Good People,
This is the opportunity for President Kabila
of Congo to put all efforts to work hardest to drive off M23 out of Congo.
The
UN Mission must stop but and if, all that they must do is support Congo to be
free from the illegal attacks, invasion and occupation of M23 in Congo.
UN cannot play dilly dallying on support for the Congo Government attack
on Tutsis M23. UN must understand that the rightful place for M23
is NOT in the Congo. Bosco’s idea to form Tutsis
M23 terror gang had support from Kagame and Museveni and therefore, Boscos’
being in ICC Hague is enough proof of eating the pudding. For peace to prevail
in Congo, M23 must leave Congo and go back to Rwanda.
Congo has Democratic rights supported by the
International Treaty for Human Rights to be freed and live a stable, dignified
and honorable lifestyle away from outside intimidation and interferences so they
are safe to engage in peaceful development agendas to progress their economic
advancements for prosperity.
UN
must stop sympathizing with M23 in order to defeat and defuse Congo Government
from pounding on M23. M23 must be forced out of Congo back to
Rwanda.
The
reaction from Kagame and Museveni on the defeat of the M23 is proving reaction
from UN Ban-Ki-Moon for being biased on Congo success. Because of
this, all people of the world must stand with the people of Congo and condemn
UNs mixed reaction on Congo invasion by M23. This is throwing bad
light on what UN Ban-Ki-moon is capable of doing for Africa in terms of rights
policy for Africa.
Question in the
mind of many people remain,
“for how long should Congo endure extermination, pain and suffering in the watch
of the UN and the world?”..........If Congo was a European Nation, would this
have happened to them??? If Congo was all Whites, would they have
been innocently killed and raped with their livelihood destroyed and minerals
plundered for free and taken away by force without proper referendum
collaboration with clear understanding in laid down agreement stating fair
Trading share of "Give and
Take".....??
Why
should Black people be ganged against like dangerous criminals and denied rights
and are treated like lesser human beings.........where, even their Natural
mineral wealth seems like Blacks have no right to share fairly and benefit from,
which is the reason for creating Rwandese Tutsi M23 to stage war in
Congo......
Shall we sit and watch M23 invasion
on Congo sparked by engineered selfish greed of conspiracies for looting and
stealing Congo's mineral under an organized terror group of Tutsi M23 gangs
without petitioning for intervention? Shouldn’t our US President
Obama intervene to engage the world to do something to help Congo people when UN
is meandering and playing a roller-coster ping-pong biasness on Congo???
Should we be silent like nothing is happening in Congo???
Is this how we shall gain favor and achieve
Peace in the world and Unity for common good of all, when Africans are rotting
away wasted by the greedy rich and powerful ??? Is
this a fair justice???
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson &
Executive Director for
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa
USA
email: jbatec@yahoo.com
Protesters in eastern Congo criticize UN for voicing concern over reports of rights abuses
By Nick Long, The Associated PressJuly 19,
2013
Residents supporting Congo's army gather to protest against President Joseph Kabila and the United Nations mission in Congo for a perceived lack of support in the fight against M23 rebels, in Goma, Congo, Thursday, July 18, 2013. The M23 rebels, who seized Goma last November but eventually withdrew, now seem to be heavily outgunned by the army, which pounded their positions with helicopters, tanks and artillery.(AP Photo/Alain Wandimoyi)
GOMA, Congo - 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.
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.
DRC troops battle M23 rebels
July 16 2013 at 06:18pm
By Phil Moore
By Phil Moore
REUTERS
File photo: M23 rebel fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Related Stories
Goma, DR Congo / North Kivu - The Congolese army on Tuesday battled M23
rebels in the country's volatile east, a day after at least 130 people were
killed in the deadliest clashes in months.
Army spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli said Democratic Republic of Congo
forces were gaining ground in the battle close to the North Kivu capital Goma,
as they sought to “wipe out M23”, a movement launched in April last year by
Tutsi defectors from the army.
The United Nations has warned its troops in the flashpoint city of Goma Ä
which include a recently-deployed offensive brigade Ä
were on high alert and ready to intervene in case of attack.
Goma Ä which was occupied by M23 for 10 days late last year before the
rebels withdrew under international pressure Ä lies in a region rich in minerals
including gold and coltan, a key component in cell phones and other electronic
equipment.
The commander of M23 operations in the area, Colonel Youssouf Boneza, told
AFP by telephone that “M23 is holding its positions in spite of heavy shelling”.
An AFP photographer in Kanyarucinya, a town 15 kilometres (nine miles) from
Goma, reported a heavy army presence, but no clashes. However, he heard two
rocket explosions to the north.
Both the army spokesman and residents in the region reported a lull in
fighting and heavy weapons fire by late Tuesday afternoon.
Each side has accused the other of starting the fighting on Sunday, and the
government has revived an allegation that M23 is receiving support from Rwandan
troops in the heaviest clashes in months.
