DR Congo: " Hey you, you've survived. Now you've arrived "

Voice of America reports

DRC to Send Peacekeeping Troops to CAR

Internally displaced children, who are escaping the violence, pose at Bangui's Saint Paul's Church December 17, 2013. Some European countries will send troops to support a French-African mission to restore order in Central African Republic, French Foreign

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) information minister says 850 peacekeeping troops from the national army, the FARDC, will be sent next week to neighboring Central African Republic (CAR) to help with efforts to stabilize the security situation there.

The DR Congo is listed second in the Failed States Index 2013 by comparison the Central African Republic ( CAR ) comes in at number nine. So there is a certain irony in this, that said this is an excellent development and is quite probably a result of the professionalisation of FARDC , that is an achievement Kinshasa can be justifiably proud of. 

Lambert Mende says the government in Kinshasa is providing assistance to about 50,000 CAR citizens who have so far crossed the border into the DRC to flee the unrest that has displaced tens of thousands.

Another irony given the problems caused in the Eastern DR Congo this week by the Ugandan rebel group ADF that has forced Congolese citizens to seek safety in Uganda. Again though this can be seen as a positive development. That the Congolese government has developed the capacity and authority to be able to provide humanitarian assistance is an indicator of just how far the administration in Kinshasa has come. I hope Kinshasa is receiving international assistance funding this effort. 

The DR Congo I suspect will not be listed as the second most failed state in the world in 2014. 

He says the administration has told its citizens the decision to send the troops to the CAR is based on a request by the Southern African Development Community, (SADC) to contribute troops to help with peace keeping efforts in CAR, which he says will also benefit the DRC.

It will definitely benefit the DR Congo. It will provide invaluable experience for the FARDC personnel involved and skills that will be transferable to conflict zones domestically. There is also intangible national benefits, nation building being one that springs to mind.

" Nation-building refers to the process of constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state.This process aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run."

“We have been requested to send troops for peacekeeping mission in Central Africa and we did so by sending a battalion of 850 troops,” said Mende. “So we have to work for peace in the Central African Republic. Working for peace in Bangui is working for peace and security in Congo.”

Again that is undeniable. The DR Congo borders the CAR and regional stability will provide regional benefits that far outweigh the current chaos that is endemic to the region. A lesson that both Uganda and Rwanda might want to take on board with regard to their manipulations in the eastern DR Congo.   
Some civil society groups are objecting to the deployment saying the DRC faces security threats from several armed groups inside the country, who often attack civilians. But Mende says the DRC has received help from its own neighbors to deal with insurgencies inside its own borders. 

Insofar as South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi are neighbours, one should remember that the insurgencies Mende's refers to are a direct result of other Congolese neighbours that have been no help at all.

“Our friends [from] SADC in terms of assistance sent troops to defeat the M23. So people are wise and they know that we not only receive, but we have also to give when Africa is in need. Since we received we must also give and the people understand this,” said Mende.

This is DRC’s first international peacekeeping effort since the country gained independence, according to Mende.

That is a milestone that is not to be sniffed at.

Some observers have said the gesture is a publicity stunt, saying the administration should concentrate on the DRC’s own security needs since its troops are needed to augment United Nations Mission (MONUSCO) peacekeepers in the DRC.

I guess those observers must be saying it in Swahili or French because I have been unable to find an English language report of it. To describe a nation standing up an shouldering a share of responsibility as an international citizen as a " publicity stunt " is in my opinion little more than a publicity stunt itself.

Mende says his government needs to take preemptive measures to ensure the security situation in neighboring CAR does not spill over into the DRC.

“This fire in the Central African Republic, if we don’t [take] care to have it finished it will absolutely land in our Equator Province and our Oriental Province,” said Mende. “So doing this we are taking care of our own security as the DRC. So people must before arguing, read a map of Congo.”

Given the issue in the Kivus that is undeniable. 50,000 refugees would suggest that to some degree it already has landed in the northern provinces. Dealing with problems at their source doesn't seem a half bad idea to me.

