DR Congo: M23,.. The Rwandan Genocide was regrettable.

Congo DRC News reports. ( This is a M23 website and should be treated accordingly. Believe nothing. )

Bill CLINTON DEFENDS RWANDA :”Where were those human rights groups criticizing Rwanda today…

 

Kenneth Roth who has absolutely nothing to do with this story other than he is the head of Human Rights Watch. I guess they couldn't find a picture of Clinton to use.

It seems it has become fashionable to criticize Rwanda, never mind the incredible progress the country has made in the last 19 years since the Genocide against Tutsi in 1994. So, it is refreshing, and reassuring, when a former U.S. President defies the critics and calls them on the facts.

Opposing the behaviour of the Rwandan Government and its actions in the DR Congo isn't a matter of fashion. As for the facts, well that is something that this story seems to lack. 

True, the Genocide broke out in 1994 when Bill Clinton was President, and in the wake of the debacle in Somalia, the U.S. did not have the heart to intervene. It was a political calculation that is regrettable, but understandable. True to himself, however, Bill Clinton has expressed deep remorse for his administration’s inaction, and did go to Kigali to deliver his apology. Not only that, his Foundation has taken a leading role in aiding several projects in Rwanda and has committed millions of dollars. Clinton has put his money where his mouth is.

" It was a political calculation that is regrettable, but understandable."  I am afraid I don't understand the failure of the West to intervene in 1994. I think 800,000 people murdered is rather more serious than " regrettable ". It was and remains a disgrace that we all should feel ashamed of. However that doesn't mean that we can ignore the deplorable behaviour of Rwanda today. 

Speaking on the international human rights organizations attributing the problems in the DRC to Rwanda, and to President Kagame, Clinton pointed out that these same organizations were noticeably silent during the Genocide against Tutsi. Leading the choir with un-proved allegations and bogus reports is Human Rights Watch (HRW) that many have inappropriately dubbed “Hutu Rights Watch.

Speaking to BBC recently, Clinton posed a rhetorical question: “Where were those human rights groups criticizing Rwanda when Hutus were slaughtering Tutsis?” Indeed, where were they.

I have had a look at the story published by the BBC and the above Clinton quote isn't there. However it is a bit difficult to explain this, which is quite probably why the above Clinton quote was not in the BBC article. 

"The Rwanda genocide began in April 1994; within a few weeks, nongovernmental organizations there were estimating that 100,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus had been massacred."

Nongovernmental organisations are usually the human rights groups that it is alleged did nothing in the so called Clinton quote.  Dr Gregory Stanton of Genocide watch reported.

" In March 1993, four human rights groups led by Human Rights Watch and the International Federation of Human Rights issued a report on mass killings in Rwanda."  

So it would seem we have, a quite possibly made up quote and the Human Rights Watch organisation criticised above as " Hutu Rights Watch " issuing a warning to the world that the genocide was about to get underway in March 1994. Sometimes in April.

Responding to the allegation that there is no free media in Rwanda, Clinton pointed out that a free media in 1994 helped Hutus incite violence that led to the mass slaughter of innocent people.

“All those people who talk about that, where were they when the Hutus went crazy in 1994? They had a free press that was venomous, hate-filled radio that urged people to go out and commit mass murder.”

The above quote is not from the BBC interview. 

Clinton added; “Look, I believe in a free press. When I was President I helped to keep the press free that made a living out of feasting on my bones everyday. I think we have to be a little sensitive to the fact that if you are Rwandan, you don’t necessarily hear it that way because you remember that an alleged free press helped push Rwanda into a boiling Colden of butchery …”

Again the above quote is not from the BBC interview.  It is however available on a pro Rwandan blog  when googled also purporting it to come from a BBC interview. The other above quote and indeed this story come from that blog, despite the effort being made to suggest they come from a BBC interview. I suspect they are bullshit.  "... boiling...Colden of butchery …” . Go figure.

Referring to the FDLR, the former U.S. President pointed out that Eastern Congo ” is full of people who perpetrated the Genocide, who have spurned the President’s (Kagame) offer to come home and not go to prison … and you can’t get around the fact that the economic and social gains in Rwanda have been nothing short of astonishing under Kagame, and he says he is going to leave when his time is up.”

Clinton expressed disappointment that ” some people in the human rights community believe that every good thing that has happened in Rwanda should be negated by what they allege they (Rwandans) have done in the eastern Congo.”

These quotes do come from the actual BBC interview. They make up a tiny portion of the story that is broad spectrum interview covering Africa. I am sure there are some people who fit into that category both in the human rights community and outside of it. I blogged just the other day about one such fool. Most do not. They just will not look the other way this time or infact ever again.

None of the above seems to me to be an endorsement by Clinton of the crimes that Rwanda has been systematically carrying out in the Eastern DR Congo or a denial of them. Clinton obviously is one of the guilty international players when the genocide in Rwanda occurred. 

Surely, little Rwanda cannot be held responsible for lack of leadership in Kinshasa. Lack of an infrastructure to speak of. A dispirited and worn out population. A nation without a vision and hope. Truth be known, the DRC needs Rwanda as a partner if it is to recover from its debilitating malaise that is as old as time.

