DR Congo: " To don the robes of Torquemada and resurrect the Inquisition "

 New Vision ( Uganda ) reports

High hopes ahead of Congo peace deal signing

                                                                   farrellworldcultures

KAMPALA - The Democratic Republic of Congo and defeated M23 rebels are set to sign a peace deal today in what diplomats hope will be a key step in efforts to end decades of war in the Great Lakes region.

The rebels, one of many armed groups operating in the mineral-rich but impoverished east of the DR Congo, have been routed by the national army, who are backed by a 3,000-strong special United Nations intervention brigade.

Allegedly supported by neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda but seemingly abandoned by their sponsors due to international pressure, the M23 announced last week that their 18-month insurgency was over. They are expected to put this in writing in Uganda on Monday.

Alleged is a bit of an understatement. Museveni's granting of asylum would tend to make one wonder just how far Uganda and Rwanda have moved. 

"Our hope is that we have a firm commitment from the M23 rebels to renounce their use of arms," said DR Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende.

The M23, a mainly ethnic-Tutsi force who mutinied from the Congolese army, have not confirmed Monday's meeting. But with no more military leverage they are seen as having little room for manoeuvre.

The agreement is expected to settle the fate of about 1,500 M23 fighters who have crossed into Uganda and are languishing in camps along the border. Uganda has refused to hand them over to the DR Congo.

"....M23 fighters who have crossed into Uganda and are languishing in camps..." Cry me a fucking river, there is a certain poetic justice given the thousands of innocent Congolese who through no fault of their own are languishing in refugee camps as a direct result of the M23 insurgency.


Around 100 more injured rebels have crossed to Rwanda.

Mende said the rebels would be dealt with "case by case" -- with many rank-and-file fighters expected to be given the option to return to the army.

I have seen no confirmation of this from the Congolese government and I think it would be a major mistake  on their part should this happen.

More complicated is the fate of around 100 M23 commanders. These include M23 leader Sultani Makenga, accused of participating in several massacres, mutilations, abductions and sexual violence, sometimes against children.

It would seem to becoming apparent that Makenga and the leadership of M23 will not face justice at this point for their crimes. That said there are jails all over the world and justice delayed is not always justice denied, something quite a few African rulers have discovered the hard way.  

"The rebels, by signing, will effectively be surrendering. From our side, even though we have won and triumphed, we will still respect what is on the table," said Francois Muamba, a DR Congo delegate to the talks.

I would hope that Kinshasa has decided what is on the table, if not as I suggested yesterday the Congolese government would be better off not turning up.

The UN's special envoy to the Great Lakes, Mary Robinson, told AFP the accord would be "a very important step for peace".

The important step was the defeat of M23 this is just a bullshit PR exercise I must say I am beginning to think that the major qualification to become an envoy to the Great Lakes Region is having a big mouth and an inability to engage ones brain before utilising that mouth.

Speaking to AFP on Sunday, she said the deal will also be followed by operations to neutralise other rebel groups in a concerted effort to end one of Africa's most brutal and longest-running wars.

This would be "new and welcome news for the people... who have tolerated or have had to endure for far too long these armed groups, with the raping and re-raping, with the displacement of people," she said.

"It has been intolerable, and now there really is hope," said the former Irish president.

I would give a guarded agreement to that assertion.

But even if a deal is signed, stabilising eastern DR Congo will not be easy. Previous peace deals for the region -- including with the M23 -- have foundered because they were not implemented or did not address underlying problems such as refugees and land ownership.

Not to mention the theft of Congolese mineral wealth.

Role of Uganda and Rwanda

Robinson said she believed Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni -- who deny backing the M23 -- were committed to an 11-nation regional peace agreement signed in February.

Yes... Museveni's handing over of the M23 rebels to face trial for their alleged criminal behaviour impressed me no end.

She said the priority would now shift to defeating the DR Congo-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a descendant of Hutu extremist groups that carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The Congolese government has already vowed a new campaign to eradicate the group.

Rwanda's minority Tutsi-led government views the FDLR as a major security threat, and dealing with the group is seen as crucial to addressing the neighbouring country's concerns and preventing the emergence of yet another Rwandan-backed proxy.

The FDLR should be eradicated because it is the right thing to do, it will have no bearing on Rwanda backing or not backing a new insurgency although it will remove the Rwandan justification for doing so.

But not everyone in the DR Congo is convinced.

I am certainly far from convinced and you can't get much further from the DR Congo than Auckland. 

A group of Congolese NGOs and civil society groups last week dismissed the peace negotiations as "nonsense", denounced the impending "integration of criminals and foreigners" back into the army and called Uganda an "aggressor".

Uganda is walking a highwire supporting the M23 leadership. They would be far more sensible to hand them over to the ICC. Uganda could walk away from this smelling of roses by being half smart. That they are not doing so is already raising eyebrows.

A researcher for the Enough Project, a US group campaigning against war crimes, said Rwandan and Ugandan meddling could still scupper a deal.

"It must be noted that Museveni does not hide his feelings for the M23 when he demands a general amnesty and their unconditional reintegration," Fidel Bafilemba said.

That is crap. Kinshasa hold the cards in this situation not Rwanda and Uganda. The peace deal as I have said is a meaningless PR stunt if things don't fall to Kinshasa's liking they should just walk out, it will change nothing on the ground short term in the eastern DR Congo.  

"The fact that Uganda says it won't extradite the rebels leads one to think there could be a plan B to rebuild the rebels."

Kinshasa blogger and journalist Alex Engwete has made this argument and backed it with a reasonable amount of circumstantial evidence, how could it be anything but circumstantial at this stage, I for one would not discount it or Engwete's insight on matters Congolese.

"At any rate, that a well-known Congolese warlord would be allowed to own a house in Kampala and to roam freely on Ugandan territory is in itself a major pointer of direct collaboration between Ugandan authorities with seedy and seditious Congolese elements for the sole purpose of destabilizing the DRC. 

It is well worth a read.  

Uganda: Saving Sultani Makenga and other batshit crazy stuff.

New Vision ( Uganda ) reports

'Congo peace deal signing for Monday'

                                                               Sultani Makenga

RUGWERERO - The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the defeated M23 rebels will Monday sign a peace deal, Kinshasa and Kampala said, with Uganda adding it will not send the fleeing insurgents back across the border.

A small problem, well actually a huge problem. 

“In the discussions we held in Kampala, it was made absolutely clear there’d be no amnesty for war crimes, crimes against humanity including sexual violence, the recruiting of child soldiers, large scale human rights abuses, not to mention acts of genocide, no-one will grant amnesty for these kinds of crimes,” he said.

Top of the list of those wanted for war crimes is the M23’s military chief. Sultani Makenga is now being held in Uganda after giving himself up.

It would seem Uganda has already granted amnesty to Makenga.

The March 23 Movement (M23) on Tuesday ended its 18-month insurgency after a resounding defeat at the hands of the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since then the majority of its fighters have fled across the border into Uganda.

"The agreement is ready and we are expecting everybody to return Monday to sign it," Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo told AFP of the deal.

"The signature will take place on Monday," DRC Foreign Affairs Minister Raymond Tshibanda N'Tunga Mulongo said while on a visit to Paris.

I can see no reason why the government of the DR Congo would bother to turn up. They have victory if Uganda is planning to help the M23 leadership escape justice so be it. Let Uganda explain itself to the world.

The M23 have not confirmed Monday's meeting but with no more military power as leverage they have little choice in the matter.

M23 will be there but that is because they are now creatures of Museveni's will, rather than a function of their reduced military power. Kinshasa on the other hand holds all the cards and if Museveni is planning to control the outcome as I have said I can see no reason for the Congolese to show.

"The agreement will detail how each case will be handled. There are those that are under US and UN sanctions, those who want to be reintegrated in the army, and those who simply want to go home," Opondo said.

You can't have it both ways. Either the M23 leadership will face the consequences of their criminality or they will be given political asylum in Uganda. Uganda could and should allow rank and file M23 members an easy out, but for the leadership there can be no deals agreed to by Kinshasa.

The peace talks, which started in December, had made little headway until the DRC army started to get the upper hand militarily in recent weeks.

The peace talks made no headway whatsoever. The Congolese Government had no possible dividend by agreeing to a peace settlement when it became obvious that M23 were going to fail in the field. I have no idea why this lie is being perpetuated, one can only assume it is a face saving effort on the part of Uganda.

One of the major stumbling blocks had been the fate of around 100 M23 officers who have taken part in a series of rebellions over the past 15 years and that Kinshasa did not want to see reincorporated into its army.

Kinshasa would have to be batshit crazy to allow any members of M23 to join the Congolese Army. I very much doubt this will be on the agenda. This solution has been tried several times in the past and appears to have failed every time I can see no reason why it would work this time.

Opondo said that the United Nations and the African Union, which backed the peace process, would attend Monday's ceremony.

Really. They backed the peace process ?

Uganda says it will not hand over rebels

He also confirmed that the military chief of the M23, a group formed 18 months ago, and which both Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of backing, is on Ugandan territory.

"Yes, Sultani Makenga is with us," he told AFP, refusing to reveal the rebel chief's whereabouts.

Uganda will not hand over M23 rebels who fled after being defeated, the spokesman for the army and the defence ministry said.

Yes. In Westminster political speak one might describe that as a very courageous decision, the Global Post reports.

" The chief of the former insurgents and his fellow M23 commanders have been branded "among the worst perpetrators of human rights violations in the DRC, or in the world for that matter," by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

"Many of them may have been responsible for war crimes," she said in June last year, calling for them to face justice.

Makenga is accused of participating in several massacres, mutilations, abductions and sexual violence, sometimes on children, and is on both UN and US sanctions lists."

If Uganda wish to play with fire they should expect to get burnt.

"They are not prisoners; they are soldiers running away from a war so we are receiving them and helping them because it is our responsibility," Colonel Paddy Ankunda told AFP, adding that Uganda had also welcomed fleeing soldiers from the DRC's national army earlier in the year.

Hmm... the United States is in a sanctions mindframe at the moment, as I said a very brave decision to provide sanctuary for Makenga.

Ugandan officers said Thursday that some 1,500 M23 insurgents had crossed over and surrendered.

"They will not be handed over to DRC," Ankunda said.

I suspect it might be in Uganda's interests to think about a plan B.The Hague  particularly the ICC might be worth some contemplation. 

In Rugwerero village in the Uganda's southwestern Kisoro district the men and some women from the M23, disarmed but still in uniform, were washing their clothes in a compound belonging to Uganda's wildlife authority, an AFP photographer said.

He said the fleeing fighters were calm until they saw some Tanzanian and South African officers from the UN brigade arriving and started throwing stones at them.

M23 confirming their reputation as the clowns of the Congo.

Ankunda said that fighters who refused to return home after the peace agreement would be handed over to the UN refugee agency, who would screen them and decide if they were eligible for refugee status.

How fucking unfair is that. M23 has created thousands of refugees, all most all of them I suspect are awaiting official UN refugee status and resettlement. This should not be an option for the M23 rebels, at some point natural justice must come into play, this result would contemptuously laugh in the face of justice by any standard.

"The government security forces screen the rebels when they cross the border and ... make sure they are not mixing with civilian refugees," Lucy Beck, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency told AFP from southwestern Uganda, where the fleeing rebels have taken refuge.

Civilian refugees had started leaving a UN transit camp to head back home, she said.

Something that is worth remembering when you read about Uganda granting the M23 leadership a way out.

"UNHCR is not considering repatriation of the refugees as it is not considered safe, even without M23," Beck went on, citing the myriad of other armed groups operating in the east of the DR Congo.

She said the agency was still hosting some 20,000 civilian refugees from DR Congo who fled earlier this year and that the majority of those had fled armed groups other than the M23.

Uganda might want to think about the message it is sending those armed groups by assisting the M23 leadership avoid justice.

A further 95 men from the M23, all wounded, sought refuge in neighbouring Rwanda, where they are receiving medical treatment, according to the local Red Cross.

Analysts have cast doubt on the figure of 1,500, saying that the entire M23 force numbered only around 1,000 men at the end of October.

They have suggested that the figure given by Uganda may include insurgents' family members.

DR Congo: M23 A vainglorious end?

Reuters reports

Rebels and Congo army clash; Rwanda says it was shelled

                                            FARDC soldier watches a MONUSCO helicopter taking off from Walikale

By Kenny Katombe

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo  | Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:55pm EDT

(Reuters) - Congo's M23 rebels clashed with government troops for the first time in nearly two months on Friday, and neighboring Rwanda said Congolese army shells had landed on its territory, raising tensions in the volatile region.

I dealt with the issue of shells landing in Rwanda in my last blog, I would be loathed to ascribe blame to any party at this stage, the bottom line is that it would be counter productive for the Congolese Army FARDC to have done it but strong reasons exist for both M23 and the FDLR to have engaged in this gamesmanship. 

The fighting came after peace talks broke down in the Ugandan capital Kampala on Monday. It sent some 5,000 civilians fleeing across the border into Rwanda, a U.N. peacekeeping spokesman said. 

This was inevitable in my opinion regardless of what was happening in Kampala with the peace talks. It was never in the best interests of the DR Congo government to have a peace agreement with M23, success for the Kinshasa was always about no agreement being reached and the failure of the talks.   

General Sultani Makenga, M23's military commander, said the rebels came under attack at 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) at Kanyamohoro, around 15 km (10 miles) north of Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We are going to defend our positions," Makenga told Reuters by telephone.

It is hard to take Makenga seriously from a military perspective, he is the clown who split M23 and caused Bosco Ntaganda to flee into the embrace of the ICC ( which was not a bad result from everyone's perspective excluding M23 ) and weakened the rebel movement to the point that it is now facing extinction. This guy does not strike me as a military genius and his decision to defend his positions may well be the final vainglorious act of his life. That is no great loss but it is very likely that M23 has many  "members "  who are involved through coercion allegedly including child soldiers.

Congolese army General Lucien Bahuma said M23 fighters had attacked first and fierce combat was continuing. The Congolese army was seeking to overrun rebel positions in Kibumba, just south of Kanyamohoro, officers said.

It is probably impossible to know who started this fight but if I was going to place a wager I would be betting it was the Congolese Army FARDC. That said the outcome may well not be as inevitable as I assume, Jason Stearns at Congo Siasa opines:

" The danger, as always, is that a unraveling of the talks could lead to another escalation on the ground. This time, if reports from within the UN peacekeeping mission are accurate, the Intervention Brigade may be willing to push further north against the M23, using military pressure to push the M23 and its allies toward a peace deal. Of course, that’s a risky gamble, as a failed offensive could humiliate the UN and embolden the M23 at the negotiation table." 

Voice of America reported today that the Intervention ( African ) Brigade has not at this stage had any involvement.

" Troops with the U.N. mission, known as MONUSCO, are reported to be standing by, ready to intervene if necessary. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky says MONUSCO has carried out aerial reconnaissance of the area."

Intervene means supporting FARDC inline with UN Security Council Resolution 2098, that they have not felt any requirement to do so as yet suggests that FARDC have the situation in hand.

" The Security Council today approved the creation of its first-ever “offensive” combat force, intended to carry out targeted operations to “neutralize and disarm” the notorious 23 March Movement (M23), as well as other Congolese rebels and foreign armed groups in strife-riven eastern Democratic Republic of Congo."

M23 and General Sultani Makenga of course have gone out of their way to piss the MONUSCO troops off   recently with some rather batshit crazy ideas like shooting at unarmed UN helicopters, I have few doubts as to is benefitting from the MONUSCO aerial reconnaissance efforts.

A Reuters reporter in Goma said fighting was intense and continuous on Friday as Congolese army troops bombarded rebel positions with heavy artillery and machinegun fire.

This blog has argued that the only sane option available to M23 is an unconditional surrender, with this development and the collapse of the Kampala talks Makenga's only honorable option is to pick up the phone and preserve the lives of his combatants. Jason Stearns at Congo Siasa has a more optimistic viewpoint on the future of the peace negotiations, one which I disagree with but I wouldn't bet against him being right. ( Incidently in which case you have wasted your time reading this as it will clearly  have become a load of bollocks ).  

" There is still hope for a deal, although the Congolese main negotiators will be in Kinshasa for some time now, with only a skeleton crew left in Kampala. The next step will probably be for regional powers to discuss the M23 at a joint ICGLR/SADC summit, to take place in South Africa in early November. "

Rwandan army spokesman Brigadier General Joseph Nzabamwita said Congo's army fired three shells and small arms into Rubavu district, just over the border near the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. Border security had been tightened.

As I have blogged previously this is very much still up in the air with regard to responsibility for the shelling and small arms fire.

"There are many Congolese crossing into Rwanda," Nzabamwita said, adding that a 58-year-old Congolese woman had been evacuated after being struck by a bullet.

Rwanda's U.N. Ambassador warned the 15-nation council on Friday during a closed-door meeting that Rwanda would not tolerate shelling of its territory and was in a position to respond militarily, a U.N. Security Council diplomat said.

I hope that should evidence come to light that FARDC is not responsible for the shelling via the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism that it is noted by the Security Council and appropriate military sanctions are imposed on Rwanda should it be proved once again to be the actions of M23.

" The accusations by the DRC government minister support claims from the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) officials that the Rwandan backed M23 Congolese rebels have fired rockets into Rwanda on Thursday August 22, 2013 ".

In late August, Rwanda accused Congolese troops of shelling its territory and the tensions between the two neighbors raised fears of a regional conflict.

South African and Tanzanian troops, part of a new 3,000-strong U.N. Intervention Brigade with a tough mandate to crush armed groups in eastern Congo, were present near the frontline but did not join the combat.

The United Nations mission in Congo (MONUSCO) asked a committee of military experts from the International Conference of the Great Lakes region - an 11-nation regional bloc - to investigate the reports of a shell landing in Kageyo in Rwanda.

"MONUSCO is on high alert and is closely monitoring the situation," Martin Nesