Rwanda: " The heralds of the holocaust, Uzis on a street corner "

New Times Rwanda reports

Controversial ICTR judge acquits top Genocidaires

                         

                                                                                  Judge Theodor Meron.

Former head of the Rwandan gendarmerie Gen. Augustin Ndindiliyimana walked away from the latest judgement of the appeal bench in Arusha yesterday, Tuesday, having been acquitted of all charges against him.

Augustin Ndindiliyimana seems to have been more of a moderate and that appears to be what has brought about this acquittal it is interseting to note that Paul Rusesabagina   (Hotel Rwanda)  in his biography observes: 

" Ndindiliyimana was more of a moderate who did not seem to entirely approve of the genocide. He also notes that Ndindiliyimana was responsible for dismantling a potentially disastrous roadblock in front of the Hôtel des Mille Collines."

Sorry but  "....who did not seem to entirely approve of the genocide." doesn't sound like a very good defense in my opinion.

The 65-minute ruling also decided on the acquittal and immediate release of former army major François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye and a downgrading of the sentence of Captain Innocent Sagahutu from 20 to 15 years.

Major François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye and Captain Innocent Sagahutu acquittal and the reduction in prison sentence is more than odd, it would seem that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda appeals bench has lost all touch with reality. Or to put it another way Judge Theodor Meron  has. I would have to say that having a clearly senile Judge in charge of the tribunal has resulted in justice being denied to the victims of the atrocities of 1994.  

" The ICTR indictment alleges that between 1990 and 1994, Nzuwonemeye and other officers conspired to exterminate the Tutsi civilians and political opponents, and helped to train interahamwe and militia groups who committed the genocide.

After Habyarimana's death and the start of the genocide, members of the Reconnaissance Battalion commanded by Nzuwonemeye's subordinate, Innocent Sagahutu, "tracked down, arrested, sexually assaulted, and killed" Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana. They also took into custody ten Belgian peacekeepers from UNAMIR who had been guarding her house, who were later killed. They were accompanied in this by members of the Presidential Guard commanded by Major Protais Mpiranya.
During the same operation, the Rwandan Army soldiers took into custody ten Belgian peacekeepers from UNAMIR who had been guarding her house. They were taken back to Camp Kigali, a FAR encampment, were they were "attacked and beaten" by members of RECCE under Sagahutu's command. They were later killed."

Prosecutor Hassan Jallow and trial judges looked shocked and, in some cases, bewildered, by the result.

Bewildered is indeed the operative word here, but I am surprised that they were shocked. Meron has form, as head of the International Tribunal for Yugoslavia he came up with some shockingly bad judgments overturning precedents from WW I I.

" Over the last eight months, a series of surprise rulings at the international war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has sparked extraordinary controversy in the staid world of international law.

Critics say the decisions weakened World War II-era precedents that hold commanders responsible for war crimes. Supporters say their impact is being exaggerated and the judge associated with them is being unfairly maligned."

And that seems to be the crux of the incomprehensible decisions that have been made by the same Judge in these Rwandan cases. This isn't a principle that applies only to the law it is common throughout society, if some goes wrong on your watch you are accountable. Lets be really clear though, genocide is not merely something going wrong, it is the most heinous crime possible and these " soldiers " and I use that word with great reservations, have not been punished.    

A notable absentee from the judgement who had been scheduled to appear was former head of the Rwandan armed forces (FAR) General Augustin Bizimungu.

Originally, the four accused had been tried together as part of the case termed ‘military 2.’

On Friday, February 7, the Appeal bench decided at the final moment that it was ‘severing’ the Bizimungu case from that of the others while it considered ‘the absence of legal findings in the trial judgement in relation to Bizimungu’s conviction for genocide’, for which he had received a 30 year sentence at the ICTR on  May 17, 2011.

The packed public gallery listened attentively as the head of the appeal bench, 83-year-old Presiding Judge Theodor Meron read out the controversial decision.

" ...83-year-old Presiding Judge Theodor Meron ...", 800,000 people died and now we have denied them justice, great age does not always mean great wisdom.

Ndindiliyimana had been sentenced at his original trial for crimes of genocide, extermination and murder but given a sentence of ‘time already served in detention’ that amounted to 11 years and released.

He had been appointed as head of the gendarmerie in September 1992, holding the position until July 1994.  He looked calm and impassive as step by step the appeal bench found that the original trial judges had ‘erred’ in their findings.

In fact, the word ‘erred’ was to be used time and again to describe the previous trial judgement.

I think that the nature of these errors need to be spelt out in far greater detail.  

According to the appeal judges, Ndindiliyimana had ceded control of most of the gendarmerie to the Rwandan army (FAR) on April 7, 1994 and extremist and rogue elements had ‘infiltrated’ the police thus downplaying his authority and ability to control their actions. At his trial it was shown that gendarmes had been guarding Ndindiliyimana’s residence at the request of his wife. Some of these had later taken part in the massacre of Tutsi at Kansi Parish for which Ndindiliyimana was originally held responsible by not preventing or punishing them as their superior.

