the Congo under the control of his own brother, Brigadier Kazini, in the service of General Salim Saleh, the overall warlord." The article was written by a Rwandan veteran of both the Rwandan Patriotic Army and Museveni's National Resistance Army.
The article further excoriated Salim Saleh for his involvement in privatization in Uganda, saying that he took a $1.5- million commission on a recent purchase of defective army helicopters.
The paper prompted a visit to Kigali, Rwanda from Salim Saleh, and a trip to Kampala, Uganda to meet Museveni by Rwandan Defense Minister Paul Kagame.
Salim Sateh admitted to the press that he was retrieving business operations lost with Kabila: "I used to have business with Kabila, but that is now lost," Salim told New Vision. He also said that the Israeli businessman on Jet's plane was in the gold business for him. He also attacked the Rwandans for "washing the dirty linen in public," but said that the rift had been heated. "We have now established a new code of conduct for smooth running of our operations."
Salim Saleh has also come under scrutiny from the Ugandan Parliament for allegations that he is the hidden buyer of the Ugandan Commercial Bank, which is being privatized by the government.
Before taking charge of the invasion of the Congo, Brigadier Kazini was commander of the fourth division of the UPDF, and in charge of operations in the north against the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and in support of the Sudanese 56.
As the mystery surrounding Mwebeze's death was still swirling around, an article appeared in the Ugandan opposition newspaper, which quoted an unnamed official of the SPLA complaining that Jet had also been in charge of a company that was fleecing southern Sudan of its resources of gold and timber. "Jet was the managing director of the New Sudan Trading Corporation (NSTC), which was the company formed by the SPLA to help in facilitating trade in areas under its control," the SPLA official said. He charged that the company was in fact dominated by Ugandan army officers, government ministers, and businessmen. The SPLA official said that in return for their share in the company, the Ugandan government permitted the SPLA to have free rein in northern Uganda to recruit guerrillas and to conduct private businesses, especially trade in cattle.
The looting of southern Sudan and eastern Congo by the Ugandan military clique led by Museveni proceeds despite the fact that Uganda is being aided by outside sources as well. In hearings on July 29, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice, an enthusiastic supporter of Museveni, reported that the United States provided Uganda with $3.85 million in military equipment last year, and will likely do so again in 1998, in addition to an International Military Education and Training Program. Under questioning, she admitted that the Ugandan military had "a lot of problems" of corruption and lack of discipline, which the government is not dealing with successfully.
The privatized looting is also evidently required despite a 26% increase in the Ugandan military budget announced for the 1998-99 budget by Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development Gerald Sendaula-an increase which has caused protest among parliamentarians who represent Uganda's service-starved people. But Museveni was defended in this action by no less than the World Bank representative in Kampala, Randolph Harris, who proclaimed that the "security threats" to Uganda cannot be ignored.
Money to feed the war effort continues to roll in. The International Monetary Fund announced on Nov. 11 that it will hand over a $46 million loan to support Uganda's 1998-99 "economic program."
It is the conjecture of Ugandans that most of this money, including a recent grant from the British government of ?67 million, will be siphoned off to pay for Museveni's military operations in the region, wars which the Ugandan people do not support.
An additional question is: How much of a slice do Museveni and his relatives, including Salim Saleh, Kazini, and others who now dominate the Ugandan Armed Forces, get from the booty-grabbing and other money flows? No matter what the size of the slice, however, the British Commonwealth extraction companies that follow in the wake of the military triumphs of Museveni's mercenary army, will take the biggest share of all.
Posted by: by Linda de Hoyos | Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Saleh's wife sued
Tuesday, 15 February 2005
A religious organization, Uganda Brothers Christian Instruction and two others have filed a suit against Jovia Saleh seeking cancellation of a land title.
The plaintiffs through Bamwite Kakubo and Company advocates allege that Akandwanaho wife to Major General Salim Saleh fraudulently obtained the land title " Nabigirwa Swamp".
