Dr Congo: " He isn't very honest but he's obvious at least.....Let it stay forever now "

Human Rights Watch reports

Joseph Kabila Forever: The dangers of an extended presidency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

                                         Joseph Kabila Kabange, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo – Joseph Kabila, the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, faces a historic choice: Does he step down when his constitutionally limited two terms in office come to an end in December 2016, or does he succumb to the delusion of indispensability that is making the rounds in parts of Africa and try to cling to power?

He will try to stay on and he won't succeed. I have no doubt that Kabila is just as deluded as Museveni, Kagame, Mugabe and the latest fool to join that particular club Nkurunziza.

The issue is the subject of intense debate in Congo. When we met with Kabila last week in Kinshasa, he pointed out — correctly — that he has not yet publicly stated his position about what he will do in 2016. “Let’s wait and see what will happen,” he cautioned. But he has done little to stem intense speculation about his possible reluctance to relinquish office.

The reason that he hasn't stated his position is that he intendeds to stand again and publically stating so would effectively end any possibility of that happening. For Kabila to have any hope of a third term a major crisis would need to  unfold that would effectively prevent a general election. The problem is that the DR Congo is an ongoing major crisis and  the Congolese have adapted to that reality.

If Kabila chooses to abide by the constitution, he would become the first Congolese president to step down voluntarily for another elected president — arguably making him the “father of democracy” in Congo. That would be a major step forward for a nation that suffered brutal colonial rule under King Leopold II of Belgium, decades of post-colonial dictatorship under Mobutu Sese Seko, and then years of deadly war in which a constellation of rebel groups and armies from nine African states battled on Congolese soil.

 "... arguably making him the “father of democracy” in Congo."  That is just bloody stupid as Kabila himself points out below the Congolese have a " father of democracy " President Lumumba, he is revered throughout the Congolese community. My daughters are Congolese and consequently I attend the annual Congolese Independence celebrations,  I have never heard Kabila's name mentioned yet every speaker, every year, talks of the father of the DR Congo, Patrice Émery Lumumba .  Lumumba is in many ways Mandela's predecessor, that Kabila might opt for the Museveni, Kagame, Mugabe, Nkurunziza etc. club rather than the Lumumba / Mandela club astonishes me. I guess accepting that your most politically significant act would be to obey the law and stand down is difficult. Lumumba gave his life for the DR Congo.

Kabila came to power in 2001 at the age of 29, following the assassination of his father, Laurent Désiré Kabila. He is not without his accomplishments in office. Under his leadership, Congo has emerged from the dark years of war, and he led a transitional government that in 2006 brought about the country’s first democratic elections in more than 40 years, which he won. With mixed success, he has sought to stabilize the eastern part of the country, which has been plagued by armed groups that continue to kill, rape, and pillage, and he has sought to end the impunity that underwrites these atrocities. His government asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the crimes committed in Congo and has surrendered more suspects to that court than any other government in the world.

Are you taking the piss ? Kabila's accomplishments were all accomplished by the international community, which also explains why they are so limited. "...stabilize the eastern part of the country " Actually the UN funded Africa Brigade.  "... International Criminal Court to investigate the crimes committed in Congo and has surrendered more suspects to that court than any other government in the world."  The price of aid money.

His “zero tolerance” policy toward sexual violence by security forces — announced two days after we encouraged him to take this step at a meeting in the eastern Congolese city of Goma in 2009 — has led to a spate of domestic prosecutions and a notable reduction in complaints about rape by government soldiers. And in late 2013, he succeeded in ridding eastern Congo of the last of a succession of abusive Rwandan-sponsored rebel groups that operated in the region for 15 years.

Excuse me ?

“...equating to 1,150 rapes per day.” and you have convicted six military personnel and this is a success ? It is an appalling failure. "

Yet if Kabila chooses to try to hang on to power, his reputation will be tarnished not only by the failure to respect the unamendable constitutional two-term limit but also by the likelihood of a violent and abusive chain reaction. To envision how a downward spiral of protest and violent repression might unfold in Congo over a disputed extended presidential term, one need look no further than neighboring Burundi, where President Pierre Nkurunziza’s insistence on a constitutionally questionable third term has yielded the deadly suppression of mass protests.

I would have thought that Human Rights Watch might have thought about the differences between the DR Congo and Burundi and also have factored in Uganda, Rwanda and Zimbabwe before coming out with idiocies such as this. " one need look no further than neighboring Burundi, ". Epic fail.

In January, when Kabila’s government attempted to change the electoral law to enable extending his time in office, thousands of people took to the streets of Congo’s major cities to protest. Government security forces responded with violence and repression, killing at least 38 protesters in Kinshasa and five in Goma, and jailing — and sometimes beating and torturing — politicians and activists who were seen to challenge the idea of an extended presidency.

Never underestimate the Congolese. Kabila would like another term but he won't get it.

Why might Kabila want to stay past his mandate? Beyond the perks of power, many assume that he fears for himself and his family. For example, in our meeting, he raised the specter of Congo’s first democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, who was executed after an apparently Western-backed coup. “Have I been successful? I don’t know. Lumumba is the real father of democracy, and he was assassinated.”

Moreover, according to political insiders and investigative journalists, the Kabila family has amassed a considerable fortune, which could make them vulnerable to future investigations . Plus, Kabila in 2016 would be only 45 years old; those close to him say he has no desire to leave Congo, but there is no Congolese precedent of a former president assuming an elder statesman role of the sort played by South Africa’s Nelson Mandela or Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo.

Maybe we should establish an island where we can accommodate corrupt political leaders to prevent them inflicting more corruption on the people they are supposed to serve. New Zealand might offer up the Auckland Islands. 

Yet Kabila has little room to maneuver. A broad consensus has emerged in the country that a formal third presidential term is constitutionally impossible, so Congolese speak instead of a possible “glissement” — the use of some pretext to allow the prescribed limits for his second term to “slide.” The pretext might be intensifying armed conflict in the east, making the prospect of genuinely national elections difficult. It might be the seemingly deliberate lack of preparations for elections: little of the budget has been funded, and no steps have been taken to register more than 5 million youth who have come of age since the last national election in 2011. Or it might be the government’s insistence on proceeding with complicated plans to subdivide the country’s 11 provinces into 26 and then hold local and provincial elections before national ones — a sequencing that could lead to significant glissement.