Following orders is not a defense, but failing to give orders when you are in a position to do so is a defense. This is bollocks, no commander would be foolish enough to give orders to commit crimes against humanity therefor it would seem logical the only possible defense is to give orders that prohibit explicitly the committing of such crimes. Abdication of responsibility as a defense is an obscenity.  

Meron’s appeal bench decided that this was an error and Ndindiliyimana lacked ‘the ability to prevent or punish them and no reasonable trial finding could find the gendarmes had participated’ at the parish. A similar decision was taken to account for his responsibility for killings by Ndindiliyimana’s gendarmes at St André College in Kigali.

Just for the record St Andre College: 

" A number of those who escaped the massacre in the Nyamirambo church hid in the nearby Collège Saint André. There, a similar siege occurred following another broadcast by RTLM. By 11 April, an estimated 100 people were hiding in the school. According to witness testimony, RTLM targeted the school on 11 or 12 April, claiming it was harbouring RPF [Front patriotique rwandais] accomplices. In apparent response to the RTLM broadcast, on the evening of 13 April, the RPF rescued about 40 of the people hiding there. On 14 or 15 April, militias stormed the premises and killed all those remaining."

François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye surprisingly did not attend the court with no reason given for his absence and was represented by his counsel. He had been Commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion within the Rwandan army from 1993.

At his trial in 2011 he was convicted of genocide and murder as a crime against humanity and sentenced to 20 years. Meron, reading the appeal bench decision with just an occasional pause for a sip of water, again decided there had been numerous ‘errors’ by the original trial judges.

Why does the sipping of water remind me so much of this ?

" Pilate washes his hands to show that he was not responsible for the execution of Jesus and reluctantly sends him to his death."

Meron like Pilate and indeed the accused it would seem, feel that abdicating responsibility is acceptable. It wasn't, it isn't and it never will be.

Most notably this had been in the actions of troops under Nzuwonemeye’s control who had taken part in the murder of then prime minister Agathe Uwilingyimana.

However, the appeal court ruled that Nzuwonemeye could not have known that some of his men placed 100 metres away to stop Uwilingiyimana escaping to give a radio broadcast would take part on their own initiative in the brutal killing. Equally, Sagahutu, who was the second in command of the reconnaissance battalion, was also cleared of any responsibility in this killing.

Both army officers had originally been convicted for the murder of members of the Belgian Unamir force, also on April 7, at Camp Kigali.

Meron announced that the appeal bench was clearing Nzuwonemeye of being responsible as a superior officer for the death of the peacekeepers.

It did though find with the original trial decision that Sagahutu had aided and abetted the killing, allowing a mobile grenade launcher to be taken from his office for this purpose, though it was unclear if it was used to murder the last of the Belgians who were putting up some resistance.

A soldier takes a soldiers chance, the Belgian peacekeepers died with honour, that is enough and Meron's  stupidity will never detract from that. It is also far more than can be said for these Genocidaires. 

 

Ndindiliyimana has been living for the past two years in a safe house in Arusha with others the ICTR has either acquitted or released. His attempt, as with many of the other former accused, to get a residency permit for Belgium has been refused. The defence now hopes that this acquittal will enable him to travel to Europe to rejoin his family.

Belgium should issue indictments for murder, that these men, responsible for the deaths of the Belgium peacekeepers could think that Belgium would want them beggars all belief.

Sagahutu, who sported a long greying beard for the judgement, was taken back to the UN detention facilities. However, as he has been in custody since being transferred back from Denmark where he was arrested in February 2000, he has only a year left of his reduced punishment to serve, and it is likely he may be set free far sooner given the ICTR decision to release convicted prisoners after serving three quarters of sentences and he has already applied for early release.

This is not justice, we have failed the 800,000 victims of the Rwandan genocide. 

Given the nature of Meron’s appeal judgements in this case and other military ones at the ICTR and ICTY in the Hague, there is every prospect that General Bizimungu will also find his sentence substantially reduced or even dismissed when he appears in the coming months to hear his own verdict.

Genocide survivor and director at the National Commission for the fight against genocide (CNLG), Dr Diogene Bideri, reacted to yesterday’s verdicts with shock and a sense that once again the ICTR has let down victims of the 1994 horror.

Bideri said: “I cannot really find a word to express what I see happening at the ICTR and what I see as a systematic attempt by Judge Meron, working to a political agenda, that has downplayed what actually happened here and which we Rwandans all know the truth about.

I agree. I disagree with just about everything the current Kigali regime stands for and does but I hope Kagame raises pure hell over this travesty, he would have my total support.

“There is great indignation at the trivialization such a judgement gives, and it is something we cannot accept even though we are just meant to sit back and keep silent.”

