Africa: Around the African blogs

I will attempt to update on the African Blogs that have caught my attention on a weekly basis. I am of course bound to miss a huge number so feel free to suggest any you think might be worth future inclusion.  

                                                               Photo Visit Virunga



Rosebell Kagumire blogs  on clean water in Uganda and the UN Millennium goals.

" The failure of such handouts to deliver sanitation solutions has highlighted at this unclogging blockages conference in Kampala. One participant told us how NGOs had built latrines for people in Kampala slums but majority were using these latrines to keep their animals."

Alex Engwete Blogs on DR Congo politics an the maneuvering in Kinshasa.

So forget the antics of drama-queen Kamerhe! The most interesting thing to watch these days is the deadly no-holds-barred power struggle being played out within Kabila's Majorité Présidentielle (MP).

On Thursday, January 30, 2014 this bloody fratricidal power struggle that was being waged behind closed doors broke out in the open at the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa. But prior to that date, there was the ever widening rift between Prime Minister Matata Ponyo--hated within the MP for allegedly effectively plugging money leaks--and Deputy PM and Budget Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba.

Rising Continent - Lions on the move - blogs on whether simplistic interpretations of African events are racist.

“Why is the media coverage, for example, of conflicts in Nigeria and the Central African Republic important to countries in the West that do not appear to be involved in them? Anup Shah, author and owner of the Global Issues website, offers some answers to that question. Shah points out that simplistic views, at worst, are racist, whether intentional or not, and at best, offer no platform on how to move forward.”

Lesley on Africa blogs On the Ugandan Military deployment in South Sudan 

Within days of the outbreak of the violence in mid-December, the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) deployed to South Sudan at the government’s invitation. The UPDF’s mission at the outset was ostensibly to evacuate the over 200,000 stranded Ugandan nationals and to secure strategic installations in Juba. However, several weeks into the operation, President Yoweri Museveni disclosed that the UPDF was also involved in combat operations alongside government forces.

Virunga Mountains Blog Is unique in the Great Lakes Blogosphere. 

" The democratic Republic of Congo is very diverse and its not easy to tell or describe how Congolese look like-though, a stereo-type has been imposed on them by ignorant people. It can be very hard for some of us that have been living in diaspora for long to keep up with the culture. But we do try when we can."

Ann Garrison blogs  Also blogs on the Ugandan military in South Sudan.

" The Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army in Opposition has said that they expect no progress in peace talks regarding the civil war in South Sudan unless Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni withdraws his army from South Sudan, which is there to back up President Kiir's faction of the army, not only with troops but also with artillery and helicopter gunships." 

The Clowns of the Congo Congo DRC News ( M23 ) don't blog

This Account Has Been Suspended  ( Not unusual and no great loss )

The Timbuktu Chronicles blog On Business, highly recommended.

" ...To start out his small operation, Mupuya figured out he needed a capital of 36,000 Ugandan shillings ($14). He raised the first $11 from selling 70 kilos of used plastic bottles he'd collected over one week. Mupuya then borrowed the remaining $3 from his school teacher and embarked on his entrepreneurial journey producing paper bags on a small scale. Since then, the business has grown extensively and today, at the age of 21, Mupuya is the owner of Youth Entrepreneurial Link Investments (YELI), the first registered Ugandan company to make paper bags."

WomanStyles blogs on Bim Fernandez who I have never heard of.

“I play a mean guitar and I’d really like to be like Courtney Love.”

One thing she shares with the rock-star widow of Kurt Cobain is wealth.
Her first single, Let’s Take it Naked, came out only last week but her riches are already up there with the superstars.
Home is a fabulous Manhattan apartment with a Picasso above her bed and a valuable first edition of Alice in Wonderland on the coffee table."

Visit Virunga is not a blog, but the fantastic Gorilla DC blog is undergoing maintenance, that said the great new is that the Park is again open for business. I will update with the blog details but go visit the new site.   

DR Congo: RIP Germain Muliwano Kennedy- Journalist.

Radio France International reports:

Congolese journalists targeted by Ugandan rebels

The three journalists affected during the clashes. Germain Muliwano Kennedy is right, with a bandage on head. Photo: Al-Hadji Kudra Maliro.

The Congolese journalist Germain Muliwawo Kennedy died Saturday, Feb. 15, following a clash between the Congolese army and Ugandan rebels of the ADF-Nalu, North Kivu, while on assignment with two colleagues, who were seriously injured them. Germain Muliwawoa Kennedy was hit by a bullet in the head and died of his injuries Sunday morning. One of his colleagues reports.