They allege that they are the rightful owners of the land, which they purchased from one Petro Lukonge in 1976.
The group says they had developed the land by growing crops as well as construction of buildings for their residence.
They allege that Jovia came with a fake land title and started construction of a building after destroying their crops.
They pray court to restrain her from taking over the land as well as stopping her construction.
Posted by: By Gertrude Nampewo | Tuesday, February 15, 2005
COMMENTS:
Museveni in Congo and Sudan:
The former commander of the Ugandan People's Defense Forces (UPDF), Gen. James Kazini, a nephew of Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni, was at the center of charges against the Ugandan army of wholesale looting in Uganda and southern Sudan. As EIR reported in its last issue (see pp. 58-65), Kazini was also caught in a covert caper to smuggle arms to the Sudanese People's Liberation Army of John Garang, operating in cahoots with Roger Winter of the U.S. Committee on Refugees, Daniel Eiffe of Norwegian Peoples Aid, and notorious gun-smugglers Michael Harari, formerly Israeli Mossad station chief for South America, and Alberto P. Herreros, formerly a prime contract for the illegal George Bush-Oliver North Contra supply operation of the 1980s.
The question now being raised is whether the covert supply of arms was being paid for by booty gathered by the Ugandan Armed Forces, which invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo on Aug. 2, and followed that with an invasion of Sudan in September. According to some sources, the money gained from the sale of the gold, timber, and diamonds, being looted out of Congo and southern Sudan, was put into offshore bank accounts, and then used to buy the arms and other supplies to keep the wars going.
According to a South African intelligence source, Kazini was in command of the invasion of the Congo, the source having accompanied him during the campaign in western Congo, which failed. Kazini's presence in Congo is not just military, but is also for business-a fact that came to light when Kazini's brother, Col. Jet Mwebaze, was killedin a crash on Sept. 26 of a private plane, apparently on its way to the Congo. Soon after the rescue of some of the survivors of the crash, news began to leak out that pointed to far more than a technical failure or weather problems:
The pilot of the plane was found with a bullet in his head.
Colonel Mwebaze was reportedly also shot before or after the plane crashed.
More than $1 million in cash was found on the plane.
Other passengers on the plane included Asian businessman Arif Mulfi and Israeli businessman Zeev Shif, a partner in the Eforte Corp., a company of Salim Saleh, half-brother to Dictator Museveni and Museveni's top military adviser.
Speculation was rife throughout Uganda that the plane was going to the Congo for a pick-up of gold in areas under the occupation of Ugandan troops.
Corroboration of this idea soon came from an unexpected source: an article appearing in the Oct. 12 issue of New Times, the semi-official newspaper of the Rwandan government, a military satellite of Museveni's Uganda. The paper reported a "growing rift" between the Rwandan and Ugandan forces now occupying eastern portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, blaming the tensions on a "clique" in the UPDF centered on Kazini and Salim Sateh. Titled "Saleh Reducing the UPDF to a Thieving Gang," the article said, "When the war against [Congo President Laurent] Kabila broke out in the Congo, this clique saw it as a windfall-literally as a goldmine . . .. The clique now wreaking havoc in the Congo includes Maj. Gen. Salim Saleh, Brigadier Kazini, Colonel Kerim, Major Ikondere, and the late Lt. Col. Jet Mwebaze. The list reads like a who's who of the UPDF's top convicts."
The article charged, "A brave and personable officer, Colonel Mwebaze died on a gold mission in the company of elements of a murky international gold- and money-laundering syndicate, heading for the part of the Congo under the control of his own brother, Brigadier Kazini, in the service of General Salim Saleh, the overall warlord." The article was written by a Rwandan veteran of both the Rwandan Patriotic Army and Museveni's National Resistance Army.
The article further excoriated Salim Saleh for his involvement in privatization in Uganda, saying that he took a $1.5- million commission on a recent purchase of defective army helicopters.
