DR Congo: Charly Kasereka - " On the ring road to somewhere "

Charly Kasereka blogs, I have translated this from French using Google Translate and as usual have cleaned up and attempted to make sense of the Google translation. I am responsible for any errors. 

I usually don't add any commentary to Charlys blogs however I suspect the attractive young women pictured holding an umbrella below is none other than Goma blogger Chantal Faida. I have become used to Charly's adventures  , things like getting himself embedded with the Congolese Army FARDC when they  were on the losing side in the battle for Goma 15 months ago. Chantal I was sure, was far to sensible to do this crazy stuff.  :-)

The Thousand Barriers on the bumpy road to Walikale

                                   Broken Bridges National Road N3108 km. Walikale-Hombo ( Photo Charly Kasereka )

The road is long! Not only long, it is also difficult to access. Mud and barriers are everywhere, not to mention snipers and broken bridges.

Walikale is one of the five areas that make up the province of North Kivu (the others are: Beni, Lubero Masisi, Rutshuru). The territory is located in the river valley of the Lowa river more than three hundred kilometers west of Goma which is the provincial capital.

The Walikale  territory is divided into two communities: Bakano with 4238 square km and Wanianga 19,237 square km. This is the largest area in the province with 39% of the total area of 59 483 square km.

However, the roads are almost non existant, either never built or if built never maintained. To get there you improvise, and you will face many difficulties.

By plane? possible, but not certain. The aircraft will take off and land there on a bumpy track (the NR3 linking Kisangani in Walikale) the same asphalt has covered the surface for over thirty years.

Maybe helicopter? Hey! In DR Congo private helicopters are uncommon, there is an aviation company, but it does not have a helicopter.

By road a 4x4 can do the trick, but be prepared for the worst, mud and broken bridges. If you run into the bandits you may be killed. Therefore it is difficult to traverse the Goma-Walikale leg of the road without risking your life.

On the other side, at the Walikale-Hombo leg of the road to Bukavu it is a minimum of six hours journey by motorcycle, you will have less trouble if your rider is experienced and knows the environment. It is only 108 kilometers along this road (Hombo-Walikale).

                                            A young biker doing Walikale-Hombo on NR3 (Photo Charly Kasereka)

108 kilometers from hell

The 108 km of sheer hell. The cost is forty-five thousand francs Congolese (fifty U.S. Dollars) for this trip by motorcycle.

The number of times you get off and push the bike to facilitate its passage through the lakes of sludge are best not counted, but you will be tired. This is not the fault of the driver, a highway N3 (NR3) certainly is not!

Mud holes and broken bridges are main features on this stretch. The area is landlocked and the only way through is by the bike.

   A member of the Mai Mai Raia Mutomboki manning a toll " gate " in the Walikale-Hombo NR3 (Photo Charly Kasereka)

Who really controls the Zone?

For more than ten years now state authority has been absent in three-quarters of this territory. Armed groups formed by the village youth control everything that can be found in their area.

On the road, there are more than thirty barriers installed by two armed groups who make the " law ". The Raia Mutomboki  and Mai Mai Kifua Fua groups''. They charge a self-defense tax of Fifteen thousand Congolese franc (U.S. $ 15) for each household per month. Passersby on motorcycles are taxed a thousand Congolese franc per head to pass through a village, bridge, house or even a hole. There is no mercy you do not have the money, you stay there! 

You sure are lucky if the boy with no principles or even manners armed with a AK47 and with a large knife hanging from his hip does not rob you of everything taking even the your hat and leaving you with nothing to even cover your head. 

Taxes are what  keeps these movements alive and the main beneficiaries are the leaders. Subordinates receive only crumbs and live on small scale extortions and plunder here and there. 

The population is impoverished, the older residents have already moved more than eight times after multiple confrontations between the Congolese army FARDC and the FDLR ( Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda ).

We come across some other young men, unarmed this time, barring the passage of the road with a tree trunk, they are pretending to maintain the road by filling the multiple holes with stones.

Walikale is a large area and it is not only big, but rich in minerals, with cassiterite in abundance. Because of that Walikale and neighboring Masisi remains home to the largest of the armed self-defense groups. They all claim to protect the area against perpetrators of the various rebellions particularly the FDLR who fled to this territory in 1994. Rwanda fugitives and the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Rai Mutomboki , Mai Mai Kifua Fua and the Nduma Defence of Congo militias everyone makes their own law in the corner they occupy in this large and dense rain forest.
MONUSCO ( The United Nations Mission to the DR Congo ) forces have several bases in area, in particular Otobora. The commander of MONUSCO, General Santos Cruz, promised "serious action" against armed groups who do not surrender their weapons to the authorities of the DR Congo or MONUSCO.

                    Two young men pretending to repair a hole in the Walikale-Hombo NR3 road ( Photo Charly Kasereka )

DR Congo: The Africa Brigade teething troubles.

Mutaani reports ( Translated from french by Google and cleaned up a bit by me )

DRC: Brigade must act or leave

Civil society in North Kivu gives an ultimatum of one week to the Brigade for UN intervention to attack armed groups in eastern DRC. Otherwise, the Brigade must choose: to act or leave.

Everything stems from a 48-hour ultimatum that the United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of the DR Congo, MONUSCO, has given to holders of arms in the area around Goma and Sake. The ultimatum expired Thursday, August 1, 2013, at 14h GMT.

That same evening, many Congolese expected to see offensive operations against negative forces. The next day, after no concrete action was taken. Tensions increased in the population!

The ultimatum was probably an unwise initial move by the Africa Brigade. Building expectation and then failing to deliver is not a good strategy. 

The climate was favorable for the young members of the local self-defense groups, better known as "Mai-Mai" to stage a demonstration. Dressed in civilian clothes, they easily blend into the population. They have come to rise up against the Brigade, on the morning of Friday, August 2.

The Mai Mai are a bloody pain in the arse. 

Gunmen launched the attack early on Wednesday at an army recruitment center near the North Kivu provincial town before being repelled after more than two hours of fighting, Colonel Olivier Hamuli told Reuters.

"The provisional death toll is 23 Mai Mai, 5 recruits and 3 FARDC soldiers, including a senior officer," Hamuli said. Mai Mai is the generic name given to a multitude of local armed groups that roam eastern Congo.

The roundabout at Birere, one of the hectic crossroads of Goma the drama begins. People attack  the vehicles of the South African contingent of the Africa Brigade  MONUSCO. It does not stop there! A few minutes later, youth stone the vehicles, asking them to get to the front and out of town.

The question that seems to have been missed is who is behind this demonstration ? The conventional wisdom seems to be that it is a spontaneous reaction by the local community but I don't buy that, it is just to glib.

The South African contingent fires bullets into the air to try to disperse the protesters, but in vain. The police and FARDC soldiers manage to disperse the crowd. To achieve this, the vehicles of MONUSCO had to retreat. But the rage of the demonstrators continues.

This just stinks of a set up to discredit the Africa Brigade.

"We have been massacred in the interior of the province! These people were just spectators they are not intervening, reports an upset demonstrator. Instead of helping us end the M23, they ask us to disarm. Who will protect our families? "

I think one week into their deployment it is a little early to make that judgement. 

Another member of the same movement of Mai to Mai who requested anonymity questions the logic of disarming. "We are not fighting government forces nor the Brigade for UN intervention, he said: Why do we disarm? If all M23 rebels lay down their arms to MONUSCO, then we will do so voluntarily. "

So if your not fighting the Africa Brigade or FARDC why do you have weapons ? Mai Mai should be treated as an armed group and if they have weapons they should surrender them or be considered a legitimate target. These guys are are a large part of the problem. 

The civil population in North Kivu is on the same wave length as the people of Goma. Vice-president and spokesman, Master Omar Kavota does not mince words: "The Brigade Intervention ( Africa Brigade ) seems to be asleep standing up. The Brigade continues to waste time and forget that it has a one-year term! "

It invites the Brigade to begin his hunt for active negative forces in eastern Congo. He lists all armed groups who are rebelling Movement March 23,(M23 ) Allied Democratic Forces, ( ADF / NALU) Uganda and Al Shabaab of Somalia and their partners, etc..

I agree but it would be sensible to secure your rear and your supply lines before engaging the armed rebels. Time spent in preparation is not wasted time. That is why soldiers in professional armies train. 

As from Friday, August 2, the people of North Kivu have given an ultimatum of one week to the Brigade for UN intervention to go into action. If necessary  his spokesman threatens to go to the other extreme. Master Omar Kavota: "We call the people to dissociate themselves from this Brigade and conduct large-scale action to push them to act or leave. "

The people of North Kivu ? Who ever this crazy prick is he may well come to regret those words. If they leave then it is back to the status quo if they stay and succeed then he looks like a total dickhead. 

Contacted about this, MONUSCO said they had received no official document of the protesters informing them of ultimatum. The military spokesman, Colonel Felix Prosper Bassa Mutaani  reminded them of the invitation of the Congolese government, and not that of protesters. He still enjoys working with the forces of the DR Congo to alert the international community about the various violations of human rights in North Kivu.