According to a journalist present at the time of the attack, on Saturday afternoon, a FARDC truck (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) was ambushed by rebels of the ADF-NALU (Allied Democratic Forces - National Army for the Liberation of Uganda) at Semuliki, not far from the Ugandan border.

The ADF-Nalu is a movement born during the 1990s, merging two opposing organizations opposing Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Initially consisting of Muslim missionaries from the Tabliq movement, the group became an Islamist movement, which Kinshasa is convinced is supported by Somali Shebab Islamists. They are accused of looting, extortion and kidnappings. The United States has ranked them on the list of terrorist organizations from 2001, while the International Crisis Group considers "a terrorist organization belonging to the Islamist nebula East Africa."

"The rebels had made it their ambition to increase insecurity in the region"

Kudra Maliro Al-Hadji is a journalism student and works including the Radio-TV Muungano.

Germain had gone to report for the Radio-TV Muungano on Saturday and to film the hunt for rebels of the ADF-Nalu by the FARDC. But he was caught in a scuffle and was killed according to a FARDC captain with whom I talked, after there were were violent clashes and the rebels shot tremendously.

Germain was a colleague and a friend. He was someone who deeply loved his work as a journalist, it was a passion for him. And I can tell you he was not afraid to work in dangerous conditions: he is one of the few reporters who had the courage to go to Goma in November 2012, when  M-23 took city ​​. He always said: 'I will die doing my job. And this is what happened ...

He was my editor at Radio-TV Muungano where I began my training as a journalist in 2010. I am indebted to him, he taught me everything patiently. When I arrived, I was a beginner, I did not even know how to write an article, today I am presenting reports and writing for newspapers. All this is thanks to him. I owe him a lot and I will not forget.

As soon as I heard the news of the attack, I went there, and I took a photo of Germain and our two colleagues. They are still in the hospital, one was wounded in the hand. They suffer but they will survive.

In May 2013, I myself was on assignment with the FARDC. Soldiers had captured some rebel ADF-Nalu militants and I was able to conduct an interview. This was rare because obviously, they are impossible to approach. They are extremely shy, any journalist who tried to go to their camp risked being slaughtered on the spot. The rebels had explained that ADF-Nalu had no safe place in Uganda, that's why they moved into the DRC,  where they seek to traffic minerals. He also told us that their goal was to "kidnap helpful people" [ADF-Nalu is particularly suspected of having kidnapped three priests Mbau in 2012, which is has been no news, Ed] and to negotiate ransoms increase instability and climate of tension in the region.

As regular readers will suspect Charly Kasereka made me aware of this story a couple of days ago via Facebook, I unfortunately haven't had time to turn it it into readable English until today. I am sure Charly would be a friend of Germain and Charly doesn't run from dangerous assignments himself, as another Congolese " blogger-journo " Alex Engwete explains.

" Blogger-journo Chaly Kasereka of the blog Actu du Kivu has finally resurfaced in the aftermath of the 12-day occupation of Goma by the M23 outfit of pillagers and mass murderers.

I first saw Kasereka at around midday Tuesday, December 4, commenting on the French news channel France24 on the events at Kibumba--where he was an embed with FARDC troops--and Goma.

Having seen action on the theater of military operation, Kasereka is arguably the first genuine Congolese war reporter."

We owe a great debt to guys like Charly and Germain who risk their lives to keep us informed. RIP Germain. 

DR Congo:" Care for your children. Order them not into damnation to eliminate those who would trespass against you."

Voice Of America reports

DRC: 103 Died in Monday's Attacks

A Congolese security officer takes position to secure the street near the state television headquarters in the capital Kinshasa, Dec.30, 2013.

DAKAR, SENEGAL — The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo says 103 people were killed Monday when its forces repelled attacks in Kinshasa and at least two other towns. Eight soldiers were among those killed in the fighting, which appears to have been led by followers of  evangelical Christian pastor Joseph Mukungubila, a self-proclaimed prophet who is an outspoken opponent to the government.

"...evangelical Christian pastor Joseph Mukungubila"  Don't make me laugh. Alex Engwete blogs.

" To understand the suicidal insanity that was unleashed on Kinshasa today, one has to read an obscure essay penned by James Yuma titled "The Devil's Comma" published in the launch issue of the African Cities Reader--a joint publication of the African Centre for Cities and Chimurenga Magazine, both South African-based.

In a nutshell, that essay demonstrates that Jesus has broken into the hallowed land of the Congo where Congolese are basking in the exceptionalism prophesied in Isaiah 18.