“For several weeks the M23 rebels and their Rwandan allies have been
reinforcing their positions,” said government spokesman Lambert Mende on Monday.
Neighbouring Rwanda strongly reject all charges of support for M23.
“Our forces have inflicted very heavy losses on the M23
fighters, 120 have been killed and 12 captured,” for the loss of 10
government soldiers, Mende said.
Casualty figures could not be independently verified. The army was keeping
journalists away from the battle zone and M23 has so far issued no toll.
In March, the UN Security Council decided to boost the UN mission in DR
Congo (MONUSCO) with an offensive brigade of 3 000 men who were given an
unprecedented mandate to neutralise and disarm rebel groups operating in eastern
DR Congo.
MONUSCO “has put its troops on high alert and stands ready to take any
necessary measures, including the use of lethal force, to protect civilians,” UN
spokesman Martin Nesirky announced in New York.
“The mission says that any attempt by the M23 to advance toward Goma will
be considered a direct threat to civilians,” he said, adding that the rebels had
reinforced their positions around the city with heavy artillery and an armoured
car.
About two-thirds of the new force, which comprises troops from Malawi,
South Africa and Tanzania, have arrived. It is expected to be active within the
next few weeks.
Late Monday, Rwanda's army spokesman, General Joseph Nzabamwita, accused
the Congolese army and UN forces of shelling two Rwandan border villages in what
he called “a provocative and deliberate act by FARDC and MONUSCO”.
Neither the Congolese army nor the UN mission were available to comment on
the allegation. - Sapa-AFP
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Rumour Has It: The Importance of Gossip in the Battle for Goma
With fighting between the Congolese army and M23 heating up, the Goma
rumour mill is causing trouble for the UN and President Kabila.
Article | 19 July 2013 - 5:18pm | By Joseph Kay
Motorcyclists follow Colonel Mamadou yelling encouragement.
Photograph by Joseph Kay.
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo:
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.
Think Africa Press welcomes inquiries regarding the republication of its
articles. If you would like to republish this or any other article for re-print,
syndication or educational purposes, please contact:editor@thinkafricapress.com
For further reading around the subject see:
Congo army helicopters pound M23 rebels near Goma
Tuesday, July 16, 2013 7:59 a.m. CDT
By Chrispin Mvano
MUTAHO, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congolese government
forces supported by helicopters attacked M23 rebel positions near the eastern
city of Goma on Tuesday in a third day of heavy fighting that has forced
hundreds of villagers to flee their homes and raised tensions with Rwanda.
The clashes have also focused attention on the role of the United Nations,
which is deploying a new force with a mandate to attack rebel groups in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo.
The 3,000-strong Intervention Brigade, made up of South African, Tanzania
and Malawian troops, has begun patrols but not yet engaged in combat.
The United Nations has warned it would block any attack on Goma, a city of
one million people bordering Rwanda, which was briefly captured by rebels in
November.
A Reuters reporter in Mutaho, some 7 km (4 miles) northeast of Goma, saw
three army attack helicopters bombard rebel positions in the town of Kibati, 4
km further north of Goma.
"The situation is under control," army spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli
told Reuters in Mutaho. "We were attacked on Sunday and our troops are pushing
the enemy forces back."
Rebels and government troops traded mortar fire on Monday close to the
northern and western outskirts of Goma. The United Nations said that a shell
fell on Tuesday 100 meters (yards) from Goma airport, with no victims
reported.
"This recurrence of fighting close to inhabited areas poses a serious
protection issue for thousands of people and could trigger some drastic
humanitarian consequences," said Moustapha Soumare, U.N. humanitarian
coordinator in Congo.
Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger since the
1990s as foreign-backed rebel groups have fought for control of eastern Congo's
rich deposits of gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt and uranium, destabilizing the
Great Lakes region at the heart of Africa.
Kinshasa repeated claims on Monday that Rwanda was directly backing the
Tutsi-led M23 rebels. A U.N. report said the group recruits in Rwanda with the
aid of sympathetic military officers.
Kigali, which has in the past backed insurgents in Congo, denies any
support for M23. It accused Kinshasa and U.N. troops on Monday of "provocative
and deliberate" shelling of its territory, though it said no-one was
wounded.
ATTACK ON U.N. PATROL
The 17,000-strong U.N. force in Congo (MONUSCO), the world's largest
peacekeeping mission, has been deployed for more than a decade but has failed to
stem a conflict in which millions have died from violence, hunger and disease
since the 1990s.
The arrival of the Intervention Brigade has raised hopes of peace. The
World Bank is offering $1 billion to regional governments to promote development
if they respect a U.N.-brokered February deal not to back rebels in mineral-rich
eastern Congo.
Peace talks between the Congolese government and M23 in Kampala, the
capital of neighboring Uganda, have stalled.
With the United Nations saying it would intervene with "lethal force" to
protect civilians, the Congolese army has encouraged people displaced by the
fighting to return home.
