DR Congo: " Forever kissing frogs that think they're princes "

All Africa reports

Africa: Sustained Engagement a 'Paradigm Shift' Boosting Peace Prospects for Great Lakes and Congo

                                                                        Russ Feingold visits the DRC

Washington, DC — I walked into the State Department just over a year ago to take on my new role of U.S. Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Part of my eagerness in accepting the job came from the recognition that we were entering a period of unprecedented international commitment to and partnership with Africa, including the Great Lakes Region.

Lets remember that Feingold does seem to view the Great Lakes Region with rose coloured spectacles. 

" Russell Feingold, US special envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, said the deal needed to raise the issue of amnesty and reintegration of rebels ( M23 ) into the army to ensure its durability."

Now you could argue that with regard to amnesty and M23's reintegration into the Congolese Army ( FARDC ) that America if not the international community with demands such as that was very much advocating for a continuation of the statuesque. It was a bloody stupid statement and given how things played out, a statement I suspect he regrets making. American exploitation of Congolese resources through the offices of Rwandan President Paul Kagame is not partnership.

Having worked on Africa for over 18 years in the U.S. Senate, on too many occasions I watched the international community swoop into parts of Africa in times of dire crisis, only to swoop back out after the first sign of progress or failure. Today, I believe we are witnessing a paradigm shift in how the international community, and the United States in particular, engages with Africa.

Really. A paradigm shift ? The Intervention ( Africa ) Brigade was an initiative of The International Conference for the Great Lakes Region ( ICGLR ) and specifically ironically proposed by Rwanda and Uganda both nations were some what horrified to discover that there was no room for their troops in the brigade. The Intervention Brigade has been one of the game changers for the region and the US and the International Community had bugger all to do with it.

" It takes a lot for a Kiwi to feel sorry for France but I must say I am starting to think they are getting an unjustifiably hard time. Let us remember the Intervention Brigade concept grew out of a meeting of the ICGLR ( International Conference Great Lakes Region ) and was put forward by Rwanda and Uganda under the Africa Brigade monicker. The ICGLR loved the idea and then decided that the Brigade would be more effective as part of MONUSCO much to Rwanda's horror, how fucking ironic is that. Rwanda was given enough rope and promptly hung themselves. "

The increased commitment of the United States and the international community is already bearing fruit in the Great Lakes. When I was appointed, Secretary Kerry's marching orders were to do everything I could to help the region end the armed rebellion by the M23 rebel group. The tide had begun to turn against the M23 in early to mid-2013, after the international community and the region increased the military and diplomatic pressure on all parties. A key element of that push was the establishment of the UN's intervention brigade within the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC and the negotiation of the Peace, Security, and Cooperation Framework, signed by 13 African countries.

Historical revisionism ? The US and the International Community ( excluding African Nations ) had very little to do with the " ..tide turning..." As I point out above Feingold was initially so out of touch with reality he suggested M23 should be reintegrated into FARDC.

These steps helped pave the way for a resolution to the rebellion. In addition to military pressure, the end to the rebellion was achieved via the Kampala Dialogue, facilitated by Uganda, with the active participation of a team of international envoys that included the outgoing UN Special Envoy for the Great Lakes, Mary Robinson, and me. In December, the Nairobi Declarations were finally signed by the DRC and the M23, representing the political resolution to a long-running rebellion.

And so we descend into farce. The Kampala talks were a joke, in the end the DRC Government and M23 signed different documents and it occurred in Nairobi ( these were Kampala talks ) after the military defeat of M23. Lets not pretend that the Rwandan backed M23 reached a political agreement with the DR Congo Government.

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

At that point, we could have declared victory and gone home. Instead, we increased our efforts to help the region fully implement the Nairobi Declarations and the Framework, with the vital goal of achieving sustainable peace and prosperity in the region.

Who could have declared victory ? The US, the International Community ? Lets not bloody well lie to ourselves, we had very little to do with it. The progress that has been made has been made by African Nations not by the West or the US. Is this another colonialism ? Yes. Have we gone home ? I suspect we have.

One of the Framework's core objectives is to eradicate all armed groups. The international community and the region, including the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, currently under the effective chairmanship of Angola, are now demonstrating unprecedented commitment to once and for all neutralize the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a rebel group whose members include individuals responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

" ...all armed groups " That is how we will be judged.

The FDLR has been active in eastern DRC for years, destroying communities, committing heinous abuses, including sexual violence and the illegal recruitment and use of child soldiers, and causing mass-displacement – without any accountability.

It would seem that like M23 the FDLR will not face any accountability. That is a political reality I hate but the alternatives are worse.

" When it come to crimes against humanity I am very much in the " never forgive , never forget " school. However much this goes against the grain it is probably the only workable solution and the alternatives are far worse."

Again, we are seeing progress, although with much work still to be done. Earlier this year, the FDLR committed to voluntarily demobilize, in part to avoid military action by the DRC military and the UN. Regional governments have since announced a six-month timeline for the FDLR to fully demobilize. This process must be credible and irreversible, and the timeline cannot be an excuse for six more months of predatory behavior or false promises to demobilize by the FDLR.

I think the FDLR will demobilise. It boils down to death or surrender. Let's not forget though, that we in the West had fuck all to do with it.

It's up to all of us in the international community to remain engaged and to help the region ensure that the Nairobi Declarations are implemented and the M23 is permanently demobilized, and that the FDLR is finally and fully neutralized and its leadership held accountable.

Just how are you going to hold the FDLR accountable ? The M23 leadership has not been held to account. They are in Rwanda and Uganda. Feingold would do better to stop talking shit designed for Western consumption. The best we can do at the moment is to stop the killing and yes that is far more important than locking up the genociders in the Hague. The dead will wait for the living.  

Mary Robinson made an enormous commitment to progress in the Great Lakes. While the world will welcome and greatly benefit from her leadership in her new role as UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, she will be missed in Africa.