This is not a joke, mind you! This kind of mumbo-jumbo led people to throw their dear lives out of the window in the morning of December 30, 2013 in senseless and doomed attacks on N'Djili International Airport, the RTNC TV station, and the FARDC headquarters."

DRC government spokesman Lambert Mende said security forces had captured more than 150 attackers. He said these young people had been sent on "suicide missions" by what he referred to as a "sort of guru." But he did not name that person.  

Mende is a smart operator. I am guessing he has a reason for referring to Joseph Mukungubila as some sort of Guru.  

Mende said several justifications have been put forth to explain Monday's violence, and that they are political in nature. He said it is hard to link them with any "plan of God," and difficult to see how one individual could have the right to wreak havoc in society because he is upset about a nomination to some post. Mende said political and judicial means exist for addressing these kinds of grievances.

Political and judicial means don't exist for addressing the grievances of the batshit crazy. Most societies deem them as clinically or in this case criminally insane and lock them up. It would seem to me to be a good option for this so called man of God.

On Monday, young men who briefly captured the state TV station went on the air and identified themselves as followers of Mukungubila.

The station was one of three locations that were attacked in the capital city.

Alex Engwete goes on to observe

" We are here right in the midst of the realm of magical realism, what Yuma called "actionable theology," that is, "a reading of Scriptures yielding immediate practical results and action in the here-and-now."

It is hard to see this as anything other than a massive disconnect with reality. However the idiot responsible for this act of insanity wrote a couple of weeks ago this drivel. 

" Remember what I said about our military: our army is weak, a strong army. And thank you God, the thing has come true because our military come to dislodge the M23 our land.

Alas, they were dislodged but the country is full of Rwandan soldiers in all the cities and even in Kinshasa. As a sign of their presence in Kinshasa, they were seen on patrol. And during their patrol, they met a couple Binza Ozone, a man who accompanied his wife about to give birth; Tutsi soldiers will disembowel the woman like a goat to see where the baby lay."

Sort of ignores the role of the Intervention ( Africa ) Brigade and then suggests that the Congolese Army FARDC is comprised of Rwandan soldiers along with the standard anti-Tutsi racism that is inflicted on members of that ethnic group despite their Congolese citizenship. I have no doubt this arsehole would have been an active participant in the the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. 

A press release from "the Office of the Prophet" posted to Facebook and released by the pastor's Twitter account said the attacks were a spontaneous uprising by his followers in several parts of the country. The statement says the uprising was a response to security forces that had stopped young followers from distributing leaflets the day before, and then attacked the pastor's home in the southeastern town of Lubumbashi.

I don't believe a word of it.

The web site for Mukungubila's ministry, called the Ministry of Restoration From Black Africa http://www.ministryofrestoration.com/ , dubs him the "Prophet of the Eternal."

A series of YouTube videos that profile Mukungubila bill him as "marrying the priesthood and politics."

Yes it is little wonder he polled less than 1 percent. The separation of church and state is a fairly widely accepted concept.

Mukungubila ran for president in 2006, but won less than one percent of the vote. He has since been a minor, if vocal, political figure, frequently and vehemently criticizing President Joseph Kabila and the neighboring country of Rwanda.

I think that declaring him insane is probably the solution. Either that or sending him off to the USA where idiots of this type seem to have a constituency and the state is better prepared to deal with the consequences of this sort of insanity.

Mukungubila has confirmed to several international media outlets that his followers took part in Monday's attacks. It remains unclear, however, if he had any role in coordinating the violence or if his followers acted on their own.

Really ? Independent action I think it is fairly clear Mukungubila orchestrated this.

DR Congo: " Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today"

New Times ( Rwanda ) opines

Why North Kivu desires an independent observer

By Pan Butamire

So, the peace deal between the DR Congo and M23 is as dead as dodo. And President Joseph Kabila is cheering, instead of grieving.

It is fairly obvious after the first sentence that we are dealing with a moron unfortunately that isn't his only failing.

The energy that presidents of the regional countries have expended coaxing the two parties into sitting down with them to painstakingly weave out a peace package has come to nought. Suddenly, the carpet was pulled from under their feet and our presidents were left holding on to useless paper.

" Suddenly, the carpet was pulled from under their feet.... " There was actually nothing sudden about the defeat of M23 and the failure of the Kampala peace talks process has been a long drawn out affair. Even more inaccurate is the hilarious image of the presidents of the region painstakingly expending energy on weaving out a peace package. On Friday 15 November 2013 the Security Council's Group of Experts for the DR Congo released their report detailing some of the painstaking energy sapping efforts that have been made by Rwanda and Uganda in their collective efforts to secure peace.  

