Africa: Around the African blogs

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

                                                               Photo Visit Virunga



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Virunga Mountains Blog Is unique in the Great Lakes Blogosphere. 

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

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

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

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

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

The Timbuktu Chronicles blog On Business, highly recommended.

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

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

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

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

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

CAR: " We sit and chew on daffodils and struggle to answer "Why? "

The UN reports

Famine and malnutrition stalk strife-torn Central African Republic, UN agencies warn

WFP has provided food assistance to more than 500,000 displaced people across the Central African Republic (CAR). Photo: WFP/Djaounsede Pardon Madjiangar

31 December 2013 – United Nations agencies today warned of possible famine and severe malnutrition in the Central African Republic (CAR), calling on donors to provide urgent funding to mitigate the crisis in the impoverished country where a year of conflict has already killed thousands of people and driven 750,000 others from their homes.

The regime of Michel Djotodia is responsible for this situation and must now acknowledge its failure and leave office. When Djotodia seized office in March this year he had one overriding responsibility, to bring about stability. His attempts to blame the previous regime for the current situation do not stack up in anyway. His Seleka coalition government capabilities are limited to robbery rape and murder.

“We urgently need support from donors so we won’t start running out of food in January,” the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director for West Africa, Denise Brown, said in Bangui, the capital of CAR. “We are providing food for hungry people wherever we can in CAR. But insecurity is the biggest challenge.”

The donors needed are us. The world and particularly our governments, the West watched on as the government of François Bozizé collapsed, we have continued watch the situation deteriorate and done nothing. Lesley Anne Warner at Lesley on Africa posits some reasons as to why that might have happened, but the real reason as we all know, is that it is Africa and African lives count for little. It would seem that the people of central Africa's lives count for even less.

With the coming harvest threatened since farmers have fled their lands or lack seeds due to looting and because people have had to eat them instead of saving them for planting, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WFP have launched a 100-day response plan to boost nutrition and restore agricultural production through seed distribution and storage facilities.

But so far FAO has only been able to raise $4.3 million of the $61 million needed to help 1.8 million people, out of a total population of 4.6 million.

Unfortunately we don't have a hundred days. Al Jazeera reports:

                                                        Makeshift camp at Bangui airport

" More than 100,000 people displaced by inter-religious violence in Central African Republic are sheltering at a makeshift camp at Bangui airport, a medical charity has said, calling for urgent aid.
....MSF said the airport camp, which stretches for kilometres beside the runway, lacked proper sanitation as well as supplies of food and water as UN agencies have failed to keep pace with the scale of the problem.
"If nothing is done in the next two weeks there is a risk of an epidemic breaking out," said Lindis Hurum, MSF coordinator at the airport camp."

It would be nice to think that we could recover this situation, distribute seed get the planting done and harvest in time to prevent famine. We can't the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has no role to play in the CAR at the moment its objectives are: 

" Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts – to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. Our mandate is to improve nutrition, increase agricultural productivity, raise the standard of living in rural populations and contribute to global economic growth."

“The success of the next planting season crucially hinges on the return of farming families to the fields,” FAO said in a news release. “Families who are unable to plant in March will have to wait one whole year before they can hope to harvest again. Failure to help these families will have dramatic consequences on the food security for a quarter of the Central African population.

The FAO can't achieve anything this season, the UN will struggle to put together a peacekeeping mission by March and until it does the security of the population is in the hands of MISCA (Support Mission to the Central African Republic ) and the 1600 troops the French have on the ground. It isn't anywhere near enough to provide much more than some safe zones.

“The low production perceived from the last harvest coupled with a prevailing situation of chronic country-wide malnutrition is setting the stage for a full-scale food and nutrition security crisis should the next planting season fail.”

It has failed. That is now a given and it is time to stop wringing our hands and do something concrete. It is called food aid and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has the responsibility to get this situation under control.

