North Kivu: MONUSCO helicopter under fire from M23 Rumangabo
MONUSCO helicopter, Kisangani, December 2010
A MONUSCO helicopter was attacked on Friday, October 11 in the afternoon by shooting from the positions of the rebel Movement of 23 March (M23) in the region of Rumangabo in North Kivu.The head of MONUSCO Martin Kobler strongly condemns this act and said that air missions of the UN mission will continue .
Unfortunately for Colonel Vianney Kazarama his story is contradicted by his colleague Comrade Amani Kabasha who is the head of the " M23 Media and Communications department.
"The M23 rebels will not exclude MONUSCO from Congolese airspace . We will continue to make every effort to protect the civilian population, including by force if necessary " , said the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations.
For its part, the M23 has acknowledged that there had been a "major incident".
This was entirely predictable. M23 made threats several days ago about shooting down white helicopters.
" 01. This Tuesday, October 1, 2013, two helicopters painted white colors and marked A flew at very low altitude, our space for more than three hours from the southern town of KIBUMBA through those RUGARI, Bukima, Runyoni, Ntamugenga TONGO to come out;"
Note the use of " our space " M23 are quite deluded when it comes to the concept of sovereignty.
"The helicopter flew at low altitude camp in Rumangabo to 16 h00 '(14h, UT), whereas usually it passes ten miles away as the crow flies" , said the spokesman M23 military, Lieutenant Colonel Vianney Kazarama, quoted by AFP.
" 04. It is therefore a camouflage under the label UN enemies gear to deceive the attention of our Army to ensure coverage of military reconnaissance, including surprise attacks."
So it turns out that it was a UN helicopter that was cunningly disguised as a UN helicopter.
He said that the soldiers thought it was a FARDC plane before the shooting.
"When I questioned (M23), they said they thought that it was FARDC commandos (government army) not MONUSCO who wanted to start a fight, then M23 fired with machine guns " said Lieutenant Colonel Vianney Kazarama, who did not know if the helicopter had been damaged or not.
For him, there was an error on both sides " both MONUSCO and M23."
Except that it wasn't an error on the part of M23 and once again they are hoisted by their own petard.
" As a result, management of our Movement warns those responsible for acts of provocation. They are therefore warned that in case of recurrence, clear and unequivocal instruction are those of our army to ensure the immediate destruction and without warning of these deadly weapons."
Remember this is from an official M23 press release dated October 2 2013.
"According to my analysis from the field, I think the pilot made a navigational error and arrived at the Rumangabo camp" , said military spokesman M23.
According to my analysis of the M23 press release and the radio Okapi report M23 are lying through their teeth, but I guess given they are loyal to Kigali ( Rwanda ) that is no surprise at all. I hope MONUSCO responds to this incident by killing the bastards.
M23 was formed in May 2012. It calls for the implementation of the agreement signed on 23 March 2009 between the CNDP of Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese government. The UN regularly accuses Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the rebels. Something both these countries deny.
Hat Tip: Charly Carolüs Kasereka