Remember this article appeared in Congo DRC News. As I warned it is an M23 site but the last paragraph says it all. Fortunately the fools who published this forgot or just are not very bright and have given us the raison d'être not only for the site but M23 and the Rwandan policy towards the Eastern DR Congo. This is the M23 / Rwandan attitude;

 "... its debilitating malaise that is as old as time." 

It is stupid, it is racist and it it is wrong. 

The truth is that Rwanda to maintain the economic gains it has made needs to keep on exploiting the mineral wealth of the Eastern DR Congo. Truth be known the DRC needs Rwanda not one jot. Congo DRC News is a rather pathetic Rwandan / M23 propaganda publisher, that somewhat entertainingly can't even manage to maintain the fiction it is Congolese and even better can't remember that a hidden agenda is not something you publish. 

I guess keeping your agenda straight when you are constantly lying is difficult but from my perspective at least, hilarious.

DR Congo: The peace talks farce.

New Vision ( Uganda ) reports

Congo rules out amnesty for top M23 rebels

                                                                                              Lambert Mende

KINSHASA - Democratic Republic of Congo has ruled out granting amnesty to some 100 senior M23 rebels, it said on Thursday, leaving open the possibility that these commanders could be pursued even after peace talks are concluded.

Talks began in Uganda last week, after the army, backed by U.N. troops, scored rare military successes in August, forcing M23 into negotiations which could lead to the majority of rebels being reintegrated into the army which they deserted in 2012.

This myth that the rebels were forced into negotiations seems to be taking root. The rebel M23 forces have been desperate for the resumption of the peace talks as they are losing the war on the ground. The peace talks allow M23 to buy time and the Congolese government should never have agreed to them.

I doubt very much any of the officers of M23 will be integrated into  FARDC, the Congolese army. Should M23 agree to an unconditional surrender then it would seem reasonable to allow the demobilisation of the troops who are not wanted for crimes, remembering that some of them may be serving against their will.

"We have a list of around 100 M23 commanders who will not be eligible for amnesty or for reintegration into the national army," government spokesman Lambert Mende told a news conference in the capital Kinshasa.

Rebels ineligible for any amnesty were those who had taken part in multiple rebellions, were on international sanctions lists or had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, Mende told journalists.

"To reintegrate these individuals would legitimate recourse to armed violence and insurrection," Mende said. The rest of the estimated 1,700 M23 rebels would be considered on a case by case basis, he added.

That figure of 1700 seems a bit high to me. I hope that there is some effort underway to encourage the M23 troops, for whom death is not an attractive option, to desert. That would be a further body blow for M23. 

M23's reaction was muted. Spokesman Amani Kabashi said the government's decision would not jeopardise the negotiations.

"The dialogues will continue," Kabasha told Reuters by telephone from M23's base in its heartland North Kivu province.

"We don't even want to reintegrate. If the talks can bring security, then we are all happy to do something else: farm, or teach, to help our population," he said.

That is comical. The M23 response has been anything but muted. From Congo DRC News. It should be remembered this is an M23 site.

AMNESTY OF OFFICERS M23: About the Mende are the sounds of frogs

" The sounds of toads do not prevent the cows drink from the river," they say.And about Mende are the sounds of toads. Fortunately he speaks on behalf of a government and an unscrupulous people who do not ask for account and do not get indignant. Otherwise, he would have been forced to resign as he has no sense of honor or dignity or to do it himself. "

"...As against the camp of Mende, there will not always be MONUSCO and the international brigade to fight in their place. But before we get there, Mende and his government should for once take care to learn how many FARDC soldiers must overcome to 100 officers M23."

I have left the Google Translate interpretation alone it clearly shows the un-muted reaction of M23. I think it is reasonable to take the above statement as the public position of M23. This is a declaration by M23 leadership that regardless of the outcome in Kampala they have no intention of allowing their troops to integrate into the Congolese Army or to demobilise. 

I am of the opinion that Kinshasa are just going through the motions at the Kampala peace talks and so it would now seem are M23. The real issue is that there is nothing for either side to talk about. This much vaunted political solution has failed yet again, neither side is participating in good faith that leaves a military solution on the table. 

The M23 insurgency is the latest incarnation of a Tutsi-dominated rebellion that has repeatedly tried to integrate into the Congolese army, only to withdraw. Its fighters deserted en masse 18 months ago, accusing the government of reneging on a 2009 peace deal.

The problem with re-integration is that it will not resolve the real issue of Rwandan interference in the eastern DR Congo. The deal will collapse on the orders of Rwanda's President Kagame and M23 will be reborn in yet another carnation. 

U.N. investigators and the Congolese government have accused Rwanda of sponsoring the rebellion, a charge Rwanda denies.

The danger from the perspective of the DR Congo in attending the peace talks is that Rwanda is undoubtedly using the lull in hostilities to rearm and reinforce M23 from within the ranks of the Rwandan army.

The government stance against a blanket amnesty is supported by Mary Robinson, U.N. special envoy to the region.

"We believe that there should not be amnesty for those accused of having committed serious crimes, nor should they be integrated in the armed forces of the DRC," she said this month.

In other words the leadership of M23.