A separate blog. No she did not and neither have you. She will achieve nothing in her new role. She will not be missed. She did very little and has moved on to a job in which she will achieve less. I am very disappointed with the former Irish politician. We can handle global warming, you had a job to do and you fucked up, you left before you had done it. Mary Robinson you are a lite weight.

To continue building on her work, the UN Secretary General recently announced the appointment of Said Djinnit, former Special Representative of the Secretary General for West Africa, to succeed Robinson. Ambassador Djinnit's appointment is a reassuring and welcomed sign of the UN's sustained commitment to the Great Lakes.

He couldn't be worse.

When President Obama welcomes African heads of state to Washington on August 6, it will represent more than a one-off meeting. It will affirm deepened and sustained U.S.-Africa economic, democratic and security cooperation. It is this type of expanded commitment and cooperation which has allowed us to support marked progress in addressing the conflict in the Great Lakes region.

Yawn.

Russell D. Feingold became U.S. Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on July 18, 2013. Throughout his 18 years in the United States Senate (1993 to 2011), he served on and led the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa.

He is starting to understand the job. I would leave him and hope.

DR Congo: "The butcher, the baker, the munitions maker and the armistice breaker"

Chimp Reports reports

DRC Parliament Declares Uganda, Rwanda "Enemy States"

The DRC Parliament has declared Uganda and Rwanda as “enemy/aggressor” states, raising fears of worsening relations between Kinshasa and neighbours.

                    Presidents Kabila, Kagame, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon and Museveni at a recent function  
                                                 ( The butcher, the baker, the munitions maker and the armistice breaker )

In a heated plenary session, the MPs also directed the DRC peace team in Kampala not to sign any a agreement with the defeated M23 rebels apart from a declaration by the rebels renouncing rebellion and committing its fighters to a disarmament and demobilisation process. 

That is quite reasonable. This blog has consistently taken the position that signing a peace deal with M23 is utterly ridiculous. M23 needs to sign an instrument of surrender, it is usual that declarations of surrender are unconditional and the final and decisive interpretation of the documents meaning is the victors interpretation, in this case the government of the DR Congo.     

Sources in the diplomatic community say United States and other western countries have lately appreciated the growing animosity between DRC and her two neighbours that could lead to a confrontation. 

Yes that rather ignores M23's whole raison d'être. If the United States and the West has just awoken to this realisation then it speaks volumes for just how useless our diplomatic and intelligence operations are. M23 were a Rwandan sponsored organisation and there is no doubt they also received Ugandan support. With M23's defeat one hopes that this situation would be now be resolved. 

We now have the situation where the Congolese Parliament has inflamed a rather delicate situation with the declaration that both Rwanda and Uganda are enemy states. That is just bloody stupid stuff from the Congolese parliamentarians. Grandstanding over M23 is understandable. 

Highly placed sources say following the defeat of the M23 rebels, it was understood and agreed that DRC would immediately take on the FDLR and ADF militia. However, a month down the road, there are little signs to show DRC’s determination to fulfill its obligations.

When the Congolese Army ( FARDC ), MONUSCO and the Intervention ( African ) Brigade were preparing to take on M23 there was considerable consternation on the part of the Congolese community about the amount of time it was taking. I translated Charley Kasereka's blog reporting this at the time. I also blogged the need for FARDC, MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade's  to be prepared  before going after M23.

" 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." 

Given the success of the operations against M23 I think that the time spent preparing to take them on was time well spent. The FDLR and ADF deserve to suffer the same fate as M23 but necessarily before taking them on some preparation is required.   

Last weekend, Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Katumba Wamala travelled to Goma to get acquainted with DRC’s plans to attack ADF bases. 

Intelligence officials say the more DRC and Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) delays to raid ADF hideouts, the more they intensify recruitment and mobilisation of arms in preparation for the onslaught. 

That is unadulterated bullshit. Only yesterday MONUSCO received its first drone a crucial asset one would think in the upcoming operations against both the FDLR and the ADF. Uganda needs to STFU on the timing of these operations.

Uganda also might want to think about how much more enthusiastic the Congolese might have been had they handed over the M23 leadership to the Congolese government  or the ICC to face the war crimes and crimes against humanity allegations against them rather than providing them with sanctuary in Uganda. 

Uganda has also made it clear to DRC that it wants to see a peace deal concluded and refugees returned to their homes as soon as possible. 

Uganda has been both a positive and negative actor with regard to the refugee situation in the Eastern DR Congo, there can be no doubt Uganda has provided sanctuary to Congolese refugees but they have also helped create the circumstances that gave rise to the refugee problem. A " peace " agreement with M23 would do absolutely nothing with regard to the situation on the ground something the UNHCR has been reminding the world about for quite some time.

" While expressing caution about the current situation, and an eventual return from other countries, UNHCR Regional Representative Stefano Severe, said: "UNHCR is indeed ready to receive and accompany returnees once the situation has stabilized."

He and other UNHCR staff warned against premature returns until the situation is safe."

According to MP Vital Budu, the recommendations adopted by the DRC government would work as guiding principles for Kinshasa in finding a lasting solution to the humanitarian crisis in DRC relations with neighbours. 

I am unaware of the recommendations but I am guessing they don't mean declaring Uganda and Rwanda as 'enemy / aggressor' states. 

The DRC has for long maintained the narrative that Uganda and DRC ( I think we can assume it is meant to read Rwanda ) are to blame for the crisis in Eastern Congo through support of the M23 rebels. The two countries deny the allegations. 

They certainly share some of the blame for the situation in the DR Congo however it is far more complex than just the activities of M23.

The DRC National Assembly also decided on Wednesday that government immediately provides ample resources and logistics to the army “to properly defend the country and also expedite reforms in security institutions.”

Actually I am starting to think the DR Congo Parliament should also STFU. FARDC has been a bloody shambles forever had the Congolese Government spent more time training and doing simple shit like actually paying their soldiers and providing them with food and ammunition the situation in the DR Congo might not have developed into quite the shambles it is today. Jason Stearns at Congo Siasa blogs. 