CAR has been thrown into turmoil since mainly Muslim Séléka rebels launched attacks a year ago and forced President François Bozizé to flee in March. A transitional government has since been entrusted with restoring peace and paving the way for democratic elections, but armed clashes have erupted again and the mainly Christian anti-Balaka movement has taken up arms.

The Transitional Government has failed, given its constituent parts it was always going to. It is now an impediment and should be dismissed as irrelevant. This administration came to power at the barrel of a gun and it should be dismissed, if necessary by the barrels of MISCA  AU troops and the French troops.

Earlier this month Christians and Muslims launched reprisal attacks against each other in and around Bangui, where some 210,000 people were driven from their homes.

"The combination of food shortages and poor sanitary conditions in the camps and deep in the bush, as well as extreme poverty, risk triggering serious malnutrition,” FAO Country Representative Alexis Bontesaid following a visit to Bossangoa, 160 miles north of Bangui, on Sunday.

The combination of western indifference and a willingness to allow a group of criminals to assume power of course was the actual trigger. The Seleka thugs pulled that trigger and the results are plain for all to see. It would in retrospect have been far preferable to tolerate for now the corruption of the Bozize regime and kept him in power.

WFP, which has appealed for $107 million through August 2014 to assist 1.25 million people, has called on all parties to ensure the safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel and the timely delivery of aid to people in need wherever they are. “WFP is neutral and delivers assistance solely on the basis of need,” Ms. Brown said.

$107 million is a trivial amount. This is the price of the US Government shutdown.  
" .....the price tag for the first government shutdown in 17 years: about $1.6 billion a week, $300 million a day, or $12.5 million an hour."

I doubt that the WFP will be able to raise that amount via donor nations. As I said above there is only one conclusion possible African lives count for little.   

Despite the volatile security situation, WFP and its partners have assisted more than 237,000 people since 5 December, and from January to April will increase food distributions, provide supplementary feeding to combat malnutrition among children under five, and aid vulnerable groups. From May to August, it will also reach more people in need during the lean season when the last harvest runs out.

The new emergency operation specifies that because of security risks, food distributions will be undertaken by teams moving swiftly from site to site and able to adjust plans. To avoid putting people in need of assistance at risk, a protection analysis will be conducted in each place. In some locations, cooked meals may be provided to help protect women and children.

Earlier this month WFP launched a special operation to deploy more staff, set up local offices, obtain vital security and telecommunications equipment and support establishing cross-border humanitarian flights into CAR at a cost of $5.3 million through June.

It won't be enough but it is a good start.

CAR: The killing continues while the West whistles.

The UN News Centre reports

UN agencies alarmed as humanitarian situation in Central African Republic deteriorates

                      Refugees from Central African Republic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: UNHCR/B.Sokol

9 December 2013 – The United Nations says that aid agencies in the Central African Republic (CAR) remain preoccupied by the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation, particularly in the capital, Bangui, and in Bossangoa.

This situation was not only predictable but widely predicted, the French have on several occasions said that they were going to intervene but really it is now a case of too little and too late. 

" Yesterday evening, French President François Hollande announced an “immediate” military intervention in the Central African Republic (CAR), a former French colony, after holding a Defense Council meeting with government ministers and the army chief of staff.

Hollande declared that French troop levels in CAR will be doubled “in a few days, if not a few hours.” The announcement came after yesterday’s adoption by the the UN Security Council of a French-sponsored resolution authorizing the deployment of more French and African troops in CAR.

The UN resolution authorises the deployment of an African Union-led force, the International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (MISCA). The resolution also authorises French forces “to take all necessary measures” to support the MISCA."

" UN agencies alarmed.." is the headline of this article, clearly the only UN operation that could actually do something was not alarmed and stuffed about as usual and did bugger all. It really is time for the UN Security Council to be overhauled, it is an outdated well past its used by date anachronism from the cold war.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nearly 400 people have been killed and hundreds more injured since 5 December, in armed clashes between factions.