It is not an auspicious start for the Africa Brigade but anyone who expected this to be sorted out in 48 hours is batshit crazy. 

DR Congo: The games go on ( and on )......

New Times ( Rwanda ) reports

East DR Congo militia want to join peace talks

 

                                                                                 Mai Mai kifuafua. Net photo.

Members of the eastern DR Congo militia Mai Mai say they deserve to be included in talks between the Kinshasa government and the M23 rebel movement.

“The Mai Mai have several well-founded demands. ... We want to be and should be part of the talks,” Joseph Assanda, who represents 11 Mai Mai groups based in South Kivu province, told AFP on Monday.

As if things weren't way to complicated already. The reality is though that there is no way that Mai Mai can be included in the talks. It would be interesting to know who is behind these demands. My bet would be Kinshasa. 

The talks in Kampala, which were adjourned on December 21 until Saturday, concern a 2009 accord that applied to dozens of armed groups in the volatile mineral-rich region.

The accord aimed at ending chronic unrest in the area, especially since the 1994 Genocide in neighbouring Rwanda sent tens of thousands of refugees across the border as well as thousands of elements that participated in the Genocide.

There seems to be a determination on all sides to screw up any chance of these talks working which I guess is consistent with the spirit of the 2009 accord.
The unrest has served as a constant cover for the motley groups to plunder the region.

The Mai Mai militia groups are indigenous to the region, known for their fearlessness said to be based on the belief that water protects them from bullets.

This particular stupidity seems to promulgated at every opportunity by the main stream media. If they believed that drops of water would protect them from bullets it is a fairly safe assumption that they would not be demanding representation at the talks in any physical sense. I struggle to understand why any media would print such utter crap, it is condescending, culturally inaccurate and racist.

They have been known to shift their alliances with different rebel movements in a country whose two back-to-back wars from 1996 to 2003 claimed a staggering number of lives.

The chronic unrest has allowed myriad opportunists to plunder the area’s rich mineral deposits, often with their bare hands.

How fucking hilarious, the propaganda mouth piece of the Rwandan Government describes the the Rwandan leadership no less, as " ...myriad opportunists to plunder " read it and weep.

The M23 rebels, who occupied the key eastern mining hub of Goma for nearly two weeks in November, emerged out of a previous rebel force which was integrated into the DR Congo army under the peace pact signed on March 23, 2009.

They mutinied last April, claiming mistreatment and the failure of the Kinshasa government to implement the accord.

After withdrawing from Goma on December 1, the M23 rebels entered talks with the DR Congo government on December 9.

The talks mediated by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region are taking place in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Except of course they aren't. Many things might be happening in Kampala but " talks " isn't one of them.

Assanda took issue with the venue.

“We are Congolese, and the agreement was signed in (DR) Congo. We want talks that will include us to take part in Congo,” Assanda said.

Which shows a lack of understanding about the whole Kampala process something I am inclined to be very forgiving of.

The Kinshasa government should “pay particular attention to other armed groups that signed” the accord, said a Mai Mai official, Longangi Kanyere.

His group is among 11 Mai Mai groups based in South Kivu province who signed the accord.

“We need more consideration,” he said. “The ranks earned by our soldiers who are still in the bush ... should be recognised.”

I suspect that this is a demand for money. On the face of it it would be cheap easy solution if my suspicions are correct.

He said that if this demand were met, many other armed groups in South Kivu, as well as in North Kivu, “would spare no effort to help the Congolese government bring a sustainable peace to the eastern DRC.”

As I said I suspect Kinshasa is behind this Mai Mai initiative. The problem of course is that the last time this was tried it resulted in a shambles and it is hard to see how it would end any differently this time regardless of Mai Mai efforts. 

Janvier Karairi is going to fight

Janvier Karairi plans to take on M23 and I doubt that it is a good development. Mai Mai have destabilised the DR Congo in the past Wikipedia is ambivalent at best on the Mai Mai and if your reading this  Alex it is a cry for help I have not stumbled over Mr Karairi before.

" In May 2007, Mai Mai killed two wildlife officers in Virunga National Park and threatened to kill mountain gorillas if the government retaliated. The Mai Mai are also suspected of the killings of nine mountain gorillas, with the use of machetes, and automatic weapons.

A former leader of the Mai-Mai, Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga, turned himself over to MONUC troops in May 2006. He was found guilty of numerous war crimes between October 2003 and May 2006 and was sentenced to death by the Kipushi Military Tribunal in Katanga Province on March 6th, 2009.^[1] Another leader, Colonel Mayele was arrested by UN forces in October 2010, allegedly being the leader behind mass rapes in the Walikale region of North Kivu province. ^[2] "

News 24 Reports 

DRC: Militia force chief ready for war

2012-08-23 22:28

" Lukweti - Janvier Karairi, leader of a militia force in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, says that the government and the army have come begging his help in defeating a local Tutsi rebellion.

Karairi's movement is formed of traditional fighters like many other Mai Mai groups, whose fierce reputation is based partly on their beliefs and practices. They believe they can dodge bullets if their hair is styled a certain way and sprinkle themselves with sacred water before battle."

That sounds like total bullshit I gather there was in the past that belief but guys who use guns are well aware of the dangers of the weapons.

" To reach the headquarters of Karairi's Alliance of the People for a Free and Sovereign Congo (APCLS), you must cross a rope bridge over a stream near Lukweti village in the volcanic hills of Nord-Kivu province north of the provincial capital Goma.

Karairi claims to command three brigades, or 4 500 men, which cannot be independently verified. Their range of operations neighbours an area conquered to the north and northwest of Goma, by rebels of M23, a Tutsi force of mutineers who deserted from the army from April and represent a significant regional threat."

I am struggling with that claim 4,500 would make you a major player in my opinion. I should have heard of him before now.

Request

On Tuesday, Karairi recalls, two helicopters of the UN mission in DR Congo, Monusco, landed on the football field of the nearly village, carrying a member of parliament, Mwami Bahati, who is also a tribal chief, a UN representative and the deputy commander of the military zone in Nord-Kivu province.

"They came to ask me to form an alliance with the army to fight M23," the neatly bearded Karairi said, adding that he agreed with one condition, that his men should not be mingled with those of those of the Congolese army (FARDC) "because they have M23 people within their ranks".

That claim about M23 within the ranks of the DR Congo army I can believe. 

"We want our own line of attack," he explained, adding that he had asked the army for weapons and equipment. During their visit to the Mai Mai base, AFP journalists saw no heavy weapons. Apart from a few big machine-guns and RPG rocket launchers, the fighters had AK47s.

In 2004, Karairi said, he accepted a government offer to join the FARDC, during a time of integration after a war that ravaged much of the vast country, but when an ethnic Tutsi colonel was placed in command of his unit, he left with his men.

Anti-Tutsi

"The enemy of the APLCS is he who accepts the invasion of the Congo by Rwanda, Uganda or Burundi," he stated, stressing that he was firmly "anti-Tutsi".

I despise racism.

" Rwanda, which has several times intervened militarily in DR Congo, has a government largely led by Tutsis, the main victims of the genocide of 1994 in which some 800 000 people were massacred by Hutus. The Kigali regime has been accused by the United Nations of backing M23 - an allegation it strongly denies.

M23 forces have neither advanced nor fallen back in the past month, according to civilian witnesses and the military. Its men are about 20km from Goma, and like other movements in the region, it imposes taxes and seeks to administrate areas it controls."

Alex has a post up about this

" Destabilisation

But despite this relative stability, the M23 rebellion has destabilised the whole province, opening the way for other armed groups to become active and fight to gain ground or take control of mineral resources. Apart from seeking local allies to fight M23, the Kinshasa government is looking to the UN for help.

Monusco spokesperson in Kinshasa, Madnodje Mounoubai, two weeks ago spoke of a "red line" based on current positions and warned that UN forces could intervene if there was a direct threat to the scores of thousands of displaced people in Goma.

Karairi denies any contact with the Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which hides out in the forests of eastern DR Congo and is seen as a constant cross-border threat to Rwanda, including people who participated in the genocide."

FDLR are a major part of the problem. See Emmanuel's Blog

UN business

"The FDLR is the business of the United Nations," Karairi said. "It's up to them to do everything possible to make the FDLR return home."

A former trader from Kichanga, northwest of Goma, who is welcoming with journalists, Karairi is clearly well respected. Nobody talks until he allows them to and everybody gets up when he comes into a room.

At the APCLS training camp at Nyabiondo, about 20km from Lukweti, straw huts provide shelter for women and children. A DR Congo army camp is installed close by. A little further away, a Monusco base is home to UN troops from India who are supplied by helicopter.

On the road back from Lukweti, two armed men in civilian clothes tried to hide when the car approached. "They're FDLR," said an APCLS fighter who was escorting the journalists.

I guess it is watch this space