Bideri pointed to a number of other highly controversial decisions taken by the appeal bench under Meron in Arusha and at the ICTY in the Hague that have led to high profile military and political figures being acquitted after receiving hefty original sentences with the trial judges being held to be ‘in error’ in their understanding or application of the law.

The world is not short of jurists, why have the victims of 1994 been delivered into the hands of this incompetent ? We the world failed them in life and now we have failed them in death.

Central African Republic: " Adjectives of annihilation "

Amnesty International reports

Central African Republic: War crimes and crimes against humanity in Bangui

More than 1,000 people have been killed in violent attacks in Bangui, Central African Republic.

© Amnesty International

War crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in the Central African Republic, Amnesty International said at the close of a two-week mission to the country.

The organization is calling for the rapid deployment of a robust UN peacekeeping force with a clear mandate to protect civilians – and sufficient resources to do so effectively. 

Rapidly deploying a force has been ruled out by the UN, 

A UN peacekeeping force would take at least two or three months to deploy in the Central African Republic (CAR) even if there was a speedy UN security council resolution, Jan Eliasson, the UN deputy secretary general said on Wednesday

Lesley Ann Warner at the Lesley on Africa blog asks the question that should be be on all of our minds.  We have been aware of the situation in CAR for a year now and why has the world failed to get organised for this eventuality.   

“Our in-depth research on the ground in the Central African Republic over the past two weeks has left no room for doubt that war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed by all parties to the conflict,” said Christian Mukosa, Amnesty International’s Central Africa expert.

The situation is out of control and there is no chance the transitional leadership of the country will be able to resolve the problem.

" The rebel-leader-turned-president of Central African Republic has acknowledged that he doesn't have total control over former allies who are accused of killing scores of civilians.

He said even "an angel from the sky" could not solve all his country's problems." 

“Crimes that have been committed include extrajudicial executions, mutilation of bodies, intentional destruction of religious buildings such as mosques, and the forced displacement of massive numbers of people.”

The three-person Amnesty International delegation has documented the violations and abuses that have taken place since violence erupted on 5 December in the capital, Bangui, with an early morning attack by anti-balaka militia.

Anti-balaka militiamen, who were former members of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), take part in a training session on the outskirts of Bangui on December 17, 2013.

The anti-balaka are reputed to be former member of the CAR military that were displaced when Michel Djotodia the new interim President and his Seleka coalition forces displaced the previous regime in March. Djotodia attempted to dissolve the rebel Seleka bands or at least he claims this but the reality is that they have been terrorising the local christian communities. Inevitably the conflict has now become one of sectarian violence.

" As ragtag as they may appear, they pose the greatest threat to the Muslim ex-rebels now ruling the country since they seized power in the majority Christian country nearly nine months ago. And in interviews with The Associated Press, both the militiamen and a former officers in the national army before the March 2013 coup confirmed they are working together to topple rebel leader-turned-President Michel Djotodia.

"We are revolting so that Djotodia and his fighters leave, and the country can live in peace," said Richard Bejouane, 27, who used to harvest manioc root and peanuts before taking up arms against the rebels known as Seleka earlier this year."

In some neighbourhoods, the anti-balaka forces went door to door and killed approximately 60 Muslim men. The de facto government forces, known as ex-Seleka, retaliated on a larger scale against Christians in the wake of the attack, killing nearly 1,000 men over a two-day period and systematically looting civilian homes. A small number of women and children were also killed.

During the days that followed the initial burst of violence in Bangui, human rights violations and abuses continued at a staggering pace. 

Something that will only get worse as the situation continues to deteriorate.

" The anti-balaka's power base is in and around Bossangoa, the hometown of Francois Bozize, the ousted president. As the movement has grown in strength and numbers, it set its sight on Bangui, the seat of government in the south of the country.

Douze Puissance says he joined the forces of anti-balaka after the Seleka forces attacked his home in April and destroyed his life. His wife and two children 8-year-old daughter Ornela and 10-year-old son Josias were burned alive, he says.

"We want the French to force Djotodia out of office, but if not we will do it with our machetes," he says. "We are farmers, we don't generally get involved in politics. But he sent his men to our villages to kill our families and chase us into the forest."

The anti-balaka movement grew in the aftermath of Seleka attacks on villages across the country's northwest in July and August, said Lewis Mudge, a researcher with Human Rights Watch's Africa division."

The Central African Republic is essentially a christian country 80% with a muslim minority of 15% add in to this equation that the Seleka rebels were supported by mercenaries from Chad and Sudan who seem to have opted to stay on and participate in murder rape and robbery.  I don't think the Djotodia regime can survive. 

Despite the presence of French and African military forces meant to protect the civilian population, civilians are being wilfully killed on a daily basis, with at least 90 additional people killed since 8 December. Some victims have been shot; others have been killed by angry mobs with machetes; others have even been stoned.

There are 1600 French troops with the apparent promise of more from other EC Nations. 