Three weeks ago I blogged on this subject saying that the UN need to act immediately going even further with the title quoted from Marillion  " Decriminalise genocide, provided door to door Belsens ". All that happened was a conference in France and a few extra French troops sent in to protect French property and interests. The decision to send an inadequate number of French was on the 5th December. The day that the killings in the CAR seem to have got underway in an organised fashion. 

  

“The death toll is rising, the majority of the population have no access to health facilities because of the insecurity and the bodies are still collected daily in the affected zone,” OCHA said in a news release issued yesterday.

It would be interesting to know how much value the west has nicked from the region from the colonial era until now. It will be a huge figure and one might think that providing the people of the region with a measure of security given the west's total failure there to date, would be not too big an ask.  

The country has been experiencing upheaval since last December when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks, culminating in March when President François Bozizé was forced to flee.

Most of the problem's are a result of the failure of the Seleka rebels to disband, having overthrown the admittedly corrupt Bozize regime they appear to have developed a liking for the rebel lifestyle and have now directed their efforts against the civilian ( and it would seem largely christian majority ) population.

A transitional government, headed by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, has been entrusted with restoring law and order and paving the way for democratic elections. However, armed clashes in the north-east have increased since August, and the country is facing a dire humanitarian situation in which half of its population of 4.6 million are in need of immediate assistance.

Lesley Warner blogging at Lesley on Africa gives an excellent assessment of the failure of the international community. It was fairly unrealistic to expect the Djotodia regime to bring about stability and the international community has had the best part of a year to get ready for this and failed to do anything I think we can expect the wheels to come off big time fairly soon.

Human Rights Watch on the Seleka regime;

" The Seleka should immediately end its killings and pillage, restore order, and allow access to desperately needed humanitarian assistance, Human Rights Watch said. The Seleka leadership should control its forces, denounce killings by its members and supporters, restore civilian administration throughout the country, and ensure accountability for the crimes committed."

It is hard to see this regime surviving much longer.

“The population has suffered enough,” said the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator in CAR, Rokhaya Daba Fall. She called on all parties committing acts of violence to respect the protection of civilians and to ensure their security as well as the safety of humanitarian organizations operating to alleviate the suffering of the people affected by the crisis.

Unlimited and unhindered access should be guaranteed to allow organizations to deliver assistance where needed in a neutral and impartial manner, she stressed.

OCHA said that UN agencies and humanitarian partners in CAR have intensified operations to provide shelter, drinking water, sanitation, food security and health to internally displaced people and they are reinforcing civil-military coordination and supporting reconciliation efforts.

It is a shame the Security Council can't pull its finger out, again from Lesley Warner. 

Finally, the UN Security Council is also considering authorizing a peacekeeping mission for CAR, but it would not be able to deploy for at least two to three months – even with a speedy UNSC Resolution. Therefore, the French and AU forces would have to act as a stopgap measure until the UN would be able to put boots on the ground."

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today voiced her concern over the unfolding events in CAR, particularly reports of serious ongoing crimes.

“The deteriorating security situation over the past several days has contributed to the escalation of unlawful killings, sexual violence, recruitment of child soldiers and other grave crimes, across the country,” Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.

She underscored that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide fall under the subject matter jurisdiction of the ICC, which is based in The Hague. “I hereby call upon all parties involved in the conflict, including former Séléka elements and other militia groups, such as the anti-Balaka, to stop attacking civilians and committing crimes, or risk being investigated and prosecuted by my Office. The victims of such crimes cannot be left unheard.”

I am not holding my breath.

Ms. Bensouda welcomed the international community’s efforts to stabilise the security situation in the country and end the violence, noting in particular the arrival of the African-led and French-backed peacekeepers which the Security Council authorized last week to quell the violence.

She also welcomed the planned international commission of inquiry to investigate reports of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and rights abuses in CAR by all parties since 1 January 2013, saying that the initiative will “galvanise collective efforts to bring perpetrators of serious crimes to justice.”