Mende says that it is in the interest of both the DRC and the entire region to ensure peace and stability in the CAR.

Exactly.

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.

The Great Lakes Region: " A region that rusts from the tears of it's broken men "

New Vision reports

Kony wants to surrender

UNITED NATIONS - Notorious warlord Joseph Kony tried to negotiate food and a safe haven with the president of Central African Republic even as an African force hunted him, a UN envoy told AFP on Wednesday.

Amid indications that the Lord's Resistance Army leader is seriously ill, UN special envoy Abou Moussa and an African Union counterpart called for heightened pressure on Kony.

Kony is beyond any redemption. He should be denied any safe haven or support.  

Moussa said in an interview that Central African Republic president Michel Djotodia had told him this month he sent food to Kony.

"When we met President Djotodia he told us that he is in contact with him (Kony)," said Moussa, UN envoy for the Central African region where Kony's rebels are accused of killing 100,000 people in a two-decade reign of terror.

I have held great doubts about the ( former) Séléka coalition government that now rules the Central African Republic. I hold no great faith that it will survive more than a few years and acts of insanity such as giving succor to the likes of Kony suggest it is not fit to govern the country.

"He told us that he had provided him with 20 bags of food, with manioc, cassava.

"He added that Kony had called him, that Kony has asked for these items." Kony was also reported to have asked for the creation of a safe zone for him and his fighters in Central African Republic.

Why would you even consider it. The LRA have done no favours to any of the nations they have operated from, why on earth didn't the interim president Michel Djotodia just hand the intelligence over on the food drop to the Ugandan authorities and let them clean the mess that is the LRA up.

Moussa said Kony's whereabouts was not known but Djotodia believed the LRA chief was in Central African Republic, which is confronted by its own murderous chaos after a rebel takeover in March.

Moussa said he had warned the transitional president against providing food unless it was part of a deal involving a surrender.

"If he wants to surrender, he wants food, they should come out of the bush," the envoy said.

Moussa quoted Djotodia as saying that once Kony has given up, he would be handed over to the United Nations.

Actually I think it would be better to hand his mutilated corpse over, Djotodia is just an idiot if he believes that Kony is going to surrender for a few bags of cassava. Why on earth does he want the creation of a safe zone ?     

Kony, who launched a rebellion in his native Uganda two decades ago, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, enslavement, sexual slavery and recruiting child soldiers.

A 3,000-strong Ugandan-led African force is hunting Kony in Central African Republic, Uganda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.

They are backed by about 100 military advisors from the United States, which has offered a $5 million reward for Kony's capture.

The United Nations estimates that 400,000 people are displaced in countries in the region because of Kony's marauding.

Winning friends and influence are clearly not priorities for Djotodia who I assume is not a total idiot, one has to wonder what his agenda is ?

Sick

Recent LRA attacks have been reported in South Sudan and Central African Republic. Moussa said defections have increased while the number of attacks is down, but that Kony is still widely "feared".

Moussa and African Union envoy on the LRA, Francisco Madeira, said there were indications that Kony is ailing.

A bullet would cure that.

"Many reports that we have received indicate that he is suffering from some serious illness, uncharacterized illness," Madeira told reporters after a UN Security Council meeting on the LRA.

Moussa told AFP that on a recent trip to Kampala, a well informed official had told him that Kony was believed to be sick.

"Of course you cannot be living in the jungle like that for years and years and continue to be in good health," Moussa said.

That depends on the manner of your living and the particular jungle, Sudan certainly appears to have looked after him rather well.

Madeira told the Security Council that Kony could have been "duping" the Central African Republic government into talks so he could move his fighters.

He said the special force will "not relent on the military pressure against the LRA until Kony and his top commanders surrender or are removed from the battlefield."

Exactly.

The LRA is now estimated to number less than 500 fighters, split into small groups in different countries. Moussa said Kony has suffered defections but forces villagers to reinforce his armed bands.