" At a European Union foreign ministers meeting on Monday, France requested more help from allies to bolster its peacekeeping mission beyond logistical and financial aid.

"We will soon have troops on the ground from our European colleagues," Fabius told parliament in response to a question on a lack of European support in Central African Republic."

A very optimistic assessment on the part of the French. 

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Polish Foreign Minister Donald Tusk stopped short of announcing ground troops."In CAR's case we will be ready for limited logistical support in terms of aviation," he said. "A transport aircraft and a group of soldiers, who would take care of it, is something that is within our possibilities," he said.

Belgium's defense ministry said on Friday it was sending tactical aircraft for two months for logistical support that would need 35 soldiers as support. A defense ministry official said Belgium had taken no decision to send any soldiers beyond that, denying a report it would provide 150 soldiers."

There are no where near enough troops at the moment to prevent the situation falling further apart and I doubt that there is much of an apatite in France to send more troops and France's hopes for Poland and Belgium would seem to be misplaced.

The complete absence of justice and accountability for these crimes has led to a downward spiral of revenge killings and to deepening inter-communal hatred and mistrust. In total 614,000 people have been displaced across the country – 189,000 in Bangui alone, a quarter of the city’s population.

“The continuing violence, the extensive destruction of property, and the forced displacement of the population in Bangui are feeding enormous anger, hostility and mistrust,” said Christian Mukosa.

Human Rights Watch has interactive imagery showing war crimes from a satellite's perspective ( Hat Tip Lesley Warner ) .

Above the villages of Bogoro and Bobafio in 2010 from space and below the same villages July 9 2013.

  

Daniel Bekele the Africa director of Human Rights Watch. 

" Seleka leaders promised a new beginning for the people of the Central African Republic, but instead have carried out large-scale attacks on civilians, looting, and murder. What’s worse is that the Seleka have recruited children as young as 13 to carry out some of this carnage."

“There can be no prospect of ending the cycle of violence until the militias are disarmed and there is proper and effective protection for the thousands of civilians at risk in the country. Residential neighbourhoods must be made safe as an urgent priority in order to allow people to go back to their homes and resume their normal lives.”

I doubt that there are anywhere near enough French and African Union troops to disarm the militias the best they can probably hope to do is create safe zones.

Any disarmament process must be accompanied by effective physical protection measures, particularly in crisis hotspots such as the PK5, Miskine and Combattant neighbourhoods. Amnesty International has learned of revenge attacks on those who have been disarmed to date.

One of the most worrying aspects of the current situation is the blurring of lines between organized armed groups and civilian mobs. In many cases it has been difficult to identify those responsible for the killings, but it is clear that many local civilians advocate violent acts of revenge, and some are participating in them. 

Hence the fears of a genocide. Reuters in a piece called the ' Ghost of Rwanda ' reports.

" But waves of massacres and reprisals by Muslim and Christian militias have killed hundreds there since rebels seized power in March, waking the world up to the fact that it might be witnessing the prelude to another Rwanda, where 800,000 were hacked, shot or clubbed to death in 100 days."

Both the Christian and Muslim communities have a deep sense of anger and grievance – many people have shown Amnesty International researchers photos and videos of slaughter that they keep on their mobile phones.

Amnesty International believes that more international troops are urgently needed to ensure security in Bangui and elsewhere in the Central African Republic. 

The UN has left it very late and the French are little more than a stopgap measure until the UN gets organised. 

The African Union has promised to deploy up to 6,000 troops in a new peacekeeping force which is due to take authority in the Central African Republic on 19 December. This deployment is urgently needed but the makeup and deployment plans for the troops have not yet been spelled out.

Amnesty International is also calling on the UN to expedite its plans to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights.

A commission of enquiry is hardly a priority at this point. We need to get boots on the ground and minimise the workload of any future commission.

“It is important to establish responsibility for the crimes that have been committed by all sides in this conflict and ensure an end to decades of impunity that have prevailed in this country,” said Christian Mukosa. The organization has received credible information about militia leaders who are directly implicated in the attacks and should be brought to justice. 

“The international community has an important role to play in the Central African Republic, ensuring peacekeeping forces are deployed with all haste and are given the resources they need to prevent even greater bloodshed.”

The whole operating structure of the UN needs to be examined. Rwanda taught us, or should have, that you don't have three months to get organised in situations like this. In Rwanda 800,000 people died in a space of three months. There is surely an argument for the UN to have a standing ready reaction force that can deploy fast and stabilise situations such as this until a more traditional UN Peacekeeping is available to take over. 

Amnesty International will present its preliminary findings in a briefing at a press conference today in London. It will publish a more in-depth report in early 2014.

Human Rights Watch is publishing a separate report focusing on an escalation of sectarian violence and atrocities in Ouham province in northern Central African Republic.

Lets hope we can short circuit this now. 2014 doesn't need to kick off with a genocide.