Underscoring the challenge of pacifying eastern Congo, MONUSCO said on
Monday that one of its patrols had been ambushed by Ugandan ADF rebels near the
town of Beni, some 250 km (150 miles) to the north of Goma.
Two U.N. vehicles were damaged in the attack which was fought off by
Nepalese and Jordanian peacekeepers on their way to investigate reports of
rights abuses by the ADF.
The Red Cross estimates that 66,000 Congolese have refugees fled into
Uganda since Thursday after attacks by the ADF, an Islamist group which Kampala
says is allied to elements of Somalia's al Shabaab movement, an al Qaeda-linked
group.
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by
Daniel Flynn; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Conflict in the Kivus: UN Report Leaves Peace Process in Uncertain Position
A leaked United Nations report accusing Rwanda and Uganda of supporting M23
may undermine regional peace talks.
Article | 25 October 2012 - 4:11pm | By Risdel Kasasira
A Congolese army camp set up to protect Goma from the M23. Photograph
by Sylvain Liechti/UN Photo.
Kampala, Uganda:
In a UN report leaked last week, Rwanda and Uganda were accused of
supporting the M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The findings have since become the subject of a diplomatic row and with Uganda’s
credibility as a mediator threatened, the fate of regional peace talks has
become highly uncertain.
In the damning 44-page report, the UN panel of experts accuse Uganda of providing
intelligence and political guidance to the rebels, and Rwanda of directly
commanding the militants. The findings were reportedly corroborated by a number
of intelligence agents, and will likely serve as the basis of sanctions for an arms embargo.
Rwanda and Uganda vehemently deny the allegations, however, with the
Rwandan ambassador to Uganda, Major General Frank Mugambage, describing the
report as malicious and baseless, and Ugandan army spokesperson, Colonel Felix
Kulayigye, telling Think Africa Press Uganda would not benefit from an “unstable
neighbour”. Both countries are now preparing to write a protest note to the UN
Security Council to which Rwanda was recently elected unopposed to a non-permanent seat.
Allegations, surprising and familiar
The M23 rebellion emerged in April 2012, made up of mutineers from the
Congolese army. It is believed the group is made up of soldiers previously part
of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), a rebel group
that was incorporated into the national army in 2009 as part of peace deal. Accusing the government of
reneging on the March 23 peace
treaty, however, former CNDP elements broke away to form M23.
According to the leaked UN report, M23 is being controlled by former
Congolese general Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court for
war crimes, while Sultani Makenga is in charge of operations and coordination
with allied armed groups. Both Ntaganda and Makenga, however, are said to
"receive direct military orders from RDF (Rwandan army) Chief of Defence staff
General Charles Kayonga, who in turn acts on instructions from Minister of
Defence General James Kabarebe”, while Uganda provides political and
intelligence support.
The motivations for Rwandan and Ugandan involvement can only be speculated
but one concern of Kigali’s and
Kampala’s in the region is the continued presence of rebels groups such as the
Allied Democratic Forces, a group opposed to the Ugandan government, and the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a group of former genocidaires opposed to the
government in Rwanda.
Findings implicating Rwanda are not surprising as similar accusations arose
in a UN report in May. But Uganda, which has been mediating talks between M23
and Congolese government, finds itself in unfamiliar territory with allegations
that may undermine its credibility as a neutral arbiter.
The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) has already met four times in
the past four months, most recently in Kampala, to find ways to end the fighting in north Kivu – presided
over by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. Now, Uganda’s ability to maintain
the trust of the DRC government, as well as that of neighbouring countries who
have indicated a willingness to contribute troops to a peacekeeping effort, may
have been severely weakened.
Pushing for peace?
It is uncertain what will happen at subsequent regional talks regarding the
conflict. But Uganda’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Henry Okello Oryem insisted
that in spite of the report, Kampala is continuing to push for peace.
“Uganda, as the chair of ICGLR and a neighbour to the DRC, remains fully
committed to spearhead the regional efforts to ensure security and stability in
the eastern DRC as mandated by the ICGLR heads of state and government,” he
said. “I would urge the M23 to remain calm and collected because the peace
process is still ongoing. Let them cease fire as President Museveni told
them.”
It is quite possible, however, that declining trust in the process could
lead fighting to recommence. On October 20, leaders of the M23 accused Kinshasa
of showing unwillingness to talk and threatened to resume hostilities after
fighting was suspended in August for talks.
M23’s Bishop Runninga
Lugerero said: “We were requested by President Museveni to cease fighting for
peace talks but Kabila does not want direct talks with us. We want dialogue to
ensure peace not war. But if President Kabila refuses to talk, we shall have no
option but fight on.”
Whether this
statement was a genuine reflection of the reality or not, if the brief lull in
hostilities ends, the region’s population will be thrown into day-to-day
uncertainty and instability once more.
Think Africa
Press welcomes inquiries regarding the republication of its articles. If you
would like to republish this or any other article for re-print, syndication or
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