" The Government of Rwanda continues to violate the arms embargo 

by providing direct military support to the M23 rebels, facilitating 

recruitment, encouraging and facilitating desertions from the armed 

forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and providing arms, 

ammunition, intelligence and political advice. The de facto chain of 

command of M23 includes Gen. Bosco Ntaganda and culminates with the 

Minister of Defence of Rwanda, Gen. James Kabarebe. Following the 

publication of the addendum to its interim report (S/2012/348/Add.1), the 

Group met the Government of Rwanda and took into consideration its 

written response. The Group has, however, found no substantive element 

of its previous findings that it wishes to alter.

 Senior officials of the Government of Uganda have also provided 

support to M23 in the form of direct troop reinforcements in Congolese 

territory, weapons deliveries, technical assistance, joint planning, 

political advice and facilitation of external relations. Units of the 

Ugandan People’s Defence Forces and the Rwandan Defence Forces 

jointly supported M23 in a series of attacks in July 2012 to take over the 

major towns of Rutshuru territory and the Congolese armed forces base 

of Rumangabo. Both Governments have also cooperated to support the 

creation and expansion of the political branch of M23 and have 

consistently advocated on behalf of the rebels. M23 and its allies include 

six sanctioned individuals, some of whom reside in or regularly travel to 

Rwanda and Uganda. "

Let me put it another way Pan Butamire is a fucking liar. Let me go further and point out that New Times Rwanda is a publication that has no place amongst serious media.

But maybe it was our presidents’ fault: they sat down with the wrong party. They should have known that Kabila is a spectator to what goes on in his country. Short of sorting out his country’s problems, there is precious little else they can do for him.

Yes we have seen above the efforts of Uganda and Rwanda when it comes to sorting out the problems of the DR Congo. Make no mistake they are to blame for this situation.

Some of these leaders know his place as a fact. But they also know that, unless they are ready to take on ‘the elephant in the mines’, their hands are tied.

"..their hands are tied." They are tied now and the irony is that they did it to themselves. A few weeks ago I blogged.  

" Let us remember the Intervention Brigade concept grew out of a meeting of the ICGLR ( International Conference Great Lakes Region ) and was put forward by Rwanda and Uganda under the Africa Brigade monicker. The ICGLR loved the idea and then decided that the Brigade would be more effective as part of MONUSCO much to Rwanda's horror, how fucking ironic is that. Rwanda was given enough rope and promptly hung themselves."


Does Kabila know that the peace deal would have empowered him?

This is going to be interesting.

I doubt. Yet there is no doubt that he’d have reaped dividends from the talks. The most important of these dividends is that the talks would have introduced him to his people. It may sound absurd but it’s true: Kabila is stranger to many of his people.

Well with a population of over 75 million there's a surprise.

No one can challenge the fact that there are Congolese who have never heard of Kabila’s name, leave alone seen him – or his less diminutive portrait.  Whoever doubts this let them visit Ituri Forest where some people have never seen an invention called “the radio”.

Yes well a spectacular own goal on the part of Butimire. However thanks to Uganda and Rwanda those people who may or may not have seen a radio have almost certainly seen a gun and have probably been displaced from their homes by thugs armed with said guns supplied by Rwanda and Uganda.  Ironic isn't it that the Pygmies are the people he is referring to and they are now representative of the whole Congolese nation, you may have noticed by now the underlying racism of Butimire ( it gets worse ) his ignorance of the Pygmy nation is also somewhat astounding. 

And so the peace talks would not have ended in Kampala, nor with the M23. Our presidents would have passed to Kabila the wisdom that all his people needed this dialogue.

Yes I have noticed that Kagame is a master of the art of political dialogue and the building of consensus when it comes to people who have views that are different from his. 

He would then go out to listen to all grievances and suggestions of solutions. He would cease to fortify himself and brood in his Kinshasa ivory tower – if not white elephant – and spread out to embrace his population. Thus, Kabila and his people can work out a development agenda.  

As we know, there is no wisdom like that of the people. And so they would advise him to ditch the mineral curse and seal all mines.

Ditching the mineral curse is certainly a part of the solution however I don't think the Congolese people need to close the mines to do that.

