DR Congo: " The feeding hands of western promise hold her by the throat "

The Irish Times reports

Congo’s army and rebels clash near border despite calls for peace

Congolese soldiers rest while being deployed against the M23 rebels near Bunagana, north of Goma. A rapid army advance in recent weeks has driven rebels from towns and cornered them in the hills along the Ugandan border. Photograph: Kenny Katombe/Reuters

Congolese troops and M23 rebels bombarded each other near the Ugandan border yesterday and international envoys called on both sides to cease fire and allow a peace deal to take hold.

I think it might be time for the International Envoys to shut the fuck up, in this situation I would have though that the envoys might have had some idea about the feelings of the Congolese people, but just in case they don't let me correct that for them.

Radio Okapi did a survey and the results although not scientific are fairly conclusive, 83% voted for FARDC ( The Congolese Army ) to keep on killing the M23 thugs until they surrender, there is bloody huge difference between a ceasefire and an unconditional surrender This blog has argued for some time that M23 have two options, surrender or death and quite frankly I think death might well be the better option going forward, however M23 has a tendency to hide behind and kill civilians so I hope an unconditional surrender will be agreed to soon. 

M23 Sunday asked these fighters to stop military hostilities against the FARDC but fighting continued on the ground. According to you:

• The FARDC continue their offensive until the complete surrender of the M23 (83%, 1,214 Votes)
• The M23 would rather sign the surrender instead of a simple declaration of cease-fire (13%, 197 Votes)
• Both sides must stop the hostilities to reach a political agreement (4%, 51 Votes)

Total votes: 1462

Congolese authorities accused the rebels of shelling the frontier town of Bunagana and said it showed M23’s weekend ceasefire declaration was worthless. The rebels said they were ready to sign a peace deal but that they had been attacked. Thousands have fled into Uganda to escape the fighting but some have been wounded by a shell fired across the border.

Killing non combatants a standard M23 tactic. They are ready to sign a peace deal having murdered, raped and robbed their way through the Kivus and now the Congolese government should sign a peace deal with them after they have been defeated in the field. What planet do these fucking clowns think they are on. 

A rapid army advance in recent weeks has driven rebels from towns and cornered them in the hills along the Ugandan border, raising the prospect of an end to a 20-month rebellion.

M23 has been defeated. There, despite the stupidity of envoys demanding a resumption of peace negotiations, is no nation on earth that should be subject to that demand, the world is clear on not negotiating with terrorists and yet here we have a demand that the DR Congo go into negotiations with these criminal terrorists. This is of course hypocrisy but even worse it is racism.  

South Africa is hosting leaders from the Great Lakes region and southern Africa to back Ugandan-sponsored peace efforts, but the latest violence shows the two sides remain far apart.

Not quite, South Africa are hosting a joint summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) where one of the subjects on the agenda will be the M23 rebellion, that is a hundred miles away from holding a meeting to back the " Ugandan sponsored peace efforts " 

“This is not fighting, it is bombs launched by M23 targeting the population of Bunagana,” said Congo army spokesman Col Olivier Hamuli. Bunagana was the last rebel-controlled town to be recaptured last week and rebels are still in the hills nearby. A Reuters reporter said government troops had seized Mbuzi, a strategic hilltop above Bunagana, yesterday after hitting it with tank and rocket fire.

This as I have said seem's to be a standard M23 tactic, as soon as things start going against them they resort to terrorising the civilian population. In the early days of this conflict M23 resorted to shelling Rwanda in an attempt to widen the conflict, Jason Stearns blogs 

" Since August 22, a series of artillery shells have fallen in Goma and Rwanda, killing civilians on either side of the border. (The Rwandan government chronology of events is here.) The UN has now told the press that at least some of the mortars that fell in Rwanda came from M23 positions. According to one UN official in Goma I spoke to, their troops could observe the trajectory of the mortars."