I would settle for some well armed peacekeepers with a mandate to protect the civilian population and the ability to use lethal force to achieve that end. 

CAR: Lesley's thoughts.

Lesley Warner  blogs. This is far more informative than anything I could have achieved so I nicked it in its entirety.

Why has the international response to CAR taken so long?

By Lesley Anne Warner on November 29, 2013

            

Stability is not a term one would use to describe the Central African Republic – particularly in light of the recent conflict which has engulfed the country. Last December, the Séléka rebel coalition challenged then-President François Bozizé’s grasp on power and eventually ousted him in March 2013. At first, the international response to the humanitarian and human rights crises that have ensued was muted. Eventually, over the summer, the African Union launched an International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (MISCA), with an authorized force strength of 3,600, to help protect civilians and provide security throughout the country. MISCA, which may not be operational until 2014, replaced the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) Mission for the Consolidation of Peace in the Central African Republic (MICOPAX) in August 2013, which had been in CAR since July 2008 with 400 soldiers. Former colonial power France, which abstained from preventing Bozizé’s collapse earlier this year, has 400 soldiers in the capital city of Bangui to protect their interests, and is in the process of deploying 1,000 more. Finally, the UN Security Council is also considering authorizing a peacekeeping mission for CAR, but it would not be able to deploy for at least two to three months – even with a speedy UNSC Resolution. Therefore, the French and AU forces would have to act as a stopgap measure until the UN would be able to put boots on the ground.

The question is, after this crisis has been unfolding for almost a year, why is an international response only coming together now?

• Perhaps the international community was inundated by the response to the crises in Mali. Note that France’s Opération Serval commenced in January, accelerating the deployment timelines for the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) from September to mid-January. The Séléka rebel coalition that eventually toppled Bozizé commenced their rebellion around mid-December 2012, agreed to a ceasefire in mid-January 2013, and entered Bangui to overthrow Bozizé for failing to adhere to the terms of the ceasefire at the end of March 2013. If you think about it, the time period between the initiation of the Séléka rebellion and the current rumblings of an international response has been more or less dominated by the French intervention in Mali, the AFISMA deployment, transition to the UN’s Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), and Mali’s presidential and legislative elections. And now that Mali is in a better pace than it was last year at this time, the international community now has the bandwidth to turn to the next pressing crisis on the continent – the Central African Republic.
• Perhaps the humanitarian toll has risen too high. Approximately one-tenth of the country’s population, or 460,000 people, have become internally displaced fleeing the communal violence between Christians and Muslims (15% of the population), and over 220,000 people have become refugees in neighboring countries. Recent Human Rights Watch reports have documented the destruction of over 1,000 homes between March and June 2013. (See satellite images of ‘what war crimes look like from space’).
• People are starting to say the “T-word.” As the Central African Republic continues to spiral into anarchy, there is speculation that terrorist groups, like Nigeria’s Boko Haram, could set up shop in the country. Although such reports are unconfirmed, the mere presence of an unstable territory may make it an attractive safe haven for terrorist or criminal actors with regional or even global agendas.
• People have started using the “G-word.” Whether genocide is – or is not – occurring in a given conflict, using the “G-word” is supposed to trigger an obligatory international response. My personal view is that the term genocide tends to be overused, and as a result, genocide has been conflated with “mass killing,” and more generally “human rights abuses” or “crimes against humanity,” thus distancing it from its true meaning. Therefore, whether or not genocide is actually occurring in the Central African Republic, any response would have to be measured against the international community’s failure to respond to allegations of genocide in places like Syria and Sudan’s Nuba Mountains.

In any event, the true reason for the recent focus on the conflict in the Central African Republic, albeit belated, may be a combination of two or more of the aforementioned factors. Now, as with regional and international attempts to respond to previous crises in Mali and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), we shall see if the international community can put its money and military might where its mouth is.

I haven't commented because I doubt I could add anything constructive. If you have an urge to comment on this please follow the link at the top and do so on Lesley's blog.  H 

CAR: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot indeed.