In other word a crisis.. and as I say above when crisis is the norm that isn't going to work.

But it’s hard to imagine how any of these scenarios would buy Kabila more than another year or two in office. That would accomplish little for him, while significantly undermining his interests. Prosecutors, for example, would be far less likely to proceed against a former president who is respected for having reinforced the foundation of Congolese democracy by handing power to a newly elected leader in timely fashion, than one who oversaw intensifying rounds of brutality against a public that seemed clearly to want a constitutionally mandated handover of power. A tumultuous period of repression would also make it less likely that Kabila’s endorsement of a friendly successor would succeed — another option that might help Kabila safeguard his interests.

The Lumumba / Mandela club might just prove to be a better option.

We made these arguments to him directly in our meeting last week, but the president was coy in answering them: “Why are you trying to anticipate what will happen?”

You arrogant bastard. Kabila that is a fair question. A few weeks ago my brother in law and I took my just turned 18 year old daughter to a licensed ( Alcohol serving ) premise for her birthday. She surprised me when she said an African would never do what we were doing. Africans who make it don't according to her bother with those who are still on the road to success. It is an arrogance that would not survive a minute in New Zealand. 

He was more responsive when we stressed the importance of allowing people to protest and criticize the government, especially in an electoral period, though he hedged his commitment to democratic principles: “People want to hold demonstrations and protests, good enough. But if the idea is to go beyond free protests and create mayhem and anarchy, that’s completely unacceptable.” We noted that democracy can be messy yet, short of violence, shouldn’t be equated with anarchy. He let the point hang.

"..He let the point hang. "  No surprises there it occur's to me that another President once pointed out if we don't hang together we will hang apart.

Kabila put a special stress on the need to ensure stability. “The issue in Congo is about stability. Stepping down — anyone can step down.” But, again, it’s far from clear how a contested extension of his term in office coupled with likely protest and repression would contribute to Congo’s stability.

" The issue in Congo is about stability. Stepping down — anyone can step down.” You will. One way or the other.

Kabila has proposed a national dialogue to iron out electoral questions. If he were to state clearly his intention to relinquish office at the appointed time and indicate that the dialogue would discuss only the modalities for the next round of elections consistent with the constitution, Congolese would most likely welcome the opportunity. But in his typically cryptic fashion, he has left people speculating that dialogue might be just another ploy forglissement.

That we left our meeting with Kabila cordially suggests that the arguments we made are not beyond the pale. He listened politely and even joked: “You say ‘father of democracy.’ You’re not the first one to say this and you won’t be the last.” But he gave no indication that he accepted or rejected our suggestions. He simply asked: “As for my future, continue to pray for me.” For the sake of democracy’s future in Congo, we can only hope Kabila understands that his personal interest, not to mention his country’s, lies in accepting, rather than abusively fighting, the limits that the Congolese constitution so clearly impose.

“As for my future, continue to pray for me.” I doubt even God would pray for you. I certainly won't. Mind you I won't pray for anyone. Even myself.

Rwanda:" While his generation digests high fibre ignorance "

Think Africa Press reports

"Let's Wait and See What Happens": Kagame Hints at 2017 Election Run

At a recent event, Rwanda's president Paul Kagame suggested he might change the constitution to allow him to run for a third term in 2017.

President Paul Kagame speaking at the World Economic Forum in 2013. Photograph by WEF/Sebastian Derungs.

Speaking at an event at Tufts University yesterday, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame gave one the biggest hints yet that he may alter the constitution in order to run for a third term in 2017.

Kagame's third term has been a subject of a lot of speculation Kagame himself has made it clear on several occasions he has no interest in a third term.

" President Paul Kagame has reiterated that he is not interested in third term in office and will respect the constitution or what Rwandans will decide in the interest of continued progress and stability in the country after 2017."

I have taken that statement on face value and concluded if that is the case then Kagame must be looking for a third way the Russian tandemocracy model springs to mind.

" Kagame has become delusional, his inability separate his administration from the the nation state that is Rwanda. He assures all that he will not alter the constitution to extend his tenure as Rwanda's President but the reality is that he has created a situation where he will be forced to remain in office. Expect an African version of the Putin / Medvedev  tandemocracy. There is very little available in the way of attractive retirement options available for autocratic dictators after they lose power. Ask Gaddafi. "    

In response to a student’s question concerning what role he would play in the country after his current term ends, Kagame responded: "I have been asked when or whether I am going to leave office right from the time when I started. It is as if I am here just to leave. I'm here to do business on behalf of Rwandans…I don't know what else I can give you on that, but let's wait and see what happens as we go. Whatever will happen, we'll have an explanation."

And that explanation it would seem is already in the process of being crafted.

And from the same article that has had the copy function disabled.

Kagame has led Rwanda since 1994 when the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took control of the country and ended the genocide against the Tutsis. For the first six years, Kagame was a de facto head, but he officially took presidential office in 2000 after his predecessor resigned. He then won elections in 2003 and again in 2010.

Under Rwanda's constitution, presidents are limited to two seven-year terms, but ever since 2010, there has been speculation over whether Kagame would hand over the reins of power come 2017.

Clearly there are many who view Kagame's ambitions extending far further than 2017. On the above evidence the tandemocracy option would not appear to be on the table. Radio Netherlands worldwide reports:

" Twagirimana said Kagame was determined to rule for as long as he could. He was responding to a pledge by Kagame that he will step down in 2017 after serving a second term in office.

"Maybe they will change the constitution so he can continue. I think he would like to rule for 20, 30, 50 years like Robert Mugabe," Twagiramana said."

Recently in Rwanda, the media, which is heavily monitored and censored by the government, has published a number of articles in support of a constitutional amendment that would allow Kagame to run again.