Moussa said the Central African Republic authorities had expected a mass surrender by LRA fighters on November 3, but it did not happen.

What a surprise. Not. What is a surprise is that we are meant to believe in the naivety of the CAR government.

"But it shows the pressure. They want to surrender but they feel it is not yet the time. That is why the pressure must continue on Kony," Moussa said.

At the UN Security Council meeting on the LRA, US deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis said it was essential for the international community to "remain united in our determination to crush the LRA, which has proven its willingness to wait the international community out and to exploit to its advantage every opportunity to regroup."

Never forgive never forget.

Africa: Child Soldiers

Inter Press Services reports

War is War for CAR Rebel Child Soldiers

Former child solider from Democratic Republic of Congo, Mulume* (front left) feels hopeless about his future. Central African Republic rebels now need international credibility and know that the presence of child soldiers in their ranks tarnishes their image.

BANGUI, Apr 10 2013 (Infosud) - At 13 years, Youssouf embodies all the ills that have plagued the Central African Republic in recent years. On Mar. 24, he helped capture Bangui, the capital, as he fought in the ranks of the Séléka rebel coalition.

“Only yesterday, I was old enough to fight and kill. Yet today I have to wait until I’m 18 to join the army?” Under the shade of the mango tree in the Bangui army base, where he is being kept secretly with three other child soldiers, Youssouf fumes. He feels betrayed by the Séléka rebels who marched onto the capital to instate their leader, Michel Djotodia.

The rebels now need international credibility and know that the presence of child soldiers in their ranks tarnishes their image. The question came into sharp focus after the South African troops who were defending the presidential palace and its occupant, ousted President Francois Bozizé, reported being traumatised to find that the rebels they had fought and killed were mostly “kids”.

To keep them out of sight, Séléka has placed many child soldiers with families from northern CAR, where most of the rebels, like Youssouf, come from.

But Youssouf stayed at the camp. Djotodia dropped the young boy off in person the day after Bangui was captured when he found Youssouf standing guard at a Séléka checkpoint.

“I want to be a soldier, fighting is the only thing I know how to do,” he says. The army beret glued to his head is almost as red as his eyes. “That’s because of white tobacco,” he confides. It is his “drug” – a mixture of Indian hemp and cassava flour. “With this, you don’t retreat, you’re never scared.”

Kidnapped by the LRA

Youssouf’s life is a convergence of the evils eating away at CAR for several years. His life was turned upside down for the first time in April 2011.

“For several days, Ugandan militia from the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) were looting and kidnapping people around in Birao (in CAR), where I lived. Even though it was dangerous, I went with my mother to the fields. But the LRA men found us. They raped my mother in front of me and then they shot her.”

The armed group forced the young boy to carry their ammunition. Then they turned him into a killing machine. “They taught me to use weapons like Kalashnikovs, RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) launchers… I became a man like them.”

Not long afterwards, Youssouf and other child soldiers, who make up 90 percent of the LRA forces, met Joseph Kony, the militia leader who is wanted by the International Criminal Court.

“The first time was in August 2011, near Zémio (in southeast CAR, on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He is very tall, with a beard and always wears a hat.

“He spoke to us very roughly. I saw him again soon after that, during the attack on Djéma, a nearby town. Kony lined up seven villagers and ordered us, the children, to kill them. I shouted out ‘Yes sir!’ and shot two people. That’s how I was able to stay alive.”

Youssouf’s slender body heaves with sobs.

“The LRA kills children who are sick or too slow. One evening, I escaped,” he recounts.

After walking for three days, he was rescued near Rafaï, a southern town that borders DRC, by American troops deployed in a renewed hunt for Kony in 2012. Youssouf was placed in the care of the International Red Cross, who brought him home to Birao as part of a programme to reunite child soldiers with their families. But Youssouf had no family left in the town.