" The constant wars that have plagued the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in the eastern provinces, have cost millions of civilians their lives. An entire generation has seen little peace between the submission and emergence of countless armed groups that roam the lawless territories. One of the consistent and primary causes of such carnage is the participation of both Rwanda and Uganda in the exploitation of minerals, which are then funnelled down these rebel groups, or used to line the pockets of the corrupt political elite."
Minerals only enrich foreign countries of the north, where industries are thriving and his citizens’ abject poverty is unequivocal evidence. The solution is the land. In a vast country whose every inch is fertile, who needs minerals?

Who indeed needs minerals ? Again from the Security Council Group of Experts point 176 of the report.

" The scale of laundering of Congolese minerals in the Rwandan tagging system is impossible to estimate on the basis of the incidents highlighted above. There is, however, a clear correlation between the shifting predominance of tantalum ore and tungsten ore mining close to the border and the increasing exports by Rwanda of those minerals. Conversely, Rwandan exports of tin ore have declined as smuggling of this ore from the interior of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has decreased. These trends suggest that the volumes of laundered minerals may be significant."
The Congolese, intelligent as they are elegant, need only concentrate on agriculture. Their cassava, potato, tea, coffee, maize, timber and a variety of their other produce wealth will build their infrastructure and industry. Following which, they can waltz into the family of middle-income countries.

Butimire isn't even attempting to disguise his agenda which is of course the continuing theft of Congolese minerals into the future.

Whereupon, the time to now open up their mines and power their industries after which, they can do what they do best. Sing, enjoy their music and make merry – hopefully, not the way of their soldiers!

That is probably one of the most racist pieces of bullshit I have read. 

Alas, for our poor neighbours, all this has turned into wishful thinking. Kabila and his greedy advisers have thrown the baby out with the bath water. They have squandered the goodwill of the regional presidents who were ready to give of their time.

I don't think the DR Congo would have survived much more goodwill on the part of the regional presidents. The baby he is referring to can only be M23 and the bath water the chaos, rape and murder genocide these killers have inflicted on the Eastern DR Congo on behalf of said regional presidents.

Some of them – precious few, too, unfortunately! – have dealt with Western do-gooders and know how to square up with them. Kabila and his cronies would’ve gained immensely from a communion with these sages.

The obligatory attack on the West. I am guessing that this is a reference to the Security Council, something the fool might have forgotten Rwanda currently holds a seat on.

Now the DRC has no hope of ever extricating itself out of the quandary it’s in, as a theatre of contests among a raft of hungry Western world wolves.

OK here's an idea. I know geographically you can't actually get any further east than New Zealand and Australia isn't too far to our west but that said we would I think fall into the " Western world wolves " category he mentions. When it comes to agriculture there isn't a nation in the world within spitting distance of New Zealand similarly when it comes to mining the Aussies are in a class of their own.  I think the Congolese might well prefer us to assist them developing their agricultural and mining sectors ( not to mention tourism which we are bloody good at as well ) wolves though we have been branded, to the Crocodiles who have inflicted so much misery there to date. 

It’s not enough for the Western powers to watch through satellites and drones and make sure that this status quo is not interfered with. They have deployed special envoys who have pitched tent on the ground, to instantly report on the slightest threat.

You left us very little choice. When you inflict a genocide on a nation do you expect us to stand by, blind once again. It is of course not just the west, the eyes of the world are watching you. We will not be Blind This Time.  

But, so far, there is no threat. The bothersome pest that threatened to be one has been dealt a terminal blow. M23, Tutsi-led, therefore synonymous with having a stubbornly inquisitive streak, has been vanquished.

Again the racism. The appalling thing is that Rwanda has not learnt from the genocide inflicted on the Tutsi and seem determined to avenge that by murdering millions of Congolese who had nothing to do with it. Had this fool used column in New Times to call on the Congolese Army ( FARDC ) MONUSCO and the Intervention ( African ) Brigade having defeated M23 to turn its attention and guns on the FDLR the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide he would have had not only my support but that of the world.   

All should be happy. After all, it was Rwanda/Uganda-backed. If anybody wants evidence, there is raping to imagine and there are child-soldiers to fabricate.

That is a disgusting lie. There is no fabrication and make no mistake Joseph Goebbels kindred spirit Butimire knows that it is a lie.
DRC is now at peace with itself, as Kabila’s benefactors and guardians wanted it.

Yet neighbours, ever caring souls, are concerned. Now that the Western media, rights groups, charity and other organisations have evacuated, satisfied that the enemy is no more, no one knows what’s happening in North Kivu.