"This time, the logistics are much better," a UN official who works closely with the army told me. "The salaries are being paid, the supplies are getting to the front line. They still overreact and waste too much ammo, but there are a much better fighting force." When I asked a senior Congolese intelligence officer, he confirmed this, saying that General Francois Olenga had been making an effort to make sure supply chains actually function."

Talks 

The MPs further agreed to pile pressure on Uganda and Rwanda to negotiate with the ADF and FDLR terrorist militia as suggested by Tanzanian leader, Jakaya Kikwete a few months ago on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Ethiopia. “Why should the international community press DRC to talk to M23 yet Uganda and Rwanda don’t want to discuss with their rebel groups? We want to see more dialogue taking place. That’s how the Great Lakes region will realise peace,” said Emery Okundji, a radical legislator in the DRC National Assembly. 

Yes pressure did go on the Congolese to negotiate with M23 and they pretended to very successfully.    In September I blogged.

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

Emery Okundji is talking crap. You don't negotiate with terrorists be they M23, ADF or the genocidal FDLR. They surrender or they pay the price of their continuing defiance. Both the FDLR and the ADF have committed atrocities against civilians the sooner they face justice the better, but the timetable for that is not in the hands of Uganda. 

Uganda and Rwanda maintain FDLR and ADF are terrorist organisations. Kampala and Kigali are yet to respond to the DRC legislative body's resolutions. 

The best solution would be to ignore it as I would suggest the executive branch of the government in Kinshasa does as well. MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade have a mandate to rid the area of armed groups, Kinshasa has an obligation to assist with FARDC let them get on with it.

MPs thanked the national armed forces (FARDC) for “bravely defending” the country’s territorial integrity and that they should remain “vigilant so that the enemy does not return to haunt us.” 

Yes well unilateral declarations of almost but not quite war are not very helpful something that I would have thought might have dawned on them. I guess one should never underestimate the stupidity factor of politicians.

The latest political developments in DRC have since worried officials in western countries, with United States sending the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Russell D. Feingold to Kigali. 

It may not have occurred to the geographically challenged folk at Chimp Report that Rwanda is in the Great Lakes Region and Feingold is the US Envoy to the Great Lakes Region so going to Kigali is part of the job description. 

The State Department said in a statement today that Feingold would travel to Kigali and Paris to meet with government representatives and Great Lakes heads of state this week. “He intends to discuss next steps in the implementation of the Peace, Security, and Cooperation Framework, including the possibility of a regional mediated dialogue aimed at resolving the root causes of conflict in the region,” the statement reads in part. 

Or in other words he is doing exactly what he has always been doing.

“The United States stands ready to support the region in launching such a dialogue and advancing the Framework peace process.”

What ever would the world do without the United States ? Probably digest a lot less stupid platitudes that would have been better left unsaid.

DR Congo: Victory

DW TV reports

M23 rebels to lay down arms in east Congo

                                                          Bisimwa called for the M23 militia to lay down their arms

The Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebels have ended an 18-month insurgency in one of Africa's deadliest conflict zones. As news spread, it became clear that this was what people had long been hoping for.

I guess reality had to strike home eventually although it has taken a hell of a long time. I can no longer link to the M23 propaganda site Congo DRC News although I have several articles they published reproduced on this blog should any reader feel the urge to indulge in a bit of batshit crazy. I am actually going to miss the site and the morons who wrote for it, there was a certain satisfaction knowing that no matter how uninformed my views on the conflict were they at least made a lot more sense than anything M23 had to contribute. 

   

The M23 group surrendered Tuesday, saying it would "end its rebellion" and instead pursue their goals "through purely political means." The announcement came just hours after more than 200 rebels were coaxed from their hilltop positions within the M23 strongholds of Tshanzu and Runyoni early Tuesday morning.

I would imagine it didn't take much coaxing in the end.

Group leaders called on fighters to lay down their arms following a fortnight of fighting that cornered the militia in heavily wooded hills along the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

"The chief of staff and the commanders of all major units have requested to prepare troops for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration on terms to be agreed with the government of Congo," M23 leader Bertrand Bismwa said in a statement.

Bismiiwa has as usual got it wrong. M23 have been defeated they will take what ever terms are offered them. Those terms should and I think will include criminal indictments for the M23 leadership, I hope that they are handed to the ICC. 

'Victory for the DRC'

In response to the announcement, government spokesperson Lambert Mende commented that, "It is a total victory for the DRC." The rebels, he added, who had been flushed from the hills, fled to neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.

More than 80 M23 rebels crossed the border into Uganda, Ugandan army spokeperson Paddy Ankunda said, adding the men were being held until a diplomatic decision was made on their fate.

That decision will not be an easy one.  

The army began a major offensive against the rebels on October 25, gradually claiming the rebel-held strongholds until the intransigent M23 militia was forced into the mountains about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the regional capital, Goma.

By Sunday (03.11.2013), the insurgents had called for a ceasefire, but the army pursued their assault along with United Nations troops. The UN special force had up until then been assisting the military with aerial reconnaissance, intelligence and planning, but joined fighting after being given the go-ahead to attack the mountain region.

The Intervention ( Africa ) Brigade deserve special recognition. They have saved MONUSCO and the UN mission to the eastern DR Congo. I would expect that the UN may well rethink how it operates peace keeping missions as a result.

Since the ceasefire was called, the UNHCR has received over 5,000 Congolese to their transit center, 20 kilometers inside Uganda. That, Lucy Beck, the UNHCRs external relations officer told DW "was the biggest amount of refugees we've ever transported in one day from the border." Since fighting began, she added, "The organization had assisted more than 75,000 people who arrived in Uganda from the DRC." 

There must be repercussions for the M23 leadership, thousands have died War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity have been perpetuated by M23, there is no place for impunity, we the world owe the victims justice.

An issue of amnesty

At the SADC meeting of regional leaders being held in South Africa on Tuesday, DRC President Joseph Kabila said he would sign a peace deal within the coming days if the M23 rebel group laid down their arms.