“War is war”

He found a job as an errand boy with close allies of Djotodia, the former diplomat who had returned from exile in Benin to lead the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity, one of the main rebel groups in the Séléka coalition that was formed later on.

“I wanted to enlist with them. But Djotodia said he did not want child soldiers. He offered to let me follow them to help with cooking and cleaning,” Youssouf says.

For all that, starting with the attack on Ndéle, northern CAR, in early December 2012, a few hundred kilometres to the south, the leader’s good intentions disappeared into thin air.

“As soon as the colonel told me to get onto vehicle number six, I knew I was going into combat. The vehicles numbered one to 10 were attack vehicles, the ones after that were for logistics. The sergeant gave me a gun and said to me, ‘Be a man.’”

“I continued the journey all the way to Bangui in that car, using my AK, town after town. How many people did I kill? I don’t know. War is war, that’s all. As far as I am concerned, I stopped being a child a long time ago. My only hope now is to be trained as a real soldier at last,” Youssouf said emphatically.

I have nothing. Absolutely nothing

Central African Republic: South Africa further humiliated

Reuters reports

S. Africa's Zuma to join summit on Central African Republic 

(Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma will attend a summit of central African heads of state in Chad on Wednesday which will consider responses to the rebel takeover in Central African Republic.

Given that former president Bozize has fled and that the security apparatus including the army and police have pledged loyalty to the rebel regime. there is no substantive response available.

                                                            Michel Djotodia President CAR

"All the former chiefs of police, gendarmes, the head of the armed forces and other senior officers came to the meeting. This was a form of surrender," he said.

The world fairly much made its response known back in late December 2012 when the rebels started to make real inroads I blogged at the time,  

" Bozize’s appeals for help from France and from the United States to fight the rebels have fallen on deaf ears.

Neighbouring Chad, which has helped Bozize with rebellions in 2010, earlier sent a contingent to the country, however."

Unlike the DR Congo the west has not invested heavily in legitimising the regime electorally if it should fall so be it would seem to be the prevailing attitude.

The regime has fallen and the only sensible response the world can make is to recognise the new regime. Jacob Zuma looks like the bloody fool he is and I am guessing the Chad meeting is more about saving Zuma's face than any substantive response to the  Seleka coalitions take over.

The South African leader was invited by Chadian President Idriss Deby, chair of the 10-nation Economic Community of Central African States, to join the extraordinary ECCAS summit in N'Djamena on April 3, Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj said.

South Africa is facing questions about its role in Central African Republic after 13 of its soldiers were killed there last weekend as they fought alongside government troops trying to prevent rebels from ousting President Francois Bozize from power.

South Africa screwed up. I suspect it was motivated by a perceived pissing contest with France and one that France adroitly avoided.  South Africa will no doubt become the regions major power but it is not ready for that role yet and certainly not  in situations like the CAR that are significantly geographically removed. The South African military has substantial " building in capacity " exercise in front of it if it is to fulfill the current geopolitical fantasies of Zuma.

The opposition in South Africa and regional analysts have asked why a South African military training mission in Central African Republic became directly entangled in the internal conflict there.

Ego. Zuma's.

South African media reports have suggested the soldiers were defending South African mining interests in a country rich in diamonds, uranium and oil, but officials in Pretoria have denied this. They say the presence of the 400 South African troops was covered by a 2007 bilateral defence accord with Bozize.

Maharaj told Reuters there was nothing unusual about the South African role in Central African Republic or Zuma's participation in the extraordinary ECCAS summit in Chad.

"We want to participate and benefit from the knowledge of the colleagues in the region, and share our ideas," he said.

Now that is funny. I blogged this from the Zimbabwe Mail a couple of days ago.

" 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.

I rather suspect that a massive redeployment and " ..toppling these rebels " is no longer the plan. It would seem though the South African media have learnt something from the French. From above.

" South African media reports have suggested the soldiers were defending South African mining interests.."

They weren't deployed for that reason that was the reason the French deployed. I guess the only institution that is more stupid than the media is government. 