New Times ( Rwanda )  reports

Ousted Bozize says Chad aided CAR Seleka rebels

                                                               Francois Bozize, ousted CAR President.

YAOUNDE - The ousted president of the Central African Republic has accused Chad of helping the rebels that toppled him.

Francois Bozize told the BBC it was “Chadian special forces” who led the final operation of last month’s rebellion, including an attack on a base of South African troops.

Chad, which is hosting an emergency regional summit on CAR, has not commented on the allegations.

It seems fairly inconceivable that the rebels were unsupported. Lots of fingers point towards Chad  Lesley Warner in World Politics Reviewed  observes 

For lack of a better option, it is more likely that Chad, though it does not meet the above criteria, will again assume the kingmaker role it has played in CAR in the past, seeking a friendly, stable government to the south that will not, willingly or unwillingly, provide sanctuary for Chadian insurgent groups.

But South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma is one of those attending the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) summit.

Thirteen South African soldiers were killed in the clashes in the capital, Bangui, when the Seleka rebel group seized power after a peace deal negotiated with Bozize collapsed.

The incident has caused controversy in South Africa. The ruling ANC party has rejected accusations that the troops were there because of mining interests, saying they were training government forces and providing security.

Also worth a read is " South Africa inspires a “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” in the CAR " again by Lesley on her blog Lesley on Africa   

The events of this past weekend cast a shadow upon the previously constructive role South Africa has played with regard to conflict resolution in Africa, and taints its image as a neutral broker for future peace agreements on the continent.

Still laughing at WTF ( Whisky Tango Foxtrot ) I haven't heard it described that way before.

Surprise strength

“On Saturday, March 23, we had neutralised the Seleka forces, but overnight into Sunday 24, we knew that there had been support from an African country, which I inevitably believe was Chad,” Bozize, who fled to Cameroon after the rebellion, told the BBC French Service. 

“We can confirm it was Chadian special forces that led the operation on the Sunday morning and attacked the barracks of the South Africans,” he said.

Last week, Zuma said the South African troops died in a nine-hour “high-tempo battle” against the “bandits” in Bangui.

Bozize, who seized power in a coup in 2003 and won two subsequent elections, said he was surprised by Chad’s move.

“To avoid a bloodshed I decided to resign after a phone call I made to the French ambassador,” he said. “We had a solid and friendship relation with the Chadian authorities. Chad alone can give an explanation.”

Louisa Lombard, a fellow at the University of California in Berkeley who specialises in CAR affairs, said relations between the neighbours had soured in recent months.

Up until last year, Chad’s President Idriss Deby provided Bozize with his personal guards, she said.

“One of the things that really frustrated Deby was the presence of a Chadian rebel group on CAR territory and Deby’s sense that Bozize didn’t do enough to deal with this group,” Lombard said.

“It is also probable that President Bozize was starting to pursue alliances with other countries, notably South Africa, and this was compromising his relationship with Deby,” she said.

Michel Djotodia, the rebel leader who has declared himself president, is sending his Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye to the Ecowas summit in N’Djamena.

Djotodia announced a caretaker government on Sunday and says he will run the country until elections in 2016.

Rosebell Kagumire: Humanitarian, Journalist, blogger.

In November last year I happened to stumble over The fantastic Lesley Anne Warner followed in  December by The Amazing  Nnenna Amushan both are must read blogs. On Tuesday the Ugandan police managed to piss me off. Getting annoyed with the Ugandan authorities is nothing new for me but in the process of checking a few things out it happened again that I came across yet another must read African blogger.

                                                          


Rosebell Kagumire a journalist from Kampala Uganda and a woman of insight  into the changes that are happening on that amazing continent. In Rosebell's own words

 I am a Ugandan multimedia journalist working on media, women, peace and conflict issues. I work with Isis-Women’s International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) and I contribute articles to Inter Press Service (IPS Africa). I am completing my masters study in Media, Conflict and Peace studies from the University for Peace in Costa Rica. I have also studied non-violent conflict at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

At Isis-WICCE, I document lives, needs and contributions of women in several conflict and post-conflict countries in Africa.