These articles tend to frame the issue as a matter of democracy. One letter to The New Times, for example, advised fellow citizens to remember that “a constitution isn’t a straitjacket but a living covenant with built-in rules for amendment as the polity requires. As long as the necessary minimum proportion of Rwandans required by the Constitution want a revision to that sacred document to cater to fundamental change in national need, then we should all be prepared to accept such change."

Kagame spent his formative years as a refugee in Uganda and was part of the Ugandan President Museveni circle. Museveni has been very clear on the tendency of African leaders to cling on to power well after their used by date.

“The problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular is not the people but leaders who want to overstay in power.” He promised Uganda a new constitution that would empower the people and limit the powers and the time a president can serve.

The new constitution came into effect in 1995. Under this constitution, elections for members of parliament and the president should be held every five years and a president can only serve for two terms each of five years."

That was some 27 years ago and Museveni remains in power. Kagame will be with us for somewhat longer than 3 more years it would seem.

Meanwhile, an article last year which followed Kagame’s annual Citizen Outreach programmes, in which he meets with communities across the country, described how “residents appealed to the Head of State to remain in office and pledged to vote for him.” The author, a legal scholar based in the capital, concluded: “In many democracies, it is totally justified to amend the constitution principally to advance the broad shared interests of the citizens or in response to nation’s exigencies at hand. It even befits more when the amendment is steered by the people themselves.”

" The author, a legal scholar based in the capital,..."  I assume it was published anonymously to save the so called legal scholar the derision of the rest of the international academic community .

Repression in and out of Rwanda

To critics of Kagame, such talk of democratic principles is disingenuous. They claim that Kagame's regime has long been characterised by repression, violence and human rights abuses, all sheltered by a silently complicit West.

In the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, for example, RPF forces are believed to have killed around 35,000 Hutus in reprisal attacks. These “military campaign style mass murders” were catalogued by the UN, but the report was never released, allegedly because of Kagame’s close relationship with the US and the guilt the international community felt for not intervening in the genocide.

The Kigali regime has turned the 1994 genocide into its justification for some of the greatest human rights abuses the world has witnessed in the last 20 years, rivaled only by the Israelis and their appalling behaviour with regard to the Palestinians. Six million people have died in the the DR Congo. Genocide can never be forgiven but you can't justify a subsequent genocide on the grounds of a previous one and that it would seem has been the position of the west to date.

Kagame's army has also committed large-scale abuses in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The motivation for Rwanda's incursions into the DRC, the first in 1996, was to root out Hutu génocidaires who still posed a threat, but the RPF went well beyond this. According to 600-page UN report, the Rwandan army killed tens if not hundreds of thousands of Hutus, including women and children, in what some claimed could amount to genocide.

Not just Hutus, anyone who stood between the Rwandan army and the mineral wealth of the eastern DR Congo was killed, somewhat unfortunate if the eastern DR Congo was your home.

Domestically, Kagame has also been accused of violence and repression. Although the country holds elections and claims to be democratic, Freedom House classifies Rwanda as 'Not Free'. Dissenting newspapers and journalists are not tolerated and claim to be harassed and intimidated. Opposition leader Victoire Ingabire is currently languishing in jail on what many believe to be trumped up charges. And there have reportedly been several cases of extrajudicial killings. This January, for example, the exiled former intelligence chief, Patrick Karageya, was found murdered in a hotel in South Africa. In the aftermath, Kagame did little to dispel suspicions that the Rwandan government was responsible when he commented, "You can't betray Rwanda and not get punished for it."

The truth is you can't oppose Kagame and not get punished for it. The West is slowly waking up to that simple truth.

Over the last two decades, Western governments have largely turned a blind eye to Kagame's repressive tendencies. Many believe this partly because of a sense of guilt at their failure to prevent the 1994 genocide, though as Rwanda specialist Catharine Newbury has pointed out, Kagame is also “extremely adept in speaking a discourse that Westerners want to hear."

Recently, Rwanda's status as an aid darling has started to slip, especially after evidence emerged of its alleged support for the M23 rebels in the eastern DRC, but it remains to be seen how donor countries would respond if Kagame announces he will be running again in 2017. Similarly, while government-backed Rwandan media paint a picture of widespread support for the strongman, it also remains to be seen how the broader Rwandan population would feel about their president's twenty-year rule being extended by a further seven.

The broader Rwandan population will not get a say. We have created another Mugabe and as the economic screws start to tighten, as the West increasingly appalled by the brutality of the Kigali regime closes the aid tap, Kagame will brutalise any opposition within Rwanda. Expect more incursions into the eastern DR Congo, Rwanda has very little in the way of resources.   

DR Congo: ICC - " When your conscience whispered, the vein lines stiffened. You were walking with the dead. "

The United Nations News Centre reports:

UN welcomes International Criminal Court conviction of former DR Congo militia leader

Germain Katanga sits in the courtroom of the ICC in The Hague during closing statements on 15 May 2012. Photo: ICC-CPI/REUTERS/Michael Kooren(NETHERLANDS)

7 March 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his top envoy for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today welcomed the verdict issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against a former Congolese militia leader for war crimes in relation to a 2003 attack in the country’s east.

Hundreds of people were killed and many women were forced into sexual slavery as a result of the attack on Bogoro village in Ituri district.

This was the attack that in many ways launched the career of Bosco Ntaganda. Ntaganda currently awaiting trial himself at the Hague was to eventually lead the UPC.

" On 24 February 2003, hundreds of FNI and FRPI fighters including children under the age of fifteen attacked Bogoro with machetes, spears, arrows, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers and semi-automatic weapons According to the ICC, they circled the village and "converged towards the centre on a killing spree", killing at least 200 civilians, imprisoning survivors in a room filled with corpses, and sexually enslaving women and girls. Some residents of the village were killed by setting their houses on fire, others were hacked to death with machetes. The UN reported that 173 of the victims were under the age of 18."

UPC leader Thomas Lubanga claimed that 400 people were killed and 500 were missing after the attack. "The civilian population was very, very coldly massacred," he said.

The attack succeeded in pushing UPC forces out of Bogoro within a few hours and, ten days later, the Lendu and Ngiti drove the UPC from Bunia."

Germain Katanga, a senior commander from the group known as the Force de Résistance Patriotique en Ituri (FRPI), was convicted on four counts of war crimes and one count of crimes against humanity, namely murder, attacking a civilian population, destruction of property and pillaging.

Sometimes, not often but sometimes, justice has an irony, from African Arguments:

" Some four months later, on 10 January 2005, the Congolese army appointed a number of Iturian ex-combatants to serve as generals. Former rivals Bosco Ntaganda and Germain Katanga were among those who received this ‘promotion’, to the disgust of late Human Rights Watch researcher and historian Alison Des Forces, who said “the government needs to take these warlords to court."

“This is an important verdict for the victims of these horrific crimes, for international justice, and for the fight against impunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.

“The Secretary-General reaffirms the strong commitment of the United Nations to support the independent work of the Court as the centrepiece of the international criminal justice system,” it added.

It is interesting how many African Leaders ( Kagame, Mugabe, Kenyatta.. et all ) despise the court, that I think says more about those leaders than it does about the ICC.

" To avoid prosecution, ruthless national leaders too often threaten, corrupt, or compromise judges and prosecutors at home, but those in The Hague should be beyond the reach of such obstructionism. The ICC is meant as a court of last resort for victims and survivors who cannot find justice in their own country and as a deterrent to leaders who have little to fear from domestic prosecution. The court has now been accepted by 122 states."

The Court said in a statement that, in light of the witness testimonies and the evidence presented before the Chamber, “it had been established beyond reasonable doubt that Germain Katanga had made a significant contribution to the commission of the crimes by the Ngiti militia, which was acting with a common purpose, by assisting its members to plan the operation against Bogoro.”

At the same time, the ICC’s Trial Chamber acquitted Mr. Katanga of the other charges that he was facing. In this regard, the Chamber found that there was evidence beyond reasonable doubt that the crimes of rape and sexual slavery were committed, and that there were children within the Ngiti militia and among the combatants who were in Bogoro on the day of the attack.

“However, the Chamber concluded that the evidence presented in support of the accused’s guilt did not satisfy it beyond reasonable doubt of the accused’s responsibility for these crimes.”

His sentence will still be significant.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for DRC, Martin Kobler, said the conviction “was yet another warning to armed groups to immediately cease attacks against civilians and lay down their arms.”

In a statement from the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC (MONUSCO), which he heads, Mr. Kobler also said that combating impunity is fundamental to stabilizing the country and establishing a durable peace.

I agree completely, Kobler has re energised MONUSCO and the remaining armed groups in the DR Congo need to get the message that the world will not tolerate crimes against humanity we will come for them no matter how long it takes and they will face justice. It is also something that leaders such as Kagame who supported M23 might want to consider.

Decisions on Mr. Katanga’s sentencing and victim reparations will be rendered later. The Prosecutor and the Defence may appeal the judgment within 30 days.

Located in The Hague, in the Netherlands, the ICC is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern – namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Zimbabwe: The Hangman of Harare prepares for his final execution.

The Washington Post reports

Zimbabwe: Foreigners must close shops by Jan 1.

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwean authorities say they have given foreign shop-owners —mostly Chinese and Nigerian nationals— an ultimatum to shut down their businesses by Jan. 1.

My immediate thought is of course that Mugabe and his fellow Zanu PF thieves have run out of farms to steal and having destroyed the agricultural sector of the Zimbabwe economy are now moving in on the retail and service  sectors. I am betting that Chinese nationals will not be targeted by this measure, that said Mugabe is clearly insane.

" While over $3 billion dollars of official Chinese finance in this period ( 2000 and 2011 ) were investments in agriculture, forestry, and fishing projects, the Chinese government also supported activities related to food security, military support, and humanitarian response. It is not obvious, however, that all of these activities were of benefit to the Zimbabwean people. Media reports indicate that Chinese financing has enabled the Mugabe regime to construct a new presidential mansion, purchase equipment to censor independent radio and television stations, as well as monitor the political activities of opponent politicians and their constituents in the 2005 presidential election. "

A top official of the black empowerment ministry said only Zimbabweans had the right to run shops that have sprung up across the country and are termed foreign businesses targeted under the nation’s black empowerment laws, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Friday.

The Black Empowerment Ministry have a bit of a name problem here. They have stolen all the white farms and business and in the process bankrupted them, that is a tragedy insofar as these business were feeding millions who are now in mired in poverty, but the white owners generally got out and were able to start again. Now it is the turn of the black business owners to be robbed ironically by the Black Empowerment Ministry. 

Africa.. Zimbabwe is your problem now, Mugabe is your problem... he is now going to rob your expats working in Zimbabwe.  Africa you have sheltered this thief  you have given him a legitimacy he never deserved. You preach Pan-Africanism, this is the Zimbabwe face of Pan-Africanism, 

Those laws, passed in 2007, demand foreign businesses to cede 51 percent control to local blacks.

That needs a little clarification, " local blacks " means the leadership of Zanu PF, this is not about looking after the interests of the Zimbabwe people, Mugabe never has and never will give a toss about them, this is a last desperate roll of the dice aimed at rewarding those who have collaborated in the corruption, a last chance for criminal profit before the whole house of cards collapses.   

The foreign shop owners have been criticized for taking retail trade opportunities from Zimbabwean traders by selling cheap imports.

That is hilarious " cheap imports " as if Zimbabwe has a manufacturing sector. Mugabe and his Zanu PF are now going to destroy for personal gain the only sector of the economy that actually works. 

" Captains of industry meeting for the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) annual congress which begins on Wednesday in Bulawayo have their work cut out after the latest manufacturing survey showed a deepening crisis in industry. 

The three-day conference, ending on October 11, is expected to craft strategies to improve industrial production, cut losses and stop capacity utilisation from declining further, as it did in 2012, crashing to 39 percent from 44 percent a year earlier, the survey’s findings showed.

It is symbolic that the congress is taking place in Bulawayo, the country’s former industrial hub, where over the years countless companies have drowned in high debt or are currently reporting widening losses or downsizing operations or falling under judicial management."

Poor townships and city flea markets have in recent years been inundated by shops run by foreigners.

Flea markets, that is all that remains and Mugabe's greed and hatred will now consume even them.

According to state media, shop owners who fail to comply will be arrested.

Arresting people who will not cooperate in their own destruction by a criminal government. Welcome to Zimbabwe Nazi Germany.

" We belong to this continent. We do not mind having and bearing sanctions banning us from Europe. We are not Europeans. We have not asked for any inch of Europe or any square inch of that territory. "  R Mugabe

He means every word of that. He has consumed Zimbabwe, he has along with the other Crocodiles of the continent robbed and raped in the DR Congo. Africa you must stop this evil before he destroys you.

DR Congo: Is the author a part of the Interahamwe ?

All Africa reports

Congo-Kinshasa: Rwandans Now Weary of Picking Up the Pieces of Kagame Leadership
BY ANTOINE ROGER LOKONGO, 5 SEPTEMBER 2013

The Congolese army has been flexing its muscles in killing hundreds of Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers in eastern Congo. Demonstrations by the Congolese masses have taken place as well as a new cooperation agreement among some countries in the Great Lakes region.

The above headline of mine is surprisingly very civilized compared to 'Umurabyo' newspaper's independent journalist Saidati Mukakibibi's. She is now languishing in jail in Rwanda for having quite rightly compared President Paul Kagame with the Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler. She was arrested for defamation, inciting public disorder and ethnic 'divisionism' (Reuters, 13 July 2010) following the 1994 genocide, a trump card Kagame uses well both at home and abroad as a milking cow to keep and win new friends and to silence his critics. But for how long?

There is a huge amount of truth to that statement. Rwanda justifies everything on the basis of the 1994 genocide. It is also the excuse used to make territorial incursions into the DR Congo searching for the FDLR the leadership of which is the remnants of the genocidal regime that was responsible for the 1994 atrocities in Rwanda. The problem of course is that Rwanda actually murders and rapes the people of the Congo and ignores the FDLR, it then proceeds to steal everything of value including the minerals of the DR Congo. 

I fully support any effort to bring the FDLR leadership to justice. I view them as " another M23 ", just as evil and just as worthy of the attention of the Intervention Brigade. It is however not Rwanda's place to pretend to hunt these bastards down.  

Mukakibibi is not the only one. Pascal Manirakiza, a Rwandan refugee who went missing in Uganda has been found tortured and unconscious and 'dumped' at a cemetery near the capital, Kampala, according to the Ugandan government which is supposed to provide him protection on the basis of the Geneva Convention. On the contrary, Manirakiza had earlier been arrested by Ugandan police on a warrant issued by Rwanda (the UN hypocritically protested the arrest). Manirakiza's crime? He was one of four Rwandans who told the BBC last month that they were seeking asylum in Uganda. They accused the Rwandan army of forcibly recruiting them to fight in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (BBC News Africa, 27 August 2013). The BBC reminded us that in 2010, Rwanda's ex-army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa fled to South Africa. He accused Rwanda of a failed attempt to assassinate him later that year, after he was shot and wounded in Johannesburg. Rwanda denied any involvement. The shooting strained diplomatic relations between South Africa and Rwanda.

It was a strange incident. I blogged it here. I am not so sure about the " UN hypocritically protested the arrest. It was that protest that seems to have resulted in Pascal Manirakiza's release.  

COVERING UP CRIMES

The question we ask now is: For how long the UN system, Britain and America are going to provide Museveni and Kagame cover or help cover-up crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide they are committing in the DRC? Not for too long! Belgian journalist Colette Braeckman, reporting for 'Le Soir' from Rwanda confirmed that 'it is clear that there is a growing concern among the Rwandan people' (Le Carnet de Colette Braeckman, 26 August 2013). Kagame's leadership is now widely put into question despite recent visits by his die-hard friends such as former US president Bill Clinton who questioned the line of thinking of 'some people in the human rights community who believe that every good thing that has happened in Rwanda should be negated by what they allege that they have done in the eastern Congo' (BBC News Africa, 12 August 2013).

Actually I rather think this overstates the situation. The world it would seem is thoroughly sick and tired of Rwanda's lies.  Rwanda has been losing ground for quite some time. This process I expect will continue as Kagame's regime seems to have no interest in looking at the new international consensus that has been building on the issue of Rwanda's adventurism. The consequence of ignoring a changing reality can be fatal. 

However, the fact that Rwanda and Uganda are still stubbornly committing crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in the DRC is not helping their powerful mentors in the West save faces.

Again this is an overstatement. That said I was sickened by the call for the DR Congo to restart the peace talks with M23. I hope that they are merely going through a process in Kampala.

Kagame remains the real commander-in-chief of the M23 insurgents. On 15 July 2013, the Congolese army, the Forces Armées de la RDC (FARDC) repulsed an attack by M23 'rebels' backed by Rwandan special units in Mutaho, North Kivu Province.

120 attackers were killed and a dozen captured, including two seriously wounded. 10 Congolese soldiers also lost their lives (AFP, 15 July 2013). The Mutaho, Mujiga, Kibati, Buvira sectors and the strategic hill of Bukanda fell under the total control of the FARDC. Two Ugandan officers were also captured among them and transferred to Kinshasa (L'Avenir, 15 July 2013). Following this debacle, Rwanda accused the UN Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) of colluding with the FDLR said to be responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda! We have heard that a million times! Yet Rwanda currently assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council where it manages to block almost all the resolutions against M23. Isn't that absurd?

This is of course the problem all writers of unbalanced reports face. They are so busy pushing an agenda that they forget to check the facts. The security council has passed several resolutions about M23 and more importantly Australia is the current nation with the presidency of the security council. Rwanda held it in April. Huge fail. 

On 18 July 2013, the FARDC repulsed yet another attack by the M23 insurgents and their Rwandan backers in the north of Kanyaruchinya, 15 km from the city of Goma, North Kivu's provincial capital. 51 elements of the M23 were killed and a top-ranking M23 officer was captured. Among the 51 bodies, 15 were found wearing the uniform of the Rwandan army and were identified as Rwandan soldiers. Five Congolese government soldiers fell on the battlefield (Xinhua, 18 July 2013).

Xinhua, 18 July 2013 provides the author with a small problem. There is nothing about M23 in that edition other than two reports about peace talks resuming in Kampala between M23 and the DR Congo's government.  

On 24 July 2013, the FARDC bombed the strategic military base of Rumangabo which served as a rear base for the M23 insurgents and their Rwandan backers and which set the warehouse of weapons and ammunition on fire. The base fell under the control of the FARDC (Digitalcongo.net, 24 July 2013). After this debacle, the M23 rounded up 210 Congolese youth in Kiwanja city, Rutsuru terrirory and locked them up in Nyongera prison. Up to now nobody has heard about them (Radio Kivu One, 28 July 2013).

I can't comment on the sources Digitalcongo and Radio Kivu One as both are in French other than to say I could not obviously see the reports referred to.

On 13 August 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported that 40 M23 insurgents who had infiltrated Goma were arrested by the UN Intervention Brigade and scores of firearms recovered during a crackdown operation aimed at enforcing a security zone around the city of Goma. But later the UN failed to protect civilians from rockets fired from the Rwandan territory.

There is a report in The Wall Street Journal on the 12 of August but I certainly don't get the " infiltrated Goma " emphasis that this article suggests.

It is hard to know what to believe. These are reports, unconfirmed in many instances and as we can see the author of this piece has an agenda that does not respect the truth if it runs contrary to the argument he is making.

THE RECENT FIGHTING

Rwanda and Uganda are recidivists. On 17 August 2013, M23 insurgents backed by Rwandan troops yet again attacked the Congolese army in Kibumba, 30 km from Goma. According to the Congolese government spokesman, Lambert Mende, the Congolese army, supported by the UN Intervention Brigade, killed 17 Rwandan insurgents (M23） including 2 Rwandan colonels by the names of Hama and Tambwe and captured 12 others. Mende said that 'the FARDC were also able to destroy a depot of ammunition belonging to M23 in Kibumba, which burned throughout the day on 22 August 2013, which gives an idea of the volume of ammunition sent from Rwanda as supplies to this negative force' (Xinhua, 24 August 2013).

I have heard reports that M23 is being reinforced by Rwandan soldiers. It would be good if there was hard evidence of this that could be put in front of the security council, it would certainly give Kinshasa a reason to walk away from the current peace talks, not that they need a reason in my opinion.

M23 maintains link with another armed group called Force de Résistance Patriotique de l'Ituri (FRPI) led by Cobra Matata. On 23 August 2013, the Congolese army inflicted heavy casualties on FRPI supported by Al-Shabab elements from Somalia and ADF-NALU, a 'Uganda rebel movement', killing 30 FRPI insurgents in Nombe, 40 km south of Bunia, Ituri (Eastern Province), recapturing many villages they had occupied. Three Congolese soldiers lost their lives and seven others were wounded (Radio Okapi, 25 August 2013).

A brief lull in days of fighting followed but on 23 August 2013, M23 insurgents backed by Rwandan troops yet again attacked the Congolese army in Kibati at night. The Congolese army supported by the UN Intervention Brigade riposted, killing 100 M23 insurgents, according to Congolese military spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli ( Associated Press, 28 August 2013).

Associated Press, 28 August 2013 ? Well maybe but what publisher carried the story. This is either lazy writing or a deliberate attempt to deceive. It isn't hard to link and bloody stupid not to think that someone might go to the effort of checking the sources. 

'There are at least 100 dead on the rebel side. At least! I can't be sure, because this is just the bodies we saw. There are forests all around where we are finding more,' Hamuli told The Associated Press news agency. In contrast, Bertrand Bisimwa, the president of the M23 rebels, said only a dozen of the dead were from the M23 rebel movement.

" Hamuli told The Associated Press news agency ". Actually I was able to run that one down. However it proves very little. 

Then Rwanda did the crazy thing you would not expect from a country that has been a victim of genocide! It fired nearly a dozen mortar shells that hit different parts of Goma on 22 August 2013, killing a family of four and nearly wounding a dozen others, including two Tanzanian U.N. soldiers and one from South Africa, causing significant damage to St. Paul's Anglican Church and destroying three classrooms in the adjacent school (Reuters, 24 August 2013). This is committing blatant war crimes and crimes against humanity, in fact acts of terrorism!

I actually think this happened. I have heard credible reports about this from ground zero or Goma.

What was more shocking was the fact that the UK government, without a word of condemnation against Rwanda, simply ordered its staff to withdraw from the city of Goma. But UK mining companies stay put (... ). Why don't they also leave?! Anyway, even if the UK condemned Rwanda, it would have simply paid a leap service without coercive measures. What difference would it make? After all, the UK was the first to resume its financial aid to Rwanda following revelations by a panel of UN Security Council experts according to which 'Rwanda was interfering directly in Congo's internal affairs.'

Ordering staff out of conflict zones is an international norm. It is impossible to draw any conclusions from it. The rest is opinion and I certainly would not make nay assumption on the UK's policy on this basis. 

The United States of America was even more cynical! The US State Department, in well calculated wordings issued a statement read by spokeswoman Marie Harf, saying that 'evidence of increased ethnic tensions in Goma', thus reducing Rwanda's mortar attack to a simple 'inter-ethnic conflict', and in fact called on 'both sides to keep calm' No culprit! In fact six senators from the US Congress travelled to Goma just to deliver that message.

As shells fell on Goma, causing deaths of men, women and children, the United States only saw an ethnic conflict that would degenerate. So do the Tutsi have the license to kill Congolese? This is a sign of bad faith, not an error of judgement, in fact an odious, undiplomatic, criminal stance on the part the USA, a nation that has the reputation of being 'a great democracy and a precursor in the defense and protection of human rights, and a frontrunner in the fight against terrorism!' (Le Potentiel, 27 August 2013).

" So do the Tutsi have the license to kill Congolese? " 

This I am afraid is where this piece falls over fatally. The racist agenda of the author is exposed. I am afraid after that statement I can see little difference between Kagame and the author of this drivel. If you choose to categorise people do so by their actions not their ethnicity.

This is how the first Rwandan aggression against Congo started. Kabarebe, the current Rwandan minister of defense and Rwandan special forces hijacked a civilian plane, and from Goma, they flew all the way to the West of Congo, attacked the Kitona military base, cut off electricity from the Inga dam, depriving Kinshasa of power for days - imagine the consequences, including many babies who died in the incubators! The US never condemned such terrorist acts! But when the people of Kinshasa bear handedly tracked down the Tutsi invaders in the capital and burning them alive, the then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright telephoned President Laurent Kabila and accused him of 'killing the Tutsi!' How unjust this world can be!

Those who will not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. For the author this is not about justice it is about hate. It will destroy not only him but his cause. I have attacked Rwanda many time but I harbour no resentment to any Rwandans other than the criminals in charge of the country.  

However, on 12 August 2013, the Rwandan government categorically rejected the Congolese government's request to have Congolese Tutsi rebel leaders 'who have asked political asylum in Rwanda,' including Laurent Nkunda, extradited to their country the DRC to face justice as stipulated in the new 'Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Great Lakes Region', signed on 24 February 2013, in Addis-Ababa, by 11 African leaders - including the leaders of Rwanda, Uganda (Museveni sent his vice-president) and the DRC - under the auspices of the African Union and the United Nations. Rwandan foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo said that 'Rwanda would not extradite Congolese Tutsi rebel leaders to Congo, a country which has not yet abolished capital punishment' (L'Avenir, 12 August 2013). The US, Rwandan's staunchest ally has also not abolished capital punishment. If Nkunda and other 'Congolese Tutsi' are Congolese, why should Rwanda pre-empt the judicial process in this way?

Political asylum is an honourable institution and Rwanda had every right to refuse. The matter should have been handled via the ICC. Don't blame Rwanda for a Congolese procedural / political mistake.

The right of asylum (sometimes called political asylum, from the Greek: ἄσυλον) is an ancient juridical concept, under which a person persecuted by his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries(as in medieval times). This right has its roots in a longstanding Western tradition—although it was already recognized by the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Hebrews; Descartes went to the Netherlands, Voltaire to England, Hobbes to France (followed by many English nobles during the English Civil War, etc.) and each state offered protection to foreign persecuted persons.

The Egyptians, Greeks, and Hebrews recognized a religious "right of asylum," protecting criminals (or those accused of crime) from legal action to some extent.This principle was later adopted by the established Christian church, and various rules developed to qualify for protection and just how much protection it was.

What conclusion might one draw then? According Mushikiwabo, Kigali will not extradite Laurent Kunda and other leaders of the M23 to Congo. But Laurent Nkunda and the leaders of M23 have committed genocide in Congo. Therefore Mushikiwabo is a negationist of the Congolese genocide. But she and her boss Paul Kagame can easily get away with it because they enjoy the protections of the United States of America and Great Britain.

Again that is an interesting spin Mushikiwabo actually said that the matter was under consideration and asked for more information which amounts to a no.

Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo echoed the Justice Minister’s comments saying that extradition is not just putting peo­ple on a plane to the countries that requested for them. “The process has to be done in a legal process considering what our laws say and also what international laws stipulate. Both countries’ Justice Ministers are in touch discussing the issue,” she said.

I am no fan of Louise Mushikiwabo but lets not put words in peoples mouths.

One can even go further and conclude that the fact that Museveni and Kagame commit acts of genocide in Congo casts doubt on the official version of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, signed Paul Kagame.

That sound very close to denial of the genocide. Is the author a part of the Interahamwe ?

TOWARDS BREAKING UP THE DRC

At the same time, on 21 August 2013, a 'Congolese Tutsi' Colonel Richard Bisamaza, acting commander of the first sector of the FARDC in Beni, defected from the Congolese army in Beni to M23 'rebel movement' with sixty 'Congolese Tutsi' foot soldiers, a few 'Congolese Tutsi' high-ranking officers and a cargo of ammunition. His aim was to join the M23 in Rutsuru. The Congolese army followed in hot pursuit of him and had him and some of his men killed during an exchange of fire, recaptured some but the majority fled (Kongo Times, 21 August 2013). What more can we do to accommodate 'Congolese Tutsi'? Some Western powers say that Congo must share its natural and mineral resources with Rwanda and Uganda (as if it was their right and as a war trophy) to have peace. This argument is laughable! Congo should then also share its mineral wealth not only with Rwanda and Uganda but also with all its other seven neighbors, isn't it? Why only with Rwanda and Uganda? No! Congo's neighbours can purchase these resources for the benefit of the public treasury of Congo (right now Congo Brazzaville import electricity from the DRC's Inga dam and pays the bill, no problem!). Even after 20 years of plundering its riches, the Congo does not expressly refuse to sell its wealth to Rwanda and Uganda!.

I repeat, is the author a part of the Interahamwe ?  We can at least see exposed the naked racism of the man. 

Equally shocking was the fact that Martin Kobler the head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) and Special Representative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in Congo said on Radio France Internationale (RFI) that "MONUSCO is not responsible for everything that is happening in eastern Congo. These are Congolese problems and it is up to Congolese people to find solutions to them. We are here only to support the Congolese government". Yet right under Kobler's nose, the city of Goma was hit by new shelling from Rwanda, killing and injuring people, which triggered the people of Goma's anger against the UN mission, inactive against "the rebellion of M23" and incapable of enforcing a security zone around the city of Goma as promised instead of where the M23 are, and asked them to leave. Kobler did not say a word of condemnation of Rwanda. Uruguayan Blue Helmets opened fire on protesters killing two.

That is a unfair interpretation of those events. The events described happened but critically they happened before the Intervention Brigade was fully deployed and therefore operational. A civil Society protest scheduled for the Friday following the incident was cancelled when the operational situation was communicated to the community. I blogged along with others the events.

Kobler said that MONUSCO is not a magic solution to all the problems in eastern Congo. 'We cannot defend all the people here! We're doing everything we can! But the first line, the Congolese government is responsible, to protect the population.'

Even if this were true, MONUSCO should have at least one magical solution to the problem of war in the East. Otherwise of what good is the resolutions of the Security Council which recommends the use of force against negative forces, the signing of the Framework Agreement in Addis Ababa and the establishment of the Special Brigade ? (L'Avenir, 27 August 2013).

They did have a solution. The results we can see now in the decimation of M23 and the shameful pressure that is being applied to Kinshasa to forgo the military gains made by FARDC and the Intervention Brigade by negotiation in Kampala with M23.

Now it's crystal clear. The United States and its NATO allies are hell bent on breaking up Congo using the UN and the Tutsi regimes of Rwanda and Uganda to achieve that objective. But, they will never succeed to control Congo, recolonise it or break it up in order to suck its resources, however superior or powerful they imagine themselves to be and whatever filthy lucre they flaunt to unfortunately a still good section of still mentally colonized Congolese people, to paraphrase President Robert Mugabe as he put it in his inauguration speech. The DRC will never be a colony again!

The era of white colonial 'whispers behind the African throne' passed on and got buried together with Lord Lugard the author of this anti-African, neo-colonial notion. Having struggled for our independence our fate has irrevocably orbited out of colonial relations, indeed can no longer subsist in curtsying and bowing to any foreign government, however powerful it feigns itself to be and whatever filthy lucre it flaunts," President Mugabe rightly said.

Anyone who praises that sick son of bitch Mugabe deserves little more than contempt.

China's position is also very comforting. On the occasion of the 86th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army of China, Colonel Superior Ju Hongbin, Defence Attaché at the Chinese embassy in Kinshasa, solemnly declared that China firmly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo (La Prosperité, 26 July 2013).

Now that is funny, really funny. Be careful what you ask for -- you might get it. China firmly supports China. I don't mean that as a criticism of China. Hegemony comes in many forms and Congo has what China needs.

In addition, on the 4 March 2013, 27 Congolese officers left Kinshasa for Belarus where they will be trained as pilots and technician of Congo's Air Force for a period of three years (Agence Congolaise de Presse, ACP, 4 March 2013).

That is if possible even funnier. Lets have a quick look at the Air Wing of FARDC ( Congolese military )

Country		Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The
Fleet Size		1 Aircraft
Average Fleet Age *		48.5 Years

COMPRADOR REGIMES ARE CHALLENGED BY CONGOLESE ARMY

The Congolese army is flexing its muscles and as we have just described above, it has managed to kill hundreds of Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers, inflicting a heavy toll on Kagame's and Museveni's armies posing as M23 rebels in eastern Congo in the last few weeks. The Rwandan and Ugandan comprador regimes still create more 'armed groups' in eastern Congo but the Congolese army always wipes them out. Should Kagame dare to fire more rockets against innocent Congolese civilians who have done nothing to Rwanda and Uganda and who are not responsible for the inter-ethnic killing in Rwanda in 1994, the Congolese army might march right into Rwanda to stop the rockets from being fired right at the source.

He is mad. The Congolese army is a shambles. It has some good elements and these have finally been recognised and deployed in the East. but as for the rest of FARDC they are mostly thieving rapists that share a fair amount of blame for the situation in Goma after they shamefully abandoned their positions to M23 resulting in Goma falling to M23 last year so they could indulge in raping their own people.

Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa have deployed troops which have constituted the UN Intervention Brigade tasked to use force to neutralize M23 and other Rwanda and Uganda-backed negative forces in eastern Congo. However, that Brigade could have been more effective if its command was independent of MONUSCO. African solutions to African problems! However, we believe that African soldiers within MONUSCO will not accept to be smothered and will accomplish their task and eastern Congo will be pacified. Moreover, on 23 August 2013, Angola, DRC and South Africa signed a cooperation agreement in the fields of training DRC soldiers and police officers. The accord also covers economic matters meant to reinforce regional cooperation and intra-Africa trade and concerns the ports of Lobito in Angola, Durban in South Africa and the Inga hydroelectric dam in the DRC. On the occasion, Congolese President Joseph Kabila said the accord seeks two purposes: one of them the assistance to the DRC in various domains, with highlight to the sectors of defence and security. The second purpose, according to president Kabila, has to do with reinforcement of cooperation among the three countries of the Southern Africa Development Community or SADC (Agencia Angola Presse, ANGOP, 23 August 2013).

It is sheer drivel to suggest that the Intervention Brigade operate independently from MONUSCO. As part of MONUSCO it for starters carries the authority of the world. From a military perspective it would madness this guy hasn't got a clue. How was he planning to use the not insignificant assets that will be delivered to MONUSCO shortly in conjunction with the Intervention Brigade if it is not part of the same command structure ?    

After 32 years of Mobutu's oppressive and corrupt regime, ours is a rotten political class. The house is burning, yet Kerngo wa Dondo, three times Mobutu's prime minister and now surprisingly the president of the Congolese senate is still jockeying for positions! Without Congolese collaborators, this war would not have lasted this long. Although the Congolese people have been subjected to looting, massacres, rape, this has made them even more politically mature and it is no longer easy to take them for granted as demonstrations after demonstrations are being organized by the Congolese masses in the troubled eastern Congo. The people even collect goods and money for the soldiers and feed them. They also transport heavy weapons for the army up to the frontline. This proves that they have overcome their fear. The political initiative taken by President Joseph Kabila to hold a national consultation is meant to further cement national cohesion, national unity, national consciousness to bring Congolese of all cultural, political, religious, or ideological backgrounds to look in the same direction in order to safeguard what they all have in common: Congo's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to prevent more of Museveni and Kagame's adventures in Congo for which the Ugandan and Rwandan people are now weary of picking up the pieces later.

This started out OK and went from reasonable to a racist rant and finally hit batshit crazy. Antoine Roger Lokongo you are part of the problem not part of the solution. Join your criminal mates in FDLR and await the Intervention Brigade.