Zuma would be accompanied at the summit by his ministers for foreign affairs, state security and defence.

On Friday, Central African Republic's new president, rebel leader Michel Djotodia, said he would review resource deals signed by the previous government and promised to step down at elections in 2016.

Djotodia was responding to questions about resource licences awarded to Chinese and South African firms by Bozize.

He added he would seek aid from former colonial power France and the United States to retrain the ill-disciplined army, a statement which appeared to be a blow to South African aspirations to maintain a role in Central African Republic.

That is the real kicker in this report. South Africa has failed, Zuma has been humiliated. The meeting in Chad is nothing more than a face saving exercise. 

Maharaj said South Africa's involvement there stemmed from calls by the African Union in the mid-2000s for African states to participate actively in moves to maintain stability and contribute to capacity-building in the central African state, which has a history of coups and revolts.

He said the 2007 bilateral defence accord, whose details have not been made public, derived directly from this.

Following the rebel takeover, the African Union suspended Central African Republic's membership and imposed sanctions on the rebel leaders, including Djotodia.

Yawn. Michel Djotodia has won. For the moment.

Central African Republic: South Africa fails.

The Zimbabwe Mail reports

South Africa troops in Uganda for Central Africa "mission"

                                                               South African Army

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.  

Alex Engwete blogged in January.

" Hollande might therefore be arguably in cahoots with those armed bandits!... 

But beyond the insult to Bozizé and the lack of concern for Central 
African residents whose lives are disrupted by these armed plunderous 
hordes, Hollande's callous statement evinced a total contempt for 
Africa and Africans. 

Fortunately for CAR citizens and Africans at large, enter South Africa 
and Jacob Zuma, whose intervention will be hailed in the years to come 
as the watershed in new African responsibility and leadership. 

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has entered the fray 
in CAR and Zuma wants them to stay there till 2018! 

France could still attempt to hang around, but the wrath expressed by 
Central Africans these past weeks against it has clearly shown it that 
it is no longer welcome in that neighborhood. 

South Africa and Zuma are now leading the way and showing the world 
that Africa could protect its own interests and its citizens without 
begging the likes of France and Hollande! " 

The South African intervention has clearly failed, this is blow to the aspirations of Zuma to become the regions power broker short term however I wouldn't bet against Engwete's analysis in the longer term. I also do not applaud it.  

The deaths were Pretoria's heaviest military defeat since the end of apartheid in 1994, and President Jacob Zuma has drawn fierce criticism for reinforcing 26 military trainers in the capital, Bangui, after an initial rebel advance in December.

A spokesman for Zuma, who sent 200 troops to the Central Africa Republic in January, referred inquiries about the new reported mission to defense officials. Spokesmen for South Africa's armed forces and defense ministry declined to comment.

The lack of comment is not surprising. Domestically in South Africa do not expect the ANC to ask for accountability and that in reality leaves only the opposition Democratic Alliance to demand accountability. Lindiwe Mazibuko has done just that pointing out the obvious.

                                                                 Lindiwe Mazibuko

" I have written to President Jacob Zuma to request that he calls both houses of Parliament to a joint sitting as a matter of urgency so that he can provide a detailed briefing on the events currently unfolding in the Central African Republic.

In terms of Section 7(1)(b) of the Joint Rules of Parliament, the President is empowered to call a joint sitting of Parliament at any time to conduct special business (Section 42 (5) of the Constitution of the Republic).

The fact that 13 soldiers were killed and 27 were wounded in what was described as a "high tempo, high intensity battle" in the Central African Republic, is reason enough for the President to brief the members of both houses of Parliament.

It is particularly worrying that the South African troops were deployed in the Central African Republic in the first instance. The record of President Bozize speaks for itself:

• President Bozize first came to power through a military coup in 2003
• His cabinet has been filled by close family members
• His leadership has been plagued by corruption, nepotism and authoritarianism
• His security forces have been accused of torture and stifling free speech
• The Central African Republic remains one of the most corrupt states in the world, with one of the lowest ratings for good governance

The key question that needs to be asked is: why did South Africa need to lose lives to defend this President?