I have in past worked for different Ugandan media including Daily Monitor, Uganda Radio Network, NTV Uganda, The Independent news magazine. Other international outlets I have worked with are the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

My work on peace and security was recognised at the 2008 Ugandan Investigative Journalism Awards hosted by Makerere University Department of Mass Communication. My blog won the first African journalist blogging awards hosted by Panos West Africa in 2009 and the 2010 VOICE blogging fellowship by Oxfam GB.

OK most of my readership will immediately realise that I am hopelessly out of my depth yet again. Not an unusual situation for me. Rosebell is not out of her depth. I particularly enjoyed her recent blog about Goma and the conditions that journalists have to contend with in getting news out to the rest of the world.  I have of course my own sources  in Goma but was fascinating to read about constraints on the professionals.

" When I read international analysts saying that the problem of Congo is a weak state and weak government, I am surprised.  I live here and everyday I meet the Congolese state, ready to extort from me, ready to jail you if you have a divergent view, ready to take you on! So it is a lie to say the problem of Congo is a weak state! It is a matter of priorities!"

Anonymous.

  

If you are still reading this blog you are crazy. Go and have a read of  Rosebell.

Uganda throws her toy's out of the cot

The BBC reports

Uganda to withdraw troops from Somalia, says Mukasa

Uganda will withdraw its forces from UN-backed international missions, Security Minister Muruli Mukasa says, escalating a long-running row.

Mr Mukasa said the government had sent an official to New York to inform the UN of this decision.

Operations in Somalia, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be affected.

It sounds like a pretty effective threat and for the record I am far from convinced of Uganda's guilt on this issue. 

Ugandan Government Press Release here ( I can't get it to copy  across ).

A couple of observations though, Uganda is accused in the report of providing M23 with support.
" The report - seen by Reuters news agency on Tuesday - says army units from Rwanda and Uganda have helped M23 expand its control of territory in the war-torn east of DR Congo."

This is totally unacceptable but I am unsure as to the truth of it with regard to Uganda the report later claims that Ugandan  support is limited.

 "While Rwandan officials co-ordinated the creation of the rebel movement as well as its major military operations, Uganda's more subtle support to M23 allowed the rebel group's political branch to operate from within Kampala and boost its external relations," it said.

Uganda is trying to to maintain a cease fire between M23 and the DR Congo army and it would be astonishing if they didn't allow the political arm of M23 to operate in Kampala. America did much the same with regard to the IRA in the British / Irish shambles. Another point in Uganda's favour had been its treatment of Congolese refugees see my post Kubwa Habari kutoka Uganda I am not prepared to judge Uganda on the evidence I have seen to date.

I was fairly sceptical about this when I read it the kudos Uganda has gained particularly in Somalia has been immense and for all my considerable misgivings on Uganda it seems to be getting its shit together.

The UN infuriated Kampala when it published an experts' report accusing Uganda of arming Congolese rebels.

Mr Mukasa told a news conference: "If our efforts are going to be misinterpreted and we are going to be maligned, we want to be in a good relationship with our neighbours.

"Let's stop all these initiatives. We will concentrate on ourselves. Whoever wants to cause us trouble, they will find us at our home."

I note that this was a statement from the security minister not the foreign minister. So it was obviously meant to get attention if the cabinet rankings are anything to go by ( 6th as opposed to 25th ) but I still don't buy it. Uganda has been outrage over this for quite a while

Uganda provides the largest contingent to the UN-backed African Union mission in Somalia (Amisom).

The Amisom force has helped the Somali government gain ground against Islamist militias.

Analysts say a rapid withdrawal of Ugandan troops could threaten those gains.

Google is my friend or more accurately Lesley Anne Warner is.

" In reality, however, I doubt that Uganda can pull all of  its troops out of peacekeeping operations. Quite simply put, it’s going to cost too much. Museveni’s survival is, in part, contingent on maintaining a large military deployed outside the country’s borders in case he needs them for internal security. While 8,000+ UPDF are deployed in support of AU or UN peacekeeping operations, Museveni doesn’t have to worry about paying them. However, if he brings them home, he’ll need to find a way to keep them occupied – and paid – so they stay out of trouble. Unless there’s a war in Uganda (unlikely) to rally the troops around him, he needs to keep them deployed on someone else’s dime. In addition, one of the reasons Uganda is so important for regional security is due to its involvement in peacekeeping operations. If you take that away, you also lose the justification for allocating the same level of security assistance from international partners to train and equip the UPDF in the future. This is income that Museveni would now have to find a way to make up for.

So to be clear, I don’t expect Uganda’s threats to come to anything. It’s just putting the UN and the West on notice to back the (insert expletive here) off over allegations of providing support to M23."

Which unfortunately reduces this to a bit of a " what she said " blog.

Ugandan troops are deployed in smaller numbers to an international mission to CAR and DR Congo to hunt down the remaining elements of the Lord's Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony.

The LRA killed thousands of people and abducted thousands more during a long insurgency that has seen it fight in several countries.

The remarks from the security minister echo a statement made in the Ugandan parliament on Thursday by Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi.

The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in Kampala says while both the prime minister and the security minister have said the decision is irreversible, there has been no official government word on the issue.

The foreign and defence ministries, when contacted by the BBC, said no statements were available.

A report by a UN panel of experts last month said Rwanda and Uganda were both supplying weapons to the M23 rebels in the DR Congo. Both countries denied the claims.

The rebels' insurrection has forced some 500,000 from their homes since April.

Anyway back to my new best friend Lesley

In possibly unrelated news, the United States’ Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman visited Uganda to discuss advancing regional security and to extend U.S. appreciation for Uganda’s peacekeeping efforts. This was the same day the PM made the announcement to withdraw from peacekeeping operations. #Awkward.

Lesley blogged this on 2/11/12 and in today's online edition of Uganda's New Vision we have this.

Uganda is committed to supporting the restoration of peace and stability in the region despite the ongoing negative stance portrayed in some sections of the media, President Yoweri Museveni has said.

The President gave the assurance while meeting the American Under-Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, at State House, Entebbe on Saturday.

US ambassador Scott De Lisi and the deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Cynthia Akuetteh, attended the meeting.

Sherman commended Museveni for his efforts in establishing security, stability, peace and development in Uganda as well as his participation in the peace process in Somalia, South Sudan and Congo in addition to flushing the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels out of Uganda.

She said the US appreciates Museveni’s contribution to the pacification and stabilisation of Somalia and that her country also looks forward to continued collaboration with Uganda within the framework of the African Mission in Somalia so as to establish a stable government and a professional army in the war-torn country.

OK so we have established that Uganda has conducted a rather clumsy diplomatic win over the UN and that nothing has actually changed. The real bonus has been from this bloggers perspective the discovery of Lesley on Africa.

The fantastic Lesley Anne Warner

                       Lesley on Africa

                    African politics, security, and occasional travel tales

Usually I keep an eye out for Congo blogs and in that context today I stumbled upon Lesley on Africa  in her own words.

" I am an Africa security analyst focusing on dynamics of armed conflict, human security, weak/failed states, and theater security cooperation. "

What she fails to mention is that she is good in fact from what I have read so far excellent. As it is November the 5th New Zealand is indulging in its annual lets pretend we are Beirut Guy Fawkes celebrations. So it is with a sense of the surreal that I am sitting back reading Lesley's blogs.

I am at Significant Others  she is out which is just as well because all her neighbours are really getting into the whole lets see if we can blow the world up thing.

On the whole I would have to say this is about as good as it gets.