DR Congo. Worst kept secret leaked.

The BBC reports 

Rwanda defence chief leads DR Congo rebels, UN report says

A new UN report has alleged that Rwanda's defence minister is effectively commanding a rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

                  M23 rebels are named after a failed peace agreement signed on 23 March three years ago

The confidential report, leaked to Reuters agency, says Uganda is also backing the M23 rebels, who have been fighting the DRC's army since April.

The document builds on a UN report published in June which accused Rwanda of supporting the insurgents.

Rwanda and Uganda strenuously deny supporting the rebellion.

The International Conference for Great Lakes Region farcical force is starting to look even more shaky now it was fairly obvious to all that the UN experts panel would come to this conclusion. When you have international media organisations interviewing former M23 rebels and being told that they were forcibly recruited in Rwanda. As I said a month ago   
" M23 ? Lets just call them the Rwanda expeditionary force."

The BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN says the latest report by the UN Security Council's Group of Experts provides more details of Rwanda's alleged continued involvement.

It says M23 leaders "receive direct military orders" from Rwanda's chief of defence staff, Gen Charles Kayonga, "who in turn acts on instructions from the minister of defence", Gen James Kabarebe.

It also says Kigali has supplied the M23 with heavy weapons and stepped up recruitment for the group.

The report - seen by Reuters news agency on Tuesday - says army units from Rwanda and Uganda have helped M23 expand its control of territory in the war-torn east of DR Congo.

There can be no doubt anymore that DR Condo's neighbors are actively pursing Congo Balkanization policies. The result is of course being paid by the people of the Eastern DR Congo

Chain of command

"Both Rwanda and Uganda have been supporting M23," according to the 44-page report.

"While Rwandan officials co-ordinated the creation of the rebel movement as well as its major military operations, Uganda's more subtle support to M23 allowed the rebel group's political branch to operate from within Kampala and boost its external relations," it said.

The UN report says former Congolese General Bosco Ntaganda controls the rebellion on the ground and M23 leader Col Sultani Makenga is in charge of co-ordination with allied groups.

But it says M23's de facto chain of command culminates with Rwanda's defence minister.

The world needs to act forcibly against Rwanda now. Hopefully this doesn't get lost in the noise occurring in the USA at the moment.

Gen Ntaganda, who is known as "the Terminator" and is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes, has fought for various militias over the years.

The rebellion started in April, when a militia that had been absorbed into the Congolese army mutinied and went on the rampage in the eastern part of the country.

Since then nearly half a million people have been displaced by fighting between the M23 and the army.

The displaced refugees are having a very difficult time I blogged about Louise Baseme a month ago and since then things have got worse. 

The lack of shelter also means that Baseme lives outside in a 4 foot-square perimeter she's build using small volcanic stones. She sleeps on a homemade mattress made by weaving together bamboo leaves that soften the rocky floor. During the day, she roams the village in search of food, carrying her baby under a formerly white cloth in order to protect his small lungs from the winds of ash swirling in the camp. Baseme says she has survived this long, strictly because of the generosity of other IDPs and nearby villagers who share the little they have.

"We get by, barely, but we do," said Baseme, "by asking those who receive food. But we cannot sustain this type of living."

I can only hope that Louise has managed to escape Goma to the comparative safety of Kampala.

                            Thousands have been displaced by fighting between troops and rebels

The violence has drawn international condemnation and the US and some European countries have withheld aid from Rwanda.

Time for some serious sanctions against Rwanda.

Over the past two decades Kigali has backed armed groups in the east of DR Congo as a way to fight Hutu rebels who fled there after the genocide of the 1990s, our correspondent says.

Some accuse Rwanda of using militias as proxies in an on-going battle for the region, which is rich in minerals.

Some ? Most I think you will find.