Russell Feingold, US special envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, said the deal needed to raise the issue of amnesty and reintegration of rebels into the army to ensure its durability.

Russell Feingold should resign, there is no room for an amnesty and there is no place for the rebels in the Congolese Army. Jason Stearn blogs,

" There is no doubt that the FARDC is performing much better now than in 2012. Its command structure has been changed and streamlined, beginning with the appointment of General Lucien Bahuma as regional commander in June 2012, and of General François Olenga as land forces commander in December 2012. These commanders have paid more attention to making sure logistics were in place and salaries paid on time, boosting soldiers' morale and enabling the newly-trained commando battalions to do their job. Then, in January 2013, over a hundred officers––many of them from the Kivus––were invited to Kinshasa under the pretext of a seminar on army reform (they are mostly still in Kinshasa today). This simplified the military hierarchy in North Kivu, which had become clogged up with competing chains of command, a coterie of high-ranking officers embezzling funds and issuing contradictory orders. "

In short there is no place for the rebels and I doubt any of the FARDC leadership or rank and file would want them. The Congolese army is starting to look and act like a professional military, why would anyone want to destroy that progress ?

"In a region that has suffered so much, this is obviously a significant positive step in the right direction," he said. Those suspected of serious human rights violations, he added, should be sought out and not aided through amnesty.

Obama needs to recall this fool. Any human right violation is serious, I would have thought that might have dawned on the idiot.

Support for a peace accord

In a show of support, women in the capital, Kinshasa, dressed in white and chanted songs praising the country's leader and the army. One woman told DW, "We've suffered so long from this war. Now we are very happy." Another added, "There will be change now. The president promised that when the war was over. Now we have to love each other."

I await Alex Engwete's take on this with considerable interest. 

In response to the announcement, the United States said it was a "significant positive step" for eastern Congo, a region that has endured more than 15 years of conflict as competition for gold, copper and cobalt intensified along with cross-border ethnic tensions.

As the conflict with the M23 draws to a close, Martin Kobler, head of the 19,850 UN backed peacekeeping mission in the DRC, said their efforts would now turn to the countless number of armed groups operating in the east, including the Rwandan Hutu FDLR that fled across the border after the 1994 genocide.

"We have teeth, and we are using those teeth," Kobeler said from Pretoria, making reference to the 3,000-troop intervention brigade currently stationed in the DRC.

Martin Kobler is spot on and he has picked his next target well. I have seen many fools suggesting that the FDLR have been allied to the Intervention Brigade and even bigger fools attempting to justify the existence of these genocidal killers. They must be next armed group to be brought to justice. The International Community needs to make it very clear that you can run but we will never stop looking and justice will be done. 

While many peace deals have been signed in the past, there is hope this recent accord will stand firm and send a message to other rebel groups across the DRC and the greater African continent.

What accord ? 

"The military victories over the M23 will send a very strong message to the many other armed groups operating in the east," said Stephanie Wolters of the Institute of Strategic Studies in Pretoria.

"It may prompt them to consider the advantages of a negotiated solution over a drawn-out military campaign."

I doubt it. 

" The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct."
Marcus Tullius Cicero 

DR Congo: The USA has had enough of Rwandan lies.

Voice of America reports

African Leaders Grapple with Fighting in Eastern Congo

                                                                                           M23 Rebels

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said rebels in Eastern Congo are carrying out "appalling" attacks against civilians. African heads of state met at the United Nations to discuss the conflict, which the United States said Rwanda is fueling by backing those rebels.

Which is a vastly different take on the events in the DR Congo from the reports being put out by Congo DRC News ( A M23 / Rwandan propaganda site ). 

Fighters from Congo's M23 rebellion are the biggest challenge to government troops and U.N. peacekeepers in the eastern Kivu provinces.

Ban Ki-moon said earlier this week that rebel attacks include violence against women and children.

"The extent of violence and human suffering in eastern DRC is overwhelming. I deplore the recent military activities of the M23 and the other armed groups in eastern DRC," he said.

If ever there was ever a time for MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade to keep up the pressure on M23 it is now. They have an international mandate to resolve the rebel issue and M23 may have the honour of being the first group to be resolved. 

African leaders meeting at the United Nations are backing peace talks in Uganda.

But the talks are complicated by persistent reports of Rwandan support for the rebels.

"We reiterate our call for Rwanda to cease any and all support to the M23 and to respect DRC’s territorial integrity, consistent with U.N. Security Council resolutions," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

The peace talks are cover and neither side is taking them seriously however this is a major movement in policy from the US. Rwanda is being further isolated. I would expect a Rwandan reaction soon.

Publicly accusing a U.S. ally of backing M23 rebels is a bold move for the Obama administration, said Sarah Margon at Human Rights Watch.

"They've told the Rwandans we're putting you on notice," she said. "But what next? And so if the Rwandans don't stop, what will the U.S. be willing to do?"

Rwanda won't stop that is a given. The US needs to give effective support to MONUSCO and the Intervention Brigade because along with the Congolese army FARDC this issue is going to come to a head soon. The US must prevent a Rwandan invasion of the Eastern DR Congo. The consequences of such an invasion must be the inditing of the administration of Kagame and the military leadership of the country with charges of Crimes Against Humanity.  

Rwandan President Paul Kagame denies involvement and says the international community shouldn't focus on M23 rebels when there are so many other groups contributing to instability in Eastern Congo.

Kagame is a liar. Fortunately the international community has grown sick of his lies and are now focusing their attention not only on his murderous thugs M23 but they have started to look at the Rwandan regime.   

The peace talks in Kampala have focused on other armed groups as well.

What ? My understanding is the " talks " are between M23 and the Congolese government. One of the M23 demands is that the Congolese government disarm the Rwandan rebels FDLR but that is really a bit of a side issue to the side issue that the talks have already become. The FDLR's turn will come and that is a legitimate concern of Rwanda's but it is an issue for them and the Congolese government to thrash out.  
In an interview with VOA, U.S. Special Envoy Russ Feingold said that is the only way forward.