I despise Butimire for his racism and his lying but I almost pity him for his stupidity if he really believes the west is going to abandon the eastern DR Congo to the brutality of Rwanda. It is over Rwanda you are finished in the DR Congo. The fool has contradicted himself within a few sentences complaining of the presence of envoys pitching tents and drones while telling us the western aid organisations have gone. They haven't but and it isn't a small but, the fool is blinded by his own racism, the Congolese don't need us to tell the world what is happening in the Kivus. Chantal Faida, Charly Kasereka are far better journalists / bloggers than he will ever be, they tell the truth and both are from the North Kivu province. I haven't even scratched the surface but Alex Engwete has his finger on so many pulses I find it just about impossible to keep up. 
The whole area has become a black hole. Our regional media, ever dependent on Western media feeds, is none the wiser either.

He really is a fucking fool.

Everybody remembers that there were reports of looting by the Congolese army on entering Bunagana, near Uganda. The way the reports quickly disappeared, however, there is no telling if they were not immediately quashed.

Actually I didn't see a single report along those lines I saw many about the locals greeting the arrival of FARDC and subsequent reports about the discovery of mass graves in former M23 controlled territory.  Why ? The Congolese army didn't loot they liberated.

Then there were reports of reprisals against the relatives of M23 fighters, which equally quickly vanished.

Again I didn't see any and the problem is that Butimire has lied so often in this New Times opinion piece that if he told me fish lived in the sea I wouldn't believe him with out independent verification.

The way Kabila is spectator to his country’s affairs is the way he is, to his army. So, knowing “his” army, who can believe that it is now miraculously disciplined? There is strong reason to fear for the lives of relatives of M23 fighters still in the area.

Western powers keeping guard over DRC cannot be trusted to care for them. Nor can their weapon of mass destruction (WMD, otherwise ‘acronymed’ as MONUSCO).

Pan Butimire you are a liar and a fool, even worse you are a racist.

DR Congo: " I trust you trust in me to mistrust you "

DW TV Germany reports

DRC ready for 'declaration' on M23 rebel defeat

After pulling out of peace talks, the Democratic Republic of Congo has said it is ready to sign a document formalizing the defeat of the M23 rebels. It accuses mediator Uganda of taking sides.

                         M23 rebel fighters who had surrendered to the Ugandan government under guard in Kisoro district

The Democratic Republic of Congo is now prepared to sign a "declaration" reflecting the defeat of M23 rebels, even though it has withdrawn from Uganda-hosted peace talks.

Given that Kinshasa has won on the ground and that is all that actually matters if M23 will not sign an agreement that complies exactly with Congolese requirements then not signing anything is a sensible position.

The DRC and M23 rebels had been due to conclude a deal on Monday (11.11.2013) but Congolese negotiators said they would not sign an agreement with a group their UN-backed army had just defeated.

I am starting to wonder why the Congolese government is going to all this effort. Uganda have made it clear that they will not hand over the rebel leadership I blogged a few days ago about  Alex Engwete's suspicions with regard to Ugandan plans for the said M23 leadership. It is time for Kinshasa to play hardball. Kinshasa should only sign an unconditional surrender with M23 and that should include a requirement that the military and political leadership of M23 should be handed over to the International Criminal Court, that is probably a dead rat that Kinshasa could stomach as a compromise to the leadership of M23 being handed over to the custody of the DR Congo.

The DRC said it wanted a simple declaration from the rebels that they would not take up arms again. It also accused Ugandan mediators of taking sides.

M23 seem to want this agreement and I am guessing they want it to make some sort of political capital and resurrect if only in their own eyes a legitimacy they have never had. Whilst M23 have never had a very firm grasp on reality one might have thought it would have dawned upon them that the only losers in this ongoing debacle are the defeated members of their former movement. Any chance however slim, of a rank and file integration into the Congolese Armed Forces ( FARDC ) must surely be gone.

Uganda have played their hand very badly. In the realpolitik world they would have been far more sensible to hand the leadership over to the ICC. Failure has a price, regardless of the behaviour of the Ugandan mediators the international perception of the Ugandan role can only be interpreted as being pro M23. As more details emerge of M23's criminal brutality Uganda will share with Rwanda the ignominy of having supported them. Something Uganda had to date largely avoided.

"We will not sign anything that is contradictory to our national interests" said DRC government spokesman Lambert Mende.

The M23 said the document arranging the terms for an end to its 20 month uprising had been agreed upon days in advance.

Quite clearly it was not agreed to, further more M23 either comply with Kinshasa's instructions and do as they are told, or shut the fuck up. They have no ability to alter the situation, that this still has not dawned on them leads me to believe the Congolese charge that Uganda has been taking sides. When M23 fled across the border into Uganda the situation on the ground in Kampala changed from peace talks to surrender that Uganda has not used its good offices to make this clear to M23 strikes me as an act of unforgivable incompetence.    

Uganda denies taking sides

Uganda rejected charges of bias in favor of M23, saying the DRC had made no formal complaint in ten months of mediation.

"Thus we take this accusation by Mr Mende as unfair, unfounded, false and unhelpful to the peace process in Congo," Ofwono Opondo, a spokesman for Uganda's government, told a news conference in Kampala.

"...unfair, unfounded, false and unhelpful to the peace process in Congo,"

It doesn't matter whether if it is fair or unfair, true or false Uganda have failed to publicly recognise that the peace process ended with M23 defeat and furthermore compounded that failure by failing to make that reality clear to M23. Kinshasa holds all the cards and Uganda has stuffed up.

U.N. experts have accused both Uganda and Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels.

Both countries deny the charges.

Uganda will be seen as a M23 backer regardless of the current reality of that situation by granting asylum to the M23 leadership. The scale of this cock up is astonishing, Uganda needs to wash its hands of the M23 leadership and hand them to the ICC . Then and only then will they be able to regain a share of the moral high ground. I will say it again, failure always has a price and Uganda will pay that price for shielding the M23 leadership from the consequences of their failure.

Gaius Kowene, DW's Goma correspondent, said people in the city were very happy that the DRC government did not sign the peace agreement. "People think there are traps in that agreement. That's why they want the government to make sure that they don't sign anything that might harm the country later," he said.

Uganda could learn from that. It is clear that Lambert Mende understands the concept of realpolitik.

Goma, a city of one million people and capital of North Kivu province, was seized by the rebels on 20 November, 2012. They departed ten days later.

M23 seem to be unaware that they are no longer in a position of power or influence. Again Uganda had the role of educating them of this fact and have failed to do so.

The fall of Goma led to a revamping of the DRC's army and the strengthening of the UN force and its mandate in Congo. When peace talks faltered, rebels were driven from all the remaining towns they occupied in recent weeks.

FARDC have gone from being a joke to a respectable military force something that doesn't seem to have dawned on the political leadership of the region. 

“It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.”
Philip K. Dick

Uganda seems to be taking Philip Dick's advice

Uganda is holding Sultani Makenga, M23's military commander, and several other rebels who fled the government offensive.

DRC government spokesman Mende complained that Uganda had not handed Makenga over to Congolese authorities, as agreed under a regional agreement signed in Addis Ababa earlier this year.

As I said above I think the Congolese government would accept a ICC compromise and that should be Uganda's next diplomatic play.

The head of M23's political wing Bertrand Bisimwa told DW the DRC government was "trying to get rid of M23, to sideline it, rather dealing with the causes of the conflict."

Who cares ? Bertrand Bisimwa is irrelevant, and the Congolese government has got rid of M23.

DR Congo: " To don the robes of Torquemada and resurrect the Inquisition "

 New Vision ( Uganda ) reports

High hopes ahead of Congo peace deal signing

                                                                   farrellworldcultures

KAMPALA - The Democratic Republic of Congo and defeated M23 rebels are set to sign a peace deal today in what diplomats hope will be a key step in efforts to end decades of war in the Great Lakes region.

The rebels, one of many armed groups operating in the mineral-rich but impoverished east of the DR Congo, have been routed by the national army, who are backed by a 3,000-strong special United Nations intervention brigade.

Allegedly supported by neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda but seemingly abandoned by their sponsors due to international pressure, the M23 announced last week that their 18-month insurgency was over. They are expected to put this in writing in Uganda on Monday.

Alleged is a bit of an understatement. Museveni's granting of asylum would tend to make one wonder just how far Uganda and Rwanda have moved. 

"Our hope is that we have a firm commitment from the M23 rebels to renounce their use of arms," said DR Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende.

The M23, a mainly ethnic-Tutsi force who mutinied from the Congolese army, have not confirmed Monday's meeting. But with no more military leverage they are seen as having little room for manoeuvre.

The agreement is expected to settle the fate of about 1,500 M23 fighters who have crossed into Uganda and are languishing in camps along the border. Uganda has refused to hand them over to the DR Congo.

"....M23 fighters who have crossed into Uganda and are languishing in camps..." Cry me a fucking river, there is a certain poetic justice given the thousands of innocent Congolese who through no fault of their own are languishing in refugee camps as a direct result of the M23 insurgency.


Around 100 more injured rebels have crossed to Rwanda.

Mende said the rebels would be dealt with "case by case" -- with many rank-and-file fighters expected to be given the option to return to the army.

I have seen no confirmation of this from the Congolese government and I think it would be a major mistake  on their part should this happen.

More complicated is the fate of around 100 M23 commanders. These include M23 leader Sultani Makenga, accused of participating in several massacres, mutilations, abductions and sexual violence, sometimes against children.

It would seem to becoming apparent that Makenga and the leadership of M23 will not face justice at this point for their crimes. That said there are jails all over the world and justice delayed is not always justice denied, something quite a few African rulers have discovered the hard way.  

"The rebels, by signing, will effectively be surrendering. From our side, even though we have won and triumphed, we will still respect what is on the table," said Francois Muamba, a DR Congo delegate to the talks.

I would hope that Kinshasa has decided what is on the table, if not as I suggested yesterday the Congolese government would be better off not turning up.

The UN's special envoy to the Great Lakes, Mary Robinson, told AFP the accord would be "a very important step for peace".

The important step was the defeat of M23 this is just a bullshit PR exercise I must say I am beginning to think that the major qualification to become an envoy to the Great Lakes Region is having a big mouth and an inability to engage ones brain before utilising that mouth.

Speaking to AFP on Sunday, she said the deal will also be followed by operations to neutralise other rebel groups in a concerted effort to end one of Africa's most brutal and longest-running wars.

This would be "new and welcome news for the people... who have tolerated or have had to endure for far too long these armed groups, with the raping and re-raping, with the displacement of people," she said.

"It has been intolerable, and now there really is hope," said the former Irish president.

I would give a guarded agreement to that assertion.

But even if a deal is signed, stabilising eastern DR Congo will not be easy. Previous peace deals for the region -- including with the M23 -- have foundered because they were not implemented or did not address underlying problems such as refugees and land ownership.

Not to mention the theft of Congolese mineral wealth.

Role of Uganda and Rwanda

Robinson said she believed Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni -- who deny backing the M23 -- were committed to an 11-nation regional peace agreement signed in February.

Yes... Museveni's handing over of the M23 rebels to face trial for their alleged criminal behaviour impressed me no end.

She said the priority would now shift to defeating the DR Congo-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a descendant of Hutu extremist groups that carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The Congolese government has already vowed a new campaign to eradicate the group.

Rwanda's minority Tutsi-led government views the FDLR as a major security threat, and dealing with the group is seen as crucial to addressing the neighbouring country's concerns and preventing the emergence of yet another Rwandan-backed proxy.

The FDLR should be eradicated because it is the right thing to do, it will have no bearing on Rwanda backing or not backing a new insurgency although it will remove the Rwandan justification for doing so.

But not everyone in the DR Congo is convinced.

I am certainly far from convinced and you can't get much further from the DR Congo than Auckland. 

A group of Congolese NGOs and civil society groups last week dismissed the peace negotiations as "nonsense", denounced the impending "integration of criminals and foreigners" back into the army and called Uganda an "aggressor".

Uganda is walking a highwire supporting the M23 leadership. They would be far more sensible to hand them over to the ICC. Uganda could walk away from this smelling of roses by being half smart. That they are not doing so is already raising eyebrows.

A researcher for the Enough Project, a US group campaigning against war crimes, said Rwandan and Ugandan meddling could still scupper a deal.

"It must be noted that Museveni does not hide his feelings for the M23 when he demands a general amnesty and their unconditional reintegration," Fidel Bafilemba said.

That is crap. Kinshasa hold the cards in this situation not Rwanda and Uganda. The peace deal as I have said is a meaningless PR stunt if things don't fall to Kinshasa's liking they should just walk out, it will change nothing on the ground short term in the eastern DR Congo.  

"The fact that Uganda says it won't extradite the rebels leads one to think there could be a plan B to rebuild the rebels."

Kinshasa blogger and journalist Alex Engwete has made this argument and backed it with a reasonable amount of circumstantial evidence, how could it be anything but circumstantial at this stage, I for one would not discount it or Engwete's insight on matters Congolese.

"At any rate, that a well-known Congolese warlord would be allowed to own a house in Kampala and to roam freely on Ugandan territory is in itself a major pointer of direct collaboration between Ugandan authorities with seedy and seditious Congolese elements for the sole purpose of destabilizing the DRC. 

It is well worth a read.