The paper prompted a visit to Kigali, Rwanda from Salim Saleh, and a trip to Kampala, Uganda to meet Museveni by Rwandan Defense Minister Paul Kagame.
Salim Sateh admitted to the press that he was retrieving business operations lost with Kabila: "I used to have business with Kabila, but that is now lost," Salim told New Vision. He also said that the Israeli businessman on Jet's plane was in the gold business for him. He also attacked the Rwandans for "washing the dirty linen in public," but said that the rift had been heated. "We have now established a new code of conduct for smooth running of our operations."
Salim Saleh has also come under scrutiny from the Ugandan Parliament for allegations that he is the hidden buyer of the Ugandan Commercial Bank, which is being privatized by the government.
Before taking charge of the invasion of the Congo, Brigadier Kazini was commander of the fourth division of the UPDF, and in charge of operations in the north against the rebel Lord's Resistance Army and in support of the Sudanese 56.
As the mystery surrounding Mwebeze's death was still swirling around, an article appeared in the Ugandan opposition newspaper, which quoted an unnamed official of the SPLA complaining that Jet had also been in charge of a company that was fleecing southern Sudan of its resources of gold and timber. "Jet was the managing director of the New Sudan Trading Corporation (NSTC), which was the company formed by the SPLA to help in facilitating trade in areas under its control," the SPLA official said. He charged that the company was in fact dominated by Ugandan army officers, government ministers, and businessmen. The SPLA official said that in return for their share in the company, the Ugandan government permitted the SPLA to have free rein in northern Uganda to recruit guerrillas and to conduct private businesses, especially trade in cattle.
The looting of southern Sudan and eastern Congo by the Ugandan military clique led by Museveni proceeds despite the fact that Uganda is being aided by outside sources as well. In hearings on July 29, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice, an enthusiastic supporter of Museveni, reported that the United States provided Uganda with $3.85 million in military equipment last year, and will likely do so again in 1998, in addition to an International Military Education and Training Program. Under questioning, she admitted that the Ugandan military had "a lot of problems" of corruption and lack of discipline, which the government is not dealing with successfully.
The privatized looting is also evidently required despite a 26% increase in the Ugandan military budget announced for the 1998-99 budget by Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development Gerald Sendaula-an increase which has caused protest among parliamentarians who represent Uganda's service-starved people. But Museveni was defended in this action by no less than the World Bank representative in Kampala, Randolph Harris, who proclaimed that the "security threats" to Uganda cannot be ignored.
Money to feed the war effort continues to roll in. The International Monetary Fund announced on Nov. 11 that it will hand over a $46 million loan to support Uganda's 1998-99 "economic program."
It is the conjecture of Ugandans that most of this money, including a recent grant from the British government of ?67 million, will be siphoned off to pay for Museveni's military operations in the region, wars which the Ugandan people do not support.
An additional question is: How much of a slice do Museveni and his relatives, including Salim Saleh, Kazini, and others who now dominate the Ugandan Armed Forces, get from the booty-grabbing and other money flows? No matter what the size of the slice, however, the British Commonwealth extraction companies that follow in the wake of the military triumphs of Museveni's mercenary army, will take the biggest share of all.
Posted by: by Linda de Hoyos | Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Saleh's wife sued
Tuesday, 15 February 2005
A religious organization, Uganda Brothers Christian Instruction and two others have filed a suit against Jovia Saleh seeking cancellation of a land title.
The plaintiffs through Bamwite Kakubo and Company advocates allege that Akandwanaho wife to Major General Salim Saleh fraudulently obtained the land title " Nabigirwa Swamp".
They allege that they are the rightful owners of the land, which they purchased from one Petro Lukonge in 1976.
The group says they had developed the land by growing crops as well as construction of buildings for their residence.
They allege that Jovia came with a fake land title and started construction of a building after destroying their crops.
They pray court to restrain her from taking over the land as well as stopping her construction.
Posted by: By Gertrude Nampewo | Tuesday, February 15, 2005