"Whatever happens with the Kampala talks, the framework and the peace process involving the countries in the region goes on and will deal with the root and fundamental problems, not just the issue of M23," he said.

I suspect that is an admission by Envoy Feingold that the Kampala talks are degenerating into a farce.
But the immediate goal of stopping the fighting is still about M23, says Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa.

"M23 should put an end to all military activities and stop war and threats of overthrowing the lawful government of the DRC," he said.

Uganda seems to be distancing itself from M23 infact they have often seemed to have been ambivalent at best when it comes to M23. I suspect they are rather better than Rwanda at judging the mood of the international community.

President Joseph Kabila's troops are moving to re-establish central authority over eastern Congo. But Margon says it's a challenge.

"Without Rwanda ceasing to provide support for the M23, many of the other elements whether it be the upcoming elections in Congo, Congo's extension of governing authority in the east, regional development are not going to be able to happen," said Margon.

As Rwanda continues to support M23 there are very few options available and that has been obvious for some time. The solution is the destruction of M23 and the most effect way to achieve that is not finding a political solution but pursuing the military solution to its conclusion and that is the unconditional surrender of M23 or the unconditional surrender of any surviving members of M23 after they lose on the battlefield. I suspect that that is starting to dawn on them.

Rebels were integrated into Congo's military under an earlier attempt at reconciliation. This time around, Congolese officials say the worst of the M23 leaders will not be granted amnesty in a new peace deal.

I doubt that the government will allow integration this time. It was a failure last time and there is clear evidence that the government of the DR Congo is attempting to sort out the indiscipline of FARDC and professionalise the force, there is no way they want the armed forces saddled with former rebels who at any time may defect and cause another insurrection on the orders of President Kagame.

DR Congo: This American ' road map ' to peace won't work without some new cartography.

All Africa reports

Congo-Kinshasa: Bringing Peace to the Congo - a Blueprint for Special Envoy Feingold

                                        Congolese allies protest M23 in front of the White House by Joseph Mbangu

The clashes in the eastern Congo over the past week have once again brought into sharp focus the enduring conflict between the M23 rebels and the Congolese military as well as the role of the recently-deployed United Nations intervention brigade. As the new United States special envoy for the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Senator Russ Feingold, embarks on his first trip to the region, it is imperative that he takes steps now to engage in the economic and commercial issues that are at the heart of the conflict.

I am having a huge amount of difficulty swallowing this as I imagine many of the Congolese people. But lets start with a little bit of accuracy. Senator Russ Feingold, is no longer a US senator, another point worth bearing in mind is that this conflict I agree is on one level very much about economic and commercial interests and to date Rwanda has been ruthlessly exploiting the resources of the Eastern DR Congo with until very recently the if not the direct support, then at least a tacit approval of the United States.

To be successful in the herculean task of helping end the world's deadliest war since World War II, Feingold would do well to learn from one of the most effective U.S. special envoy missions of our time, George Mitchell, during his tenure as President Bill Clinton's envoy to Northern Ireland. While many people remember Mitchell as having brokered peace in Northern Ireland, few recall his strategic approach: to focus on economics first, in order to build trust and lay the foundation for tackling the tough security issues.

I actually agree with an economic approach and think despite the historical revisionism that I feel is implied the authors are on the right track. So we have an idea but as yet no mechanism. If we want to rebuild security and I mean physical and economic then the west must be prepared to invest in the people of the region at a micro level. I am no Northern Ireland expert but I imagine the Irish investment was made at a macro level because however hard  " The Troubles " were, there is absolutely no comparison to be made between Northern Ireland and the Eastern DR Congo. The issues of education, infrastructure and  just the ability of the Congolese government to interact with its citizens are far more complex. Add in that the British and Irish governments were both actively supporting the process and we have a very different situation. ( The Government of Rwanda is doing all it can to derail the process ). 

A decade after his tenure, Mitchell described the key to achieving sustainable peace in Northern Ireland: "I stress the economy. ... These and other conflict situations... all have an important economic underpinning. I've come to believe that you have to deal with political and security measures, but you have to include economics right at the very top. You need economic growth, you need job creation, you need opportunity for people... if you want to reduce the likelihood of conflict. That isn't guaranteed stability... but without it, it's very difficult to obtain."

Agreed, but it is verging on the insulting for the authors to prescribe this cure and then treat it as job done. Mitchell is describing Ireland not the DR Congo. His prescription needs to be adapted to local conditions. 

A critical part of Clinton and Mitchell's strategic vision for the Northern Ireland peace process was economics, and they stuck by it patiently until it bore fruit. It was predicated on creating jobs, revenue and commercial opportunities in order to reduce violent tension between the two sides and incentives for peace and alternatives to conflict. Despite the violence at the time, Mitchell organized a White House investment conference on Northern Ireland in 1995, building on the recommendations of business leaders from Northern Ireland, Ireland, and the U.S., who believed there was far greater economic potential from peace than from war. The conference sparked the first meeting between Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and Northern Ireland Secretary of State Patrick Mayhew, senior leaders from the opposing sides of the conflict.

The senior players in the Great Lakes Region have met many times. It is fine to say that Gerry Adams met with Patrick Mayhew but remember that Kabila and Kagame not to mention Museveni meet several times a year. It is also worth remembering Rwanda's absolute refusal to meet with the FDLR and abuse of Tanzanian President Kikwete. I have no doubt that the region has far more to gain through peace but it is an option Rwanda refuses to entertain.  

“Those who think that Rwanda today should sit down at the negotiating table with FDLR simply don’t know what they are talking about,” she said adding that it is unfortunate that the rebel group has sympathisers in the region, including President Kikwete himself, should he not retract his comments.

The U.S. then contributed $100 million to a development fund for Northern Ireland and businesses set up cooperative bodies to facilitate cross-border trade, job creation, and infrastructure improvements.