It appears that the decision to deploy troops was linked more to President Zuma’s own close relationship with President Bozize, than the best interests of South Africa or the continent. The President must answer for this."

While I admire the Democratic Alliance immensely this is in reality a side show. South Africa will become the major regional arbitrator but it will not be as easy to achieve as they seem to have thought. France was well aware of this. 

The Ugandan officer said 200 South African soldiers had assembled at Entebbe air base near Kampala with plans to hit back against the Seleka rebel coalition that toppled President Francois Bozize in the mineral-rich former French colony.

To what purpose, this is bloody amateur hour stuff. South Africa needs to take a step back and think. The CAR republic is now under rebel control. Reuters reports. 

(Reuters) - Central African Republic's army chiefs pledged allegiance to the country's self-proclaimed president Michel Djotodia on Thursday as the ex-rebel leader consolidated control four days after his fighters seized the capital.

Djotodia seized control of the resource-rich nation after thousands of his rebel fighters swept into the riverside capital Bangui on Sunday, ousting President Francois Bozize and triggering days of looting.

 

"The former FACA (national army) officers wanted to meet with President Djotodia to tell him they recognize him as the new president," said Maurice Ntossui, a commander of the African peacekeeping force in the country who attended the meeting.

"All the former chiefs of police, gendarmes, the head of the armed forces and other senior officers came to the meeting. This was a form of surrender," he said.

South Africa's first real roll of the military hegemonic dice has failed.  

"Over the weekend South Africa requested Uganda for use of its Entebbe Airforce Base for evacuation of their personnel after they were ordered to withdraw temporarily from CAR," the officer said.

South Africa's ENCA television channel also reported that the soldiers were grouping in Entebbe for a "new mission" into the Central African Republic. It was unclear whether they were new deployments or included evacuees from last week's clashes.

I think it is probably time for the South African troops to return to Pretoria. This deployment has been a monumental failure.

A commander of the five-nation FOMAC regional peace-keeping force in Bangui told Reuters South African soldiers remained in the country. The dead and wounded have been flown to Pretoria.

Rebel forces and international peacekeepers mopped up pockets of resistance in Bangui on Wednesday as life returned to normal after three days of looting after the coup.

The Seleka rebels had struggled to stamp out the chaos and were forced to appeal to peacekeepers from neighboring central African states to help control gunmen looting houses, businesses, United Nations offices and even hospitals.

This was the mission that the South African forces should have taken. Protecting civilians from criminals taking advantage of the situation was one that would have won them enhanced prestige. Lindiwe Mazibuko accusation raises even more questions.

"It appears that the decision to deploy troops was linked more to President Zuma’s own close relationship with President Bozize, than the best interests of South Africa or the continent."

Ouch. Zuma clearly belongs in the ranks of the crocodiles. 

Keeping his promise to honor a power-sharing deal signed in January, self-proclaimed president Michel Djotodia officially reappointed Nicolas Tiangaye, a civilian opposition figure, as prime minister to lead a transitional government.

The United States, France and regional powers have insisted the rebels must honor the Libreville accord, signed in January in the Gabonese capital, which called for a transitional unity government until elections in 2016.

South African media and the opposition have questioned why Zuma had sent troops to a country 3,500 km (2,200 miles) away, with some suggesting they were there to protect business interests linked to the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

The Mail and Guardian newspaper said the ANC's investment arm, Chancellor House, was involved in company called Inala Centrafrique set up in 2006 to buy diamonds from the Central African Republic's small-scale artisanal miners.

"The plan had two other elements, which, if implemented, would give Inala and its ANC-linked shareholders complete dominance of the CAR's diamond market," the paper said.

A spokesman for the ANC declined to comment.

Despite the South African troop build up in Uganda this scrap is over for the moment.