DR Congo: Two crossed dead Frenchmen, emblazoned on a mound of dead Frenchmen

Chimp Reports ( Uganda ) reports

France Moves To Preserve Influence, Fuels Insecurity In Great Lakes

By Diana S. Katabarwa 

                                                                                                  Herve Ladsous
When the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2098 on 28th March 2013, for an offensive force to neutralize and disarm Congolese as well as foreign rebel groups in East DRC, this presented France with an opportunity to take decisive measures to safeguard its political and economic interests as well as cultural influence in the Great Lakes region. 

I think Diana S. Katabarwa might be insane. The French contribution to this " offensive force " that is the Intervention ( Africa ) Brigade is of course so extensive that they have no troops involved, no military advisors involved, in fact nothing at all, other than a seat on the UN Security Council that authorised the Intervention Brigade. The question then becomes how did those devious French cheese eaters manage to manipulate the UN security council into such an action ? 

The French were subtle so incredibly subtle the world missed their diplomatic play totally, no where will you find it reported that the French somehow manipulated International Conference for the Great Lakes Region into demanding that an intervention force be deployed in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

" The ICGLR summit asked the rebels to withdraw from “current positions to the ground of tactical importance not less than 20km from Goma town within 2 days (from Saturday).”

The Kampala summit also resolved that a composite force comprising one company of a proposed neutral force, one company of Congolese army (FARDC) and one company of M23 be deployed at Goma airport, and also asked the UN Stabilisation Mission in Congo (Monusco) to “occupy and provide security in the neutral zone between Goma and the new areas occupied by M23”."

How did the French know at this early point before even the ICGLR asked for the Intervention Brigade to come under the auspices of the UN and be integrated into the MONUSCO command structure that here was their opportunity to recolonise Africa ? Even better those subtle French, managed to get Uganda and Rwanda to propose what was eventually to become the Brigade . 

French policy in the Great Lakes has always been ‘the end justifies the means’ which explains why in 1994 France continued to support the Rwandan army even as the genocide unfolded and bodies were piling on streets, in churches and stadiums.

France was not oblivious to what was going on at that time but regarded its support for the genocidal regime as a necessity to stop the advance of the English speaking Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) ‘’invaders’’ from overrunning what France considered as its territory and posing a threat to French influence, language and culture.

OK  Time for a quick history lesson. Germany colonised Rwanda in 1884 followed by Belgium in 1916 and Rwanda achieved independence in 1962. Now I might be a bit dim but I had no idea that both Germany and Belgium were actually part of France during the colonial period. I also was unaware that post 1962 the Rwandan state seeded authority to France. Or let me put it another way, Katabarwa is talking shit.

The French and Anglo Saxon rivalry for influence in post-colonial Africa coupled with France’s delusions of grandeur drove France to prop up a regime that massacred one million people in Rwanda in 1994.

Quite a few. The whole bloody world was guilty of looking the other way during the Rwandan Genocide. There is no excuse for it but lets not make it Frances exclusive responsibility. Abdicating our responsibility means it can happen again, and we only need to look across the Rwandan border to see the evidence of that.  

This rivalry for influence recently came to a head again in North Kivu Province of East DRC where France in the guise of MONUSCO took decisive measures to protect its interests.

What rivalry ? The Anglos Saxons to use an antiquated term are not really interested. 

After M23’s withdrawal from Goma in December 2012, despite the presence of MONUSCO on ground, Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Mayi Mayi Shetani militias and Janvier Karairi’s militias moved into positions in and around Goma, Mudja, Rusayo, Kanyati, Ishasha, Nyamilima, Kisharu and Vishumbi to reinforce the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC).

This development did not go unnoticed by the locals but for some reason received no mention whatsoever from the international media, human rights groups or NGOs on ground.

Actually I suspect it did go unnoticed by the locals I sure as hell didn't see any evidence of that. 

In April 2013 the UN Intervention Brigade arrived in North Kivu accompanied by 30 French military experts. Shortly after, rockets were fired from the FARDC/FDLR controlled area into Rwandan territory.

I have been unable to confirm a French presence. It would seem rather unlikely however I would be less surprised if they were observers. 

FDLR had experienced a new surge in confidence similar to that of 1994 when they cheered as the first French troops arrived in Zone Turquoise which was presumably established to stop the genocide but instead ended up providing safe passage into Zaire for Interahamwe and ex-FAR (former Rwandan army) as they fled from the RPF advance.

If I was part of the FDLR I would be feeling anything but confident. They must know it will be there turn next and unlike M23 they have no where to run.

On 30 July MONUSCO gave “negative elements’’ (read M23) 48 hours to disarm. Following the ultimatum, out of over 25 armed groups in East DRC, M23 was singled out and attacked by the joint forces of the UN Intervention Brigade, FARDC and FDLR.

So M23 were unaware that despite bombing Goma and Rwandan territory they were going to be attacked. That is worth a Darwin award.

Belgian Foreign Minister Reynders visited Joseph Kabila on 22nd August 2013 and advised the DRC government not to integrate the M23 into the national army 

Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) that had only a few weeks earlier sent over 60,000 Congolese fleeing into Uganda was of no immediate concern to the UN Brigade. Neither was FDLR that has terrorized Eastern DRC for the last 18 years. 

" Immediate " is the operative word. Rwandan troops massing on the border. M23 firing into Rwandan territory in an attempt to start a full scale war. I wasn't in the least surprised.

The 48 hour ultimatum and attack on M23 was the method employed by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations to thwart UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Mary Robinson and US Secretary of State John Kerry’s preference for a political resolution to the conflict which if attained would give the Anglo Saxons an upper hand in East DRC. France regards the DRC as its territory. 

Really. This is getting a bit hysterical. I am assuming the author wants an Anglo Saxon influence.

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations is headed by Herve Ladsous who was deputy head of the French UN Mission in 1994. He defended the Habyarimana regime prior to the genocide and after the genocide he was instrumental in organizing for the establishment of Zone Turquoise which provided an escape route for the mass murderers. 

Eighteen years later, Harve Ladsous is once again in position to influence decisions at the UN regarding security matters in the Great Lakes region and to take measures to safeguard France’s influence and interests. France has perfected the art of presenting its interests disguised as solutions to local problems, the most recent such ‘’solution’’ being to neutralize the M23.

Yes.... Frances greatest foreign policy goal isn't the Central African Republic where it was the colonial power it is M23's elimination. Delusions of grandeur ? 

" KAMPALA (Reuters) - South African soldiers gathered in Uganda on Thursday for a "new mission" to the Central African Republic (CAR), where 13 of their comrades were killed in a rebel coup at the weekend, South African media and a senior Ugandan officer said.

"The intention of the South Africans is to reorganize themselves and then redeploy massively in CAR and topple these rebels. They were humiliated and they want to avenge," the officer told Reuters, asking not to be named."

The South African Army deployed to CAR to prevent a rebel takeover. They did so when it became apparent that France was not interested in any intervention other than the protection of French interests and citizens.

Harve Ladsous, current Chief of UN Peacekeeping operations defended Habyarimana’s government in 1994 

The idea of a strong and organized local force emerging with the potential to stem the exploitation of Congolese resources that has been going on for decades is not in the interests of Belgium and France who have been beneficiaries from colonial times to the present day.


Those bloody Belgians.

DR Congo: A knoty problem tied yet again to Belgium.

Danielle Van Oijen of Greepeace blogs.

I know very little about logging but there is one connection.....

The lengths illegal wood will travel

Look around and check if you see any wood surfacing. It might be a cupboard in your kitchen, your chair, or the desk you are reading this on. Then chances are you see tropical veneer.

There is also a chance that the wood for that veneer has been sourced illegally. Possibly even from thousands of miles away in the Democratic Republic of Congo where companies cut through the country's vast intact forests to harvest timber.

Illegal logging is rampant in the DRC and in other countries throughout the Congo Basin, home to the world's second largest rain-forested area. Several international companies are involved and much of the wood makes its way to Europe.

Greenpeace recently investigated one shipment of endangered Wengé wood. Its journey and destination demonstrate why new legislation, recently introduced by the EU, needs a lot more attention from governments and companies.

Felled in the Congolese province of Equateur using an illegal permit by the Bakri Bois Corporation, the wood was then floated hundreds of kilometers along the Congo river, driven to the international harbor where a large container ship loaded the wood on board and made the long journey north to the Belgian port of Antwerp where it unloaded its cargo on April 24.

Hmm Belgium What a surprise. 

Greenpeace Belgium spotted immediately that the wood was illegal. Then, emphasising the global nature of the timber trade, a Swiss-based trader Bois d'Afrique Mondiale bought the wood, but left it in the customs zone for two months, while the company was presumably searching for a buyer.

Almost two months later, Greenpeace found the same shipment of wood at a veneer processing facility in the Czech Republic, which is owned by none other than the Danzer Group. The controversial Swiss-based timber giant was disassociated from the Forest Stewardship Council just over a month ago after a complaint from Greenpeace alleging that they were involved in human rights violations through one of their then subsidiaries in DRC in 2011.

This week our team in the Czech Republic staged an action before the timber was able to be moved on. Briefly commandeering the wood, they called for the authorities in the country to seize it immediately and implement the terms of the European Timber Regulation (EUTR).

A thorough and immediate investigation into Danzer's practices as well as into the other companies involved in the supply chain is required.

The European Union, after many years of campaignsing by an array of NGOs, adopted the EUTR in 2010, which prohibits timber traders and companies placing any illegal timber or timber products on the EU market. It became effective in March 2013, but clearly faces challenges with its enforcement.

The trade of illegal timber operates essentially in a vicious circle. While companies will continue to fuel illegal logging in the DRC if they break the EUTR and place illegal timber on the market, the lack of good governance and enforcement in the country’s chaotic logging sector means shipments can leave the country with impunity.

Those that stand to lose out most are ordinary Congolese whose environment is being destroyed and whose livelihoods are removed. Last month Greenpeace visited the Bakri Bois Corporation's logging area in Equateur province. Local witnesses described how the company had broken its social contract.

The authorities in the DRC need to begin enforcing their own regulations and governments in the EU need to make sure they do not turn a blind eye to illegal timber trade, epitomized by the shipment of endangered Wengé from the tropics of the Congo to a veneer facility in the Czech countryside. Otherwise the forests and communities of the Congo Basin will continue to suffer as their trees end up lining the inside of yachts and adorning high end furniture.

Interesting that neo-colonialism raises it head again.

DR Congo: The Bastards of Belgium...amongst others.

International Rivers reports

Community History of Inga 1 and Inga 2

                                                                    Camp Kinshasa.

According to Mr. Simon Malanda, representative of the displaced communities, the Inga site was inhabited by families from six clans who were forced to leave the site in 1920 under Belgian colonial orders. However, the project did not move forward for more than 30 years. In 1954-55, the Belgian authorities undertook a population survey of the site in order to know if people were still living in, or had returned to, the site.


It is difficult to believe in today's context that such a inhumane decision could be made. Destroying the security, lively hoods and a community for no reason what so ever.


Mr. Malanda’s uncle, Mr. Ferdinand Sona, was recruited by the project planners to assist in the survey. After the survey was completed, Mr. Ferdinand led a community effort seeking compensation for the displaced communities. In 1958, an agreement with the Belgian colonial authorities was reached for a lump sum of 781,000 Belgian francs to be paid to the displaced communities. This was not paid prior to Congo's independence. Since independence neither the Congolese government nor SNEL, the state utility which oversees Inga, has paid any compensation to the communities. The communities report having never received any financial or in-kind compensation.


I don't have the 1958 exchange rate for a Belgium franc but the 1999 conversion would be Euros  20,000. Looking at British inflation figures it would  seem to be reasonable to assume the original 781,000 francs would have devalued in the area of 400-500 % so lets say
20 000 Belgium francs in today's terms except that for the last 14 years the franc has been extinct so we are back to 1999 figures giving us in 1999 terms a compensation package of around Euros 500 for the effected communities. Lets bring that back to today's terms and we are at about 16,000 Euros, less than the average wage for a Belgium worker. This I concede is a very rough piece of mental arithmetic on my part but....it should come as no surprise I called this the Bastards of Belgium. 


When Mr. Sona died, Mr. Malanda took over efforts to have the community claim fulfilled. Several correspondences with SNEL dating back to 1970 show a history of discussion regarding the claim and desire by the communities to ensure that the compensation was paid and that a revenue sharing scheme was put in place.

SNEL ( Société nationale d'électricité ) is the national electricity company of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It si worth reflecting on over 40 years of discussions and what that means from a perspective of " good faith bargaining ".  Even worse is a quick look at the ownership of SNEL .


The government has a broad involvement in the energy sector. It holds part ownership in all energy enterprises, including the National Electric Company Société Nationale d'Électricité--SNEL

In 1970, SNEL wrote to Mr. Malanda that the claim would be included in the 1971 budget. SNEL did not fulfill its agreement. The communities twice engaged a lawyer on their behalf, in 1975 and more recently in 2006. In 1975, a lawyer for the communities submitted their claim to the high court in Kinshasa, but SNEL persuaded the lawyer to withdraw the claim and settle out of court. Yet no settlement was made. In 2006, SNEL undertook a one-day investigation of the situation, but no follow up was done to the knowledge of the communities. In 1994, the communities wrote seeking connection to the electricity grid. But to this day, none of the villages, including Manzi located just 3 kilometers from the grid, are electrified. In 2008, Mr. Malanda took the communities’ claim to the Provincial governor and to the national parliament to again seek government intervention and a resolution. Mr. Malunda has also submitted the renewed claim to government officials, SNEL, and MP Ngoma (who is invited to the London meeting).


It reads like satire but unfortunately it isn't. This is a tale of  colonial, neo colonial and post colonial abuse inflicted on a community that can't fight back.

 

The six clans were absorbed into 12 pre-existing villages and one new village (Lubwaku, meaning “thrown away”) around the area. In addition, Camp Kinshasa, the former workers’ camp, is now inhabited by a mix of displaced families from the six clans, and by former project workers or children of former workers. This camp is located on land taken by SNEL for the projects, and in 2006, the population, an estimated 9,000 people, were told to abandon the camp. However, after intervention from local and international NGOs, the authorities indefinitely ceased their order to communities.


As late as 6 years ago in other words the abuse was still being inflicted on these communities.

 

The population of Camp Kinshasa has grown over the years. However, the residents are not allowed to build on the site, so 3-4 families are cramped together in each house. There are no sanitation facilities, so residents use the boundaries of the camp to relieve themselves. There is only one water pump connected to the camp, but this is connected by a pipe to the SNEL personnel community located nearby, and the water pressure is too low during the day, allowing the community to draw water only at night time. During the day, residents must walk to the nearest stream. Camp Kinshasa is the only area where displaced communities have access to electricity.
 

The affected communities have organized themselves into two committees. There is a committee of the 6 clans and a second committee which embodies the 6 clans plus the community of former workers now settled at Camp Kinshasa.


Remember we are now some 93 years on from the original evictions.
 

The claims of the communities include the following:

 1. Payment for the displacement compensation (the amount would need to be negotiated to consider that the original amount was probably inadequate at the time, inflation, rise in property value, and possibly a penalty for not paying compensation at the original time)

2. Preferential access to jobs for community members

3. Electrification of all affected communities (this is complicated by more resettlement)

4. A benefit sharing mechanism which would provide an annual dividend to the communities

5. A “modern city” with schools, health care, roads, internet and other infrastructure.


It would also seem reasonable to hold the government of Belgium responsible as the advocates for this sort of solution to be organised. Belgium you are ultimately to blame you are responsible. Redeem your honour. Keep faith with the people upon who's backs you became one of the richest nations on earth. You owe them and all Congolese that.

 

DR Congo & Belgium: The Arsehole's of Antwerp

It is difficult to fathom why the leaders of Antwerp would market the city with chocolate hands but it does on the grounds that they represent friendship. They don't they represent  the most brutal and repressive aspects of Belgium colonialism in the Congo. A Rwandan friend of mine surprised me when he mentioned that they were still a product sold in Belgium given the historical context I didn't really believe him. He was right.

Ancient Worlds blogs 

To this day, in the chocolate shops of Belgium, chocolate 'hands' are sold and represent Belgic former claims of imperial power. Between 1884 and 1885, European Imperialist powers sat around tables in Berlin and decided the partition and colonial fate of Africa. It was to Congo’s misfortune that King Leopold of Belgium was given the largest and soon to become evident, richest chunk of the richest continent. I had a vague notion of the 'hands' from listening to 'Short memory' by the Aussie band, Midnight Oil. But in no way does the Midnight Oil song explain the lyrics reference and it's not as if Central African history is one of my strong points...

The Belgians in the numerous rubber plantations forced Congolese children, men and women into slave labour. From Letissa we learned that their hands were cut off by the Belgian colonizers in a macabre system of accounting. Sometimes hands were cut off because workers didn’t work fast enough. Sometimes rubber plantation guards brought back hands as evidence they had killed workers who had failed to meet their rubber bounty. Other times such hands helped the plantation guards “prove” they hadn’t wasted any bullets on hunting game, an offence in the eyes of the colonialists. Children’s hands were chopped off as punishment for late deliveries of rubber. Over the next 20 years of direct Belgian rule, millions of Africans would die by murder, of disease and the deplorable conditions of life. Resistance was put down by wanton murder in what today we would call "ethnic cleansing." In the meantime, the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber and Exploration Company were racking up 700 percent profits on its shipments of rubber from the Congo. The company’s stock-market valuation increase 30 times in six years.

King Leopold, who utterly condoned and applauded this behaviour of his subjects, was celebrated in European capitals as a humane and progressive pioneer of 'Christian values' in "darkest Africa." I think he was an arsehole. Letissa, who finds the sale of these dark chocolate hands, extremely distasteful, suggests if we wish to buy Belgian chocolate to avoid buying 'hands' as she is trying to have the practice stopped. She offers us the more recognisable iconic Belgic Guylian 'sea shells' and after more tea we slip off to our room to sleep, with some of my illusions regarding Belgic history, now shattered.

Short Memory Midnight Oil ( Incidently I have been privileged to attend a live concert of Midnight Oil and it was truly awesome ).





Conquistador of Mexico
The Zulu and the Navaho
The Belgians in the Congo, Short memory

Plantation in Virginia
The Raj in British India
The deadline in South Africa, Short memory

The story of El Salvador
The silence of Hiroshima

Destruction of Cambodia, short memory

Short memory, must have a, Short memory
Short memory, must have a, Short memory

The sight of hotels by the Nile,
The designated Hilton style
With running water specially bought, short memory

A smallish man Afghanistan
A watch dog in a nervous land
They're only there to lend a hand, short memory

The friendly five a dusty smile 
Wake up in sweat at dead of night
And in the tents new rifles hey, short memory

Short memory, must have a, Short memory
Short memory, must have a, Short memory
(repeat)

If you read the history books you'll see the same things happen again and again
Repeat repeat short memory they've all got it
When are we going to play it again
Got a short, got a short, got a short, got a short
They've got a short must have a short they've got a short aah
Short memory, they've got a.