There is a similar major opportunity with the war in eastern Congo today, and Special Envoy Feingold should follow the Clinton-Mitchell playbook.

I disagree, the situation on the ground is far different. In Ireland there was hatred but there was also business, effective courts and taxation authorities, checks and balances and no ingrained culture of corruption. The approach as I have said must be at a micro level. Obama / Feingold need to rewrite the Clinton / Mitchell playbook. 

There are critical security issues that must be dealt with, such as ensuring that the new UN Intervention Brigade contributes to the solution rather than exacerbates it. But the potential benefits to all parties of an economically prosperous eastern Congo would provide a major incentive for constructive negotiations, and commercial and economic issues can and should be addressed concurrently.

What a load of drivel. The authors obviously have no concept of the role of, or the situation faced by not only the Intervention Brigade ( Africa Brigade ) but MONUSCO as a whole. The role of the Africa Brigade is to stop the depredations of armed groups principally M23 and the FDLR, but a variety of others as well. That will necessarily exacerbate the situation with Rwanda for example. But it should happen regardless and the world should be making it very clear to Rwanda the price of sabotaging the efforts of the Intervention Brigade. I would hope the other international organisation such as the Commonwealth and Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie are involved in applying pressure to the regional players to force compliance.

For too many years, elites in Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda have exploited eastern Congo's mineral wealth, prolonging the war. But calculations are starting to change. Armed groups' profits from three out of four conflict minerals are down by an estimated 65 percent. Ten percent of the mines in the region have been validated as conflict-free and regional governments have signed up to a comprehensive minerals certification process. In a major development, local business leaders who had previously trafficked minerals for weapons for armed groups, last year refused to support the M23 rebels. As John Kanyoni, a leading exporter of minerals from North Kivu, said, "As long as there is conflict there, no one [internationally] will be purchasing minerals." In short, significant progress has been made in the commercial and economic sphere despite the conflict.

In short, no there has not. Yes there has been progress in reducing the amount of illegal minerals exported but that did nothing to slow down the flow of arms. One could argue it increased them in fact. Where did M23 develop an ability to conduct night operations ? Who gave them night vision equipment ? Not selling minerals means that the wealth is not realised today but there is no new wealth being created to replace the mineral receipts, and there is now no trickle down from the illegal exports.  

Feingold can take advantage of this momentum in three ways. Firstly, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has already announced an unprecedented U.S. $1 billion initiative for new projects that would help provide a "peace dividend" for the region. The U.S. should work with the World Bank to accelerate the implementation of the package. Priority should be given to investments in roads, agriculture and energy projects, and small and medium enterprises.

I agree. This can only be done at a macro level and these projects take time and are very prone to corruption, backhanders and embezzlement. We are dealing with kleptocracies so we need to have some checks and balances in place to make sure that not only we, but more importantly the people of the The Great Lakes Region also see the results of this investment.  

Second, Feingold should help speed up the mineral certification process in the region, so that Congo and neighboring countries, especially Rwanda and Uganda, can begin selling "peace minerals," people on the ground can benefit commercially, and companies can source from the region in good conscience, in fulfillment of the Dodd-Frank legislation, which discourages American companies from trading in conflict minerals. Some Congolese miners have already seen wages double at conflict-free mines, but this must be replicated at other mines.

Rwanda has minerals to sell ? Well that is good news that geologists will be pleased to hear, although I suspect that they will be somewhat mystified to learn about it. The minerals the authors refer to were stolen from the Eastern DR Congo. Could I suggest they have a look at the dramatic fall in Rwandan mineral receipts since the embargo and their expulsion from the Eastern DR Congo. 

Feingold should also urge Presidents Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda to enhance the credibility of the Regional Certification Mechanism of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, so that it provides proper verification of conflict-free minerals by the end of 2013. A transparent, certifiably conflict-free mineral sector will help to attract more investment and unlock wealth-creation opportunities that are sustainable, peace-generating and contribute to greater regional trade.

I hope Feingold has something very potent to urge with. Something like a warrant from the Hague. This is dreamland stuff far removed from the realpolitik of the region. Feingold should certainly emphasis economic opportunities but not for Rwanda to export minerals they don't have.

Finally, Senator Feingold should work with the U.S. Public-Private Alliance on Responsible Minerals Trade to organize an investment conference that brings together potential investors with leaders from the Great Lakes region to identify opportunities for conflict-free, transparent investment. A successful investment conference would be a win-win-win for people living in eastern Congo, companies looking to invest, and regional governments seeking legitimate revenue streams to replace foreign aid.

That idea has potential for the DR Congo alone. If this is an exercise in reducing foreign aid then at least be honest about it and lets call it western greed and selfishness. We need to increase the amount of aid and the accountability for that aid not reduce it. We need to get that aid to the people, first to provide them with security then to rebuild, then to reestablish their lives and finally to build up the regions economies.

There have been many U.S. envoys appointed over the years to tackle the seemingly impossible conflict in Congo, but Feingold now has a unique opportunity to leave a lasting legacy. If he can draw on the successful lessons of George Mitchell, incorporating the economic agenda from the beginning, Feingold can help the Great Lakes region join the other countries in Africa that have begun to experience impressive economic growth and opportunity.

I agree that he ( Feingold ) along with quite a few others working on the issues associated with the Great Lakes Region can make a real difference this time. Here is again the rub, America has contributed hugely to the situation in the DR Congo. It is little wonder previous envoys have failed, they were meant to and like the authors of this article they were either too blind or too loyal to Washington to do the job properly. I have no doubt this is an American ' shift the blame ' propaganda piece. America can be part of the solution and Feingold is probably the right man for the job, but to be part of that solution America needs to acknowledge its complicity in the past and its ability to collaborate with others for the good of the people of the region, not the regions political leaders or American corporate greed. 

Witney Schneidman is Senior International Advisor on Africa at Covington & Burling LLP, a Nonresident Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs. Sasha Lezhnev is Senior Policy Advisor at the Enough Project and author of Crafting Peace: Strategies to Deal with Warlords in Collapsing States.

Both should know a damn site better than to have produced this half useful roadmap, to use the American vernacular. It is at least a start I will concede. 

DR Congo: Rwanda is starting to feel the heat.

Aljazeera reports DR Congo deploys elite unit to fight M23

Government is sending commandos to battle rebels based in the eastern city of Goma.

                    Al Jazeera’s Peter Greste reports from front lines around the eastern city of Goma.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is sending an elite unit of commandos to the country’s east to reinforce its regular troops in the fight against the M23 rebel group.

Both M23 and the Congolese government insist they want a negotiated settlement to the conflict that left hundreds of people dead and well over two million displaced since May 2012.

But with the warring forces digging in against one another, the prospects for talks seem dim.

They are dim indeed. In fact I would say they are non existent M23 are going to be disarmed or crushed. Rwandan propaganda disseminated through the government owned New Times shows just how concerned the Rwandan government are about this.

New Times ( Rwanda ) opines

Peace in the DRC still distant

By Joseph Rwagatare

Is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) anywhere near achieving peace? Hardly, even with the massive deployment of troops, huge expenditure and frantic diplomatic efforts. And this is why.

Firstly, there is growing evidence that the various organs of the United Nations are pulling in different directions in the search for an end to the conflict in DRC.

What a load of unmitigated crap. It is interesting to reflect though that it is a huge expense and the primary reason the world is having to spend that money is Rwanda. The money will be well spent if peace breaks out in the DR Congo and an even better investment if the regime of Paul Kagame falls.

On the one hand, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appears to favour a peaceful solution to the conflict. He put a lot of effort in formulating the Framework Agreement for Peace in the DRC and having it signed by the heads of state of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region. He also seems to support regional initiatives. The appointment of Ms Mary Robinson as his special envoy to the Great Lakes Region would also indicate his intentions for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

On the other hand, the UN peace-keeping department, under Frenchman Herve Ladsous, seems to pull in another direction. It supports military action and ignores, even undermines regional efforts to end the conflict. For instance MONUSCO issued an ultimatum to all armed rebels to disarm just as an ICGLR Summit was meeting in Nairobi, Kenya to seek a more workable solution within the Framework Agreement.

Some how we are meant to believe that the political approach and the military are at odds despite both efforts being mandated under Security Council Resolution 2098. It then moves to the farcical with a reference to the ICGLR ( International Conference on the Great Lakes 

Region ) summit is somehow related to the United Nations as if it was another arm of the organisation rather than a separate body altogether. To make matters worse he either does not know or conveniently forgets that the origin of the Intervention Brigade or as I term it due to its origin the Africa Brigade is a request from the ICGLR to the UN Security Council. 

Fortunately or unfortunately from the perspective of Rwanda the UN Security Council made sure that the Africa Brigade was a neutral force tasked with extending the sovereignty of  the DR Congo rather than the Kigali aligned force Rwanda wished it to be. The  African Review reports from the ICGLR summit.

But beneath the surface of the summit, held under the umbrella of the 11-member International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), was a concerted effort by the major players, especially Rwanda and Uganda, to shift the focus of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) back to a negotiated deal, even as consensus around an exceptional United Nations military-backed intervention deepens.

Unanimously backed by the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2098, the new 3,000-strong force crafted from the existing Monusco is in the strife-torn eastern Congo to aggressively neutralise various armed rebel groups and is seen as a game changer.

But analysts say its would leave Rwanda and Uganda, which have been variously accused of fomenting the unrest in the Kivu regions, shorn of major influence in the region, hence their preference for a “regional solution.”

However, careful not to be seen to be going against the growing international consensus around the conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions of people, Kampala and Kigali, which vigorously deny having a hand in it, grudgingly accepted the UN force.

However, they have continued to lobby, behind the scenes, for a non-military settlement, in part informing the recent push for the ICGLR to reclaim its space.

The more workable solution that New Times writer propagandist Joseph Rwagatare and Rwanda desperately want is not going to happen the reason of course being that the world has decided to give peace a chance and end the colonial ambitions of Rwanda in the Eastern DR Congo.

MONUSCO was set up precisely to disarm armed rebels in DRC, but there is very little to show in this regard. Instead, it has partnered with some of them.

Foxtrot Foxtrot Sierra. Just how stupid is Rwagatare ? Or probably a better question is how stupid does he think we are ? MONUSCO was set up with a defensive mandate it was unable to complete its mission. When M23 the Rwandan proxy invaded Goma one could argue it partnered with them. It sure as hell didn't stop them.

" Currently, the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO) in Congo is made up of 20,000 troops, but its mandate has purely been to protect civilians and not to fight. This is because the contributing countries insist that their forces should not engage in combat."

MONUSCO’s partisanship and the ultimatum it issued a few weeks ago are eerily reminiscent of what happened in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994. The French supported a regime that was clearly planning and later committed genocide. When the regime was facing certain defeat, its leaders, armed forces and armed militia were shepherded to safety in DRC (then Zaire) by the French who continued to arm them.

Apparently Ladsous’s MONUSCO wants to shepherd them back into Rwanda – arms, genocide ideology and all.

No he wants to either disarm them or kill them and that from the UN Security Council Resolution includes, 

" M23, the FDLR, the ADF, the APCLS, the LRA, the National Force of Liberation (FNL), the various Mayi Mayi groups and all other armed groups and their continuing violence and abuses of human rights, including summary executions, sexual and gender based violence and large scale recruitment and use of children, demands that all armed groups cease immediately all forms of violence and destabilizing activities and that their members immediately and permanently disband and lay down their arms, and reiterates that those responsible for human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law will be held accountable....

I am guessing Rwagatare has not bothered to read UN Security Council resolution 2098. 

Pulling in different directions at the UN obviously complicates matters and leads to the question. Who actually runs the United Nations? It seems the Secretary General does not. A cartel of powerful nations and interests does.

I am guessing international relations are a bit of a weak spot for Rwagatare the irony is of course the fool has forgotten that Rwanda holds an African seat on the UN Security Council .