At the time I suspected this was done on Rwandan orders and my position has not altered but... also from Jason Stearns at Congo Siasa we have this,

" But it may be the third factor that was the determining one––the absence of support from Rwanda. According to several reports from the frontlines, despite indications of some cross-border support in the Kibumba area, the M23 was largely left to its own devices. "The Rwandans just wouldn't pick up their phone calls," one source close to the M23 leadership told me. This is a drastic change from August, when many sources––the UN, Human Rights Watch, and foreign diplomats––all reported hefty support coming across the border. "

If as Stearns suggests Rwanda have abandoned M23 to their inevitable fate it makes sense that they will try and cause as much mayhem as possible to escape the consequences of a direct firefight with FARDC. 

On Sunday M23 announced a ceasefire – a declaration Hamuli described as a lie, saying the army would pursue the rebels. Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende said four civilians were killed when a shell landed in Bunagana’s market.

M23 are not in a position to announce anything other than an unconditional surrender, that the media have not understood this is perhaps understandable, that the various diplomatic players seem to have forgotten that war is at an extreme end of diplomatic negotiations spectrum and an end of the spectrum that has different rules to more conventional forms of diplomatic negotiations is pathetic

M23 political leader Bertrand Bisimwa complained that the army had attacked its positions with heavy weapons.

Yes, if you turn up to a gun fight that you started armed only a knife you really can't expect very much sympathy, that said " His Excellency " Ali Musagara,  M23 Minister of Youth, Culture, Sports and recreation ( I jest not ) has declared that he is willing to even up the playing field for M23,  

" I cherished the M23 movement to the point that I would only leave if I see the precarious situation the DRC is currently in getting better, or unless I'm dying on the battlefields."

Time to die " Your Excellency "

“We’re only fighting to defend our position. That’s the logic of war,” he said.

" Logic is like the sword - those who appeal to it, shall perish by it."  

Samuel Butler

Bisimwa might want to think about that if he is still among the living.

Bisimwa said the group was ready to sign the peace deal: “All the items [in the talks] were finished and there’s no problem anymore, why is the government refusing to sign?”

The Government obviously has a different view on the logical outcome of this war and it is not a defensive one.

Envoys monitoring the conflict for the United Nations, European Union, African Union and United States jointly urged both sides not to undo progress made in the talks in Uganda, saying M23 should renounce its rebellion as agreed and the army should hold off from further military action for now.

Oh fuck off.

However, Mr Mende said the army would continue its advance to “wipe out” rebel positions and Congo’s government would assess progress at the talks in South Africa before taking any steps at the Ugandan-hosted peace talks.

Exactly and then there will be no need for peace talks. M23 have chosen the diplomacy of the gun, they have committed both War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, if they are to stupid to realise it is over and take the only option available to them so be it, but we the world owe the people of the Eastern DR Congo our support, not their tormentors in M23. 

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” 
Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

DR Congo: M23, " His Excellency " Ali Musagara returns to the asylum.

Congo DRC News interviews Ali Musagara,  Head of Department of Youth, Culture and Recreation M23 ( Usual warnings apply, this is an M23 site and about as full of shit as it is possible to be ). It is Translated from French and I have tried to clean it up those mistake that remain are mine.

INTERVIEW WITH MR ALI MUSAGARA, HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH, CULTURE, SPORTS AND RECREATION M23:

                                                                                                Ali Musagara

CDN. Excellency Ali Musagara hello!

OK lets start with a dose of reality.

" Excellency is an honorific style given to certain members of an organisation or state. Once entitled to the title "Excellency", its holder may retain the right to that courtesy throughout his or her lifetime, in accordance with widespread international custom and diplomatic norms.

Generally people addressed as Excellency are heads of state, heads of government, governors, ambassadors, certain ecclesiastics, royalty, aristocracy, and military, and others holding equivalent rank (e.g., heads of international organizations, high commissioners in the Commonwealth of Nations)."

Musagara is none of the above.

AM. Hello Mr. journalist but you would like to call me comrade instead of excellence please!

Maybe he even realises that.

CDN. It's good friend ALI. For a long time you have hardly appeared in the media, let alone in the field and people do not know how to explain it?

AM. It is true Mr. journalist for two months  I was absent from the territory under control of our beloved movement because I was doing the hard yards beyond our borders to try to sell the image of the movement outside and explaining to the youth of the Congolese diaspora why we are rebelling.

I am not denying the possibility that Musagara has been travelling but I can't find any evidence of it. A trip for rest and relaxation in Rwanda doesn't actually count and one has to wonder just how many other doors would be open to him as a senior member of M23  

CDN. But apparently a lot of people even said that you left the movement, your response?

AM. It really makes me laugh. I cherished the M23 movement to the point that I would only leave if I see the precarious situation the DRC is currently in getting better, or unless I'm dying on the battlefields.

I suspect many members of M23 will leave the movement through the latter mechanism. M23 do not seem to have realised just how much effort and prestige has been invested in their elimination. If MONUSCO fail to eliminate them they may as well leave the eastern DR Congo because the support of the civilian population is very much on the line, they must win back the confidence of those they are meant to defend from armed thugs such as M23 if they are to achieve anything like the stabalisation that is expected of them. As for FARDC  ( The DR Congo armed forces ) they to have to prove that they are a functioning professional armed force or they to face humiliation and a far more comprehensive shake down I suspect than the one they have just undergone. 

CDN. What is your reaction to the recent publication of Mr. Ruben KONING that your movement by the military leader in the person of Brigadier General Sultani MAKENGA be involved in the trafficking and sale of gold?

AM. You know Mr. journalist that is what always happens when a government and corrupt NGOs attempt tarnish the image of our movement through publications that have no relation to the reality on the ground. But damn! I'm not still there to remind you that the geological map of the Democratic Republic of Congo shows no presence of gold in the territory controlled by the M23. 

That is just bullshit, I posted on the gold issue a few days back, the report is from Enough Project and it is a well researched report.  As to the geological argument it just doesn't hold any water at all. Rwanda was for many years a major player in the export of Cobalt despite having none, it achieved this through the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) the predecessor organisation to M23. What is being referred to is the criminal network stealing Congolese gold and M23 are in it up to their eyeballs. It was set up by Bosco Ntaganda a former M23 leader now in the custody of the ICC, with very few reasons to have any residual loyalty to M23 or Rwanda. Draw your own conclusions. 

CDN. What is the current health status of your movement?

AM. It is doing great as always, we are well positioned at the front, our troops, military and executives moral is good and our diplomacy works.

They are up shit creek without a paddle. I blogged on the news of their latest defeat a few days ago.

" In what appears as the latest escalation of tensions in Eastern Congo, the rebel M23 Movement has given the DRC government an ultimatum of 48 hours to vacate their strategic stronghold Southern town of Kanyamahoro "

It has been defeat after defeat for M23 and I assume they are referring to the diplomatic peace talks in Kampala which are currently yet again stalled although that is neither here nor there as they were a farce at best.

CDN: M23 is described as a negative force, the Kinshasa government accuses you of recruiting child soldiers in your army. What do you say?

AM. I know very well that you use the term negative force by referring only to sterile discourse of the Kinshasa government, but one thing I must say is that you should be careful to, you as a journalist, especially to qualify. And indeed that's what I always have said to others, that we, M23 are sitting at the negotiating table in Kampala in talks with the government in Kinshasa and if their level they call us a negative force is legitimate for us to describe them as a negative government.

I guess it is hard to deny the overwhelming evidence of the recruitment kidnapping of child soldiers so I am not surprised that he bailed out on that issue preferring to discuss the labelling of M23 as a negative force. That however is another misrepresentation. The use of the term       "negative forces " is not exclusive to M23, it includes all the various militia outfits killing, raping and robbing in the eastern DR Congo be they M23's hated opposition and official raison d'etra, the equally if not even more evil  FDLR who perpetuated the Rwandan genocide, or the Ugandan ADF and not forgetting the numerous Mai Mai groups causing their own special blend of misery and chaos. These are all opponents that the Intervention ( Africa ) Brigade are tasked with neutralising. M23 simply has the honour of being the first as they are the best resourced being a proxy military organisation of a nation state namely Rwanda. 

CDN. What then of the talks in Kampala?

AM. You understand that we have always said that we do not advocate violence to resolve this conflict between us with the Kinshasa government, it is also the reason why we have had a delegation in Kampala and, as you also learned that the we sent a delegation to Kinshasa. We believe that this time we will find a comprehensive solution within a short time unless it is not the position of the DR Congo government.

The talks in Kampala are a failure, they were always destined to be so. Jason Stearns at Congo Siasa opines.

" The closer one looks at the problem, the more one wonders why so much emphasis is being put on negotiations with the M23, who are unlikely to hand over their top commanders. More and more, it appears that the solution for the problems of the M23 has to be sought between Kigali and Kinshasa, not between Kinshasa and the M23."

I think Stearns is correct long term but I don't think there is any mood in the the DR Congo be it the government or the citizenship for that to happen at the moment. Revenge may be a dish best served cold but there will be no dispassionate negotiated outcome for M23.their options are now surrender or death. 

CDN. According to the Kinshasa government, there will be no integration or amnesty for most of the rebel military and political leadership of your movement. How do you digest this?

AM. You know, many times people quickly forget that our soldiers were part of FARDC and they deserted freely. This is to say that there is not a credible army that they can be incorporated into in the DRC  and even less a credible political organisation for the managers. There is nothing they want in the system even if Kabila is not be there. Many of them have held positions in the government but they have abandoned them.

This of course is the real issue. M23 is not a Congolese movement it is a Rwandan movement with colonial ambitions for the eastern DR Congo.

CDN: Oh, that's why Kinshasa continues to insist that you want to balkanize the DRC?

AM: on the contrary it is seemingly contradictory to the fact that it seems that it is rather the Kinshasa government is disappointed that we do not have in our mind will respond positively to their diabolical plan. You also understand why Raymond TSHIBANDA also gave the agreement saying that the DRC is a perfect balkanization-secession takes to resolve conflicts in Morocco. I take this opportunity to remind the Congolese people that if this is his war-horse, if he would present this as a proposal for negotiations, the battle is already lost, ever since the DRC is divided rather it will remain one and indivisible. And besides that supports Katanga and Bakata BUNDU DIAKONGO if not members of the presidential majority! At our level we limit ourselves to asking talks in Kampala that the East be declared a disaster area which is quite different from the balkanization.

I can't make any sense of this answer. I mean how do you figure out this.

"...ever since the DRC is divided rather it will remain one and indivisible."

Feel free to speculate.

CDN. It is reorted there has been an influx of Rwandan refugees from Tanzania into M23 territory according to Mr. Julien PALUKU, is this true?

AM. First of all it is wrong because they are not refugees but IDPs from Masisi, fleeing the FDLR and Mai-Mai. And besides, I personally do not understand why Kinshasa refuse people who fled and now want to return home to do so. Most shocking is that Mr. Julien PALUKU relies solely on language to determine the origin of these innocent refugees because they supposedly speak Swahili in Tanzania while forgetting that it is the same language used by the president of the DRC Mr. Kabila does this mean that he is also a Tanzanian or this rule may only be applied to Rwandans. 

I was unaware that the FLDR was operating in Tanzania but having been expelled from Tanzania the refugees  IDP's ( Internally Displaced Persons ) then had the misfortune to encounter in their brief stay in Rwanda another group of FDLR rebels before fleeing to the DR Congo and their place of origin Masisi in North Kivu where bugger my days they are met by none other than M23. This just doesn't add up. There is strong evidence that the expelled Tanzanian  / Rwandan  refugees have ended up in the Congo as a civilian shield between M23 and MONUSCO and FARDC how in hells name they were escaping away from the FDLR by heading to the Congo where the FDLR operate is beyond me. As for Swahili it is spoken throughout the region. Julien Paluku is the governor of the North Kivu region and I am guessing he would have a fair idea what is going on. It is interesting to note that His Excellency Ali Musagara is claiming for M23 Paluku's constituency and has never faced an election in his life.

CDN. Specifically speaking of Mr. Kabila, soon he reaches his 13th year at the helm of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Would you give a brief assessment on the balance of his management ?

AM. This is a very easy exercise  even for beginners:  13 years without an army, without police, without security service, without roads, water, electricity, health care, without free and fair elections at all levels, without concrete sovereignty and the opposition muzzled. Malnutrition, corruption, injustice, bad governance in general are very typical elements and that is also why the DRC is the penultimate country in terms of good governance, just before the Somalia according to the latest publication of the Mont Ibrahim Foundation. The management is out of balance.

Actually it is only 12 years but whatever. It is hard to specifically disagree with the charges against Kabila's administration except to say that it is not quite as bad as the picture Masagara painted. The situation in the eastern DR Congo is a mess but much of that mess can be laid at the doors of Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Tanzania  and the current mess is very much a Rwandan creation organised by the Rwandan proxy M23. It is a bit like your neighbour installing foxes in your chicken run and then the foxes blaming you for the lack of eggs.

CDN: Should you become a political party will you participate in elections scheduled for 2016?

AM: If at least these elections will take place and, anyway, at the head of the CENI Mr. Abbé Apollinaire Malu-Malu, a true filmmaker Kabila continues unceasingly to promote all possible nonsense to perpetuate its dicta in power and without even worrying about the interests of the Congolese people.Moreover, we were with him in Kampala as chief deputy delegation, and I think the Congolese people have already forgotten the kinds of shenanigans committed by the fanatic in 2006. Ultimately no one can contradict me when I say aloud that there is not an independent electoral commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I really don't get this at all. Malu-Malu is a Catholic priest, he has been part of the Kinshasa team at the peace talks, the question is not answered in any real way but the chances of M23 becoming a political party are probably about nil. Alex Engwete might be of some help.

CDN: Why is it then you have been pushed back and the front line is now in Kanyaruchinya, especially as the government continues to brandish this as a loss that you have suffered and which has weakened you ? 

AM: (smiling) That is populist and misleading rhetoric from the government in Kinshasa to quote national spokesman Lambert Mende and his "vuvuzela" we should rather ask the military returning from the front how they can evaluate the firepower they found. Besides if this is the case, why did they fail to pursue us to where we are positioned now. It is rather more evidence to show the whole world that we have the desire to put an end to these conflicts in a peaceful manner.

M23 has reportedly suffered hundreds of casualties and by his own admission is in retreat "... why did they fail to pursue us to where we are positioned now." I suspect that the reason is simple, FARDC have learnt some valuable lessons and are not out running their supply lines, I would hazard a guess that the Intervention ( Africa ) Brigade is also determining the pace of advance. M23 Rwanda has no desire to end this peacefully and from M23's perspective that means death. It might dawn on them that it is their deaths we are talking about. 

CDN: This means you will face MONUSCO and the Special Brigade that currently consists of Tanzanian and South African forces?

AM: You will understand with me that the said brigade is from another mission to track down and neutralize the negative forces that are active in the east of the country and so we are not concerned because we are partners for peace and that is also the reason for our presence in Kampala at the moment. Even so, the brigade could even partner with us if it wants to fulfil its mission. Oddly, what stands out in the field is apparently brigade came only for the M23 even though there are a lot of negative forces that destabilize the population in eastern DRC and are subject to the attention of the Brigade I mean the FDLR and the Mai-Mai, etc..

I suspect I have a major translation issue here because this is just to batshit crazy even for M23 but.

Whisky Tango Foxtrot.. . The International Brigade in conjunction with FARDC have already decimated M23 yet the fool seems to think they are actually on another mission. Why would the Brigade partner with M23 ? Is he trying to recruit them into the M23 camp ? You are the first target of the Intervention Brigade " Your Excellency " but they did not come exclusively for you. 

CDN: your word limit fellow department head?

AM: I ultimately address in general all the Congolese people to say that Kabila wants to confiscate our country, he wants to make a kingdom, we must unite to deal with it and forgetting what  divides us and in particular the Congolese diaspora, let us be alert and wary of all the manipulations emanating from political leaders who swarm about divisive to tarnish the image of our beloved movement;

"... fellow department head " ? Not sure what to make of that other than this is a M23 site. I doubt that Kabila is that stupid that he thinks he could pull off a Monarchy in the DR Congo.

CDN. Comrade Ali Musagara thank you!

AM: It is I who thank you Mr. journalist.

" In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
Friedrich Nietzsche