DR Congo: Victory

DW TV reports

M23 rebels to lay down arms in east Congo

                                                          Bisimwa called for the M23 militia to lay down their arms

The Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebels have ended an 18-month insurgency in one of Africa's deadliest conflict zones. As news spread, it became clear that this was what people had long been hoping for.

I guess reality had to strike home eventually although it has taken a hell of a long time. I can no longer link to the M23 propaganda site Congo DRC News although I have several articles they published reproduced on this blog should any reader feel the urge to indulge in a bit of batshit crazy. I am actually going to miss the site and the morons who wrote for it, there was a certain satisfaction knowing that no matter how uninformed my views on the conflict were they at least made a lot more sense than anything M23 had to contribute. 

   

The M23 group surrendered Tuesday, saying it would "end its rebellion" and instead pursue their goals "through purely political means." The announcement came just hours after more than 200 rebels were coaxed from their hilltop positions within the M23 strongholds of Tshanzu and Runyoni early Tuesday morning.

I would imagine it didn't take much coaxing in the end.

Group leaders called on fighters to lay down their arms following a fortnight of fighting that cornered the militia in heavily wooded hills along the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

"The chief of staff and the commanders of all major units have requested to prepare troops for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration on terms to be agreed with the government of Congo," M23 leader Bertrand Bismwa said in a statement.

Bismiiwa has as usual got it wrong. M23 have been defeated they will take what ever terms are offered them. Those terms should and I think will include criminal indictments for the M23 leadership, I hope that they are handed to the ICC. 

'Victory for the DRC'

In response to the announcement, government spokesperson Lambert Mende commented that, "It is a total victory for the DRC." The rebels, he added, who had been flushed from the hills, fled to neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.

More than 80 M23 rebels crossed the border into Uganda, Ugandan army spokeperson Paddy Ankunda said, adding the men were being held until a diplomatic decision was made on their fate.

That decision will not be an easy one.  

The army began a major offensive against the rebels on October 25, gradually claiming the rebel-held strongholds until the intransigent M23 militia was forced into the mountains about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the regional capital, Goma.

By Sunday (03.11.2013), the insurgents had called for a ceasefire, but the army pursued their assault along with United Nations troops. The UN special force had up until then been assisting the military with aerial reconnaissance, intelligence and planning, but joined fighting after being given the go-ahead to attack the mountain region.

The Intervention ( Africa ) Brigade deserve special recognition. They have saved MONUSCO and the UN mission to the eastern DR Congo. I would expect that the UN may well rethink how it operates peace keeping missions as a result.

Since the ceasefire was called, the UNHCR has received over 5,000 Congolese to their transit center, 20 kilometers inside Uganda. That, Lucy Beck, the UNHCRs external relations officer told DW "was the biggest amount of refugees we've ever transported in one day from the border." Since fighting began, she added, "The organization had assisted more than 75,000 people who arrived in Uganda from the DRC." 

There must be repercussions for the M23 leadership, thousands have died War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity have been perpetuated by M23, there is no place for impunity, we the world owe the victims justice.

An issue of amnesty

At the SADC meeting of regional leaders being held in South Africa on Tuesday, DRC President Joseph Kabila said he would sign a peace deal within the coming days if the M23 rebel group laid down their arms.

Russell Feingold, US special envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, said the deal needed to raise the issue of amnesty and reintegration of rebels into the army to ensure its durability.

Russell Feingold should resign, there is no room for an amnesty and there is no place for the rebels in the Congolese Army. Jason Stearn blogs,

" There is no doubt that the FARDC is performing much better now than in 2012. Its command structure has been changed and streamlined, beginning with the appointment of General Lucien Bahuma as regional commander in June 2012, and of General François Olenga as land forces commander in December 2012. These commanders have paid more attention to making sure logistics were in place and salaries paid on time, boosting soldiers' morale and enabling the newly-trained commando battalions to do their job. Then, in January 2013, over a hundred officers––many of them from the Kivus––were invited to Kinshasa under the pretext of a seminar on army reform (they are mostly still in Kinshasa today). This simplified the military hierarchy in North Kivu, which had become clogged up with competing chains of command, a coterie of high-ranking officers embezzling funds and issuing contradictory orders. "

In short there is no place for the rebels and I doubt any of the FARDC leadership or rank and file would want them. The Congolese army is starting to look and act like a professional military, why would anyone want to destroy that progress ?

"In a region that has suffered so much, this is obviously a significant positive step in the right direction," he said. Those suspected of serious human rights violations, he added, should be sought out and not aided through amnesty.

Obama needs to recall this fool. Any human right violation is serious, I would have thought that might have dawned on the idiot.

Support for a peace accord

In a show of support, women in the capital, Kinshasa, dressed in white and chanted songs praising the country's leader and the army. One woman told DW, "We've suffered so long from this war. Now we are very happy." Another added, "There will be change now. The president promised that when the war was over. Now we have to love each other."

I await Alex Engwete's take on this with considerable interest. 

In response to the announcement, the United States said it was a "significant positive step" for eastern Congo, a region that has endured more than 15 years of conflict as competition for gold, copper and cobalt intensified along with cross-border ethnic tensions.

As the conflict with the M23 draws to a close, Martin Kobler, head of the 19,850 UN backed peacekeeping mission in the DRC, said their efforts would now turn to the countless number of armed groups operating in the east, including the Rwandan Hutu FDLR that fled across the border after the 1994 genocide.

"We have teeth, and we are using those teeth," Kobeler said from Pretoria, making reference to the 3,000-troop intervention brigade currently stationed in the DRC.

Martin Kobler is spot on and he has picked his next target well. I have seen many fools suggesting that the FDLR have been allied to the Intervention Brigade and even bigger fools attempting to justify the existence of these genocidal killers. They must be next armed group to be brought to justice. The International Community needs to make it very clear that you can run but we will never stop looking and justice will be done. 

While many peace deals have been signed in the past, there is hope this recent accord will stand firm and send a message to other rebel groups across the DRC and the greater African continent.

What accord ? 

"The military victories over the M23 will send a very strong message to the many other armed groups operating in the east," said Stephanie Wolters of the Institute of Strategic Studies in Pretoria.

"It may prompt them to consider the advantages of a negotiated solution over a drawn-out military campaign."

I doubt it. 

" The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct."
Marcus Tullius Cicero