I am nothing if not helpful though he can discover all he needs to know about the governance of the UN here. 


Ban Ki-moon will trot to the different trouble spots across the globe and try to persuade groups facing off against each to come to the negotiating table and talk peace. He will smile to emphasise his peaceful intentions. 

Occasionally he will threaten and frown to signal the gravity of his mission. But that’s about all he can do because most of the time he will be ignored.

The real problem for Rwanda is the world has stopped listening to the lies of the current regime.   Or as Abraham Lincoln said " You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." Ban 

Ki-moon is not the one being ignored it is Rwandan President Paul Kagame.  

Herve Ladsous will sit in New York and bully his way to achieve what his masters want.

All the powerful nations and groupings such as the United States and the European Union also have special envoys in the DRC to further their own interests which more often than not do not correspond to those of the UN.

US Envoy Russell Feingold ( former US Senator ) and UN Envoy Mary Robinson ( former President of Ireland ) are not special envoys to the DR Congo but rather the Great Lakes region a small but important point, I am guessing that he is correct in his assertion that the UN have a envoy to the DR Congo but I can't recall who that is. This is a different approach from the one Rwanda takes which is to send in heavily armed envoys, lots of them in the uniforms of the Rwandan Defense Force as we saw with the invasion of Goma last November.

" Rwandan troops “openly entered into Goma through one of the two official border crossings,” said the letter, which was written by Steve Hege, the coordinator of a United Nations investigative panel, and was leaked by a third party."

Not surprisingly, President Uhuru Kenyatta was prompted to point out at the ICGLR Summit in Nairobi on July 31st that the UN in eastern DRC should “strengthen rather than complicate and overlap” peace efforts already initiated in that country.

It was a bloody silly statement when he made it showing a spectacular ignorance of the history of the peace keeping initiatives in the DR Congo. Earth to Kenyatta what other peace keeping initiatives are you talking about ? The AU one or perhaps the ICGLR initiatives Oh yeah, they both asked the UN to run there initiatives as part of MONUSCO. 

Secondly, the money and effort are spent on finding the wrong answer to the problem in the Congo. The military solution that is now the preferred option in dealing with an essentially political and governance issue will not work.

Disarming the rebels ( or killing them off I really no longer care either way ) and preventing further Rwandan incursions into the Eastern DR Congo is a good start. Governance issues can be sorted out subsequent to that.  

Insecurity in the east of the DRC and other parts of that huge, wealthy but ill-governed country is a consequence of bad governance, not inherent criminality. The proliferation of armed groups (as we have argued many times before) is a result of the absence of an effective state in the area. 

Actually it is a result largely of criminality on the part of a nation state. Rwanda namely.  

No amount of money, no number of troops however well-supplied with sophisticated weapons, including drones, will fix the security and political problems in DRC.  

The United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) set up in 1999 and its successor, the UN Stabilisation Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) and now the Intervention Brigade only add to the insecurity; they don’t end it.

They certainly do add to the insecurity of Kagame's regime. Kagame has funded the building of Rwanda by the systematic looting of the mineral wealth of the DR Congo the troops the drones and now the Intervention Brigade has ended that rort. Rwanda knows this and this story is an attempt a pathetic attempt to shift the blame and responsibility for the crimes against humanity committed by Rwanda and its proxies in The DR Congo.   
Until all the money and effort are put to the right cause -  to strengthen the state and address the denationalisation of some Congolese, which is the root cause of the conflict, all attempts at pacifying eastern DRC will remain futile.

Actually and I hate to admit it, in this Rwagatare has a point. Congolese Tutsi are discriminated against and this is something that Kinshasa must rectify. Kinshasa must rebuild much and winning the confidence of the whole population is a must. I hope they relise the opportunity they have been afforded.  

Thirdly, the deep involvement of the United Nations is itself a problem. I do not know of any troubled place where the United Nations has actually brought peace. On the contrary, wherever the UN has been involved, it has only succeeded in exacerbating the existing situation, often making a temporary territorial split permanent or helping fragment a country.

East Timor. Now you know one.

Examples abound. Two years ago NATO, with UN backing, attacked Libya to remove Colonel Muammar Gadaffi. The country has since been fragmented.

Small point but probably worth mentioning to our historical genius Libya underwent a revolution the role of NATO was defensive in neutralising the air power of Gadaffi. There were no UN soldiers in blue helmets.

Congo itself is a classic example of UN failure from the 1960s to the present.

The lowest point of the UN getting it wrong was in Rwanda and the Balkans. In the former, genocide was committed while its peacekeeping force, weakened by the very organisation that had set it up, looked on. 

The genocide only ended when the Rwanda Patriotic Army resumed its offensive and drove the genocidal regime out of the country. In the latter, ethnic cleansing on a massive scale was systematically carried out as the UN watched. It took action by the United States and NATO to put an end to it.

There are points on the UN conduct in both these operations that are worthy of several posts. The bottom line is some times the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Mistakes were made this is an attempt to do it correctly.

Today, ethnic cleansing is happening in the DRC as the UN again watches, and, if not checked, it will turn into genocide. Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese and even Rwanda nationals doing legitimate business in the DRC have recently been arrested, taken to unknown places and tortured. The UN, whose mission is to protect civilians, has said or done nothing about it.

No there isn't. At the moment the summary executions are being committed by M23. M23 attempt to set up an illegitimate administration in the eastern DR Congo may lead to it though. That is just one reason there is little support amongst ethnic Tutsi Congolese for M23.

This time it even gets worse because the UN is complicit in the crime. Through MONUSCO, it has knowingly or through inexcusable negligence allowed the genocidal Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) to fight in the Congolese army’s ranks which it backs or as part of its own Intervention Brigade. This is bound to destabilise not only DRC but the whole region, and for this reason, peace remains distant.

That is not true and is an idiotic allegation. FARDC has supported FDLR which is madness but Rwanda has done far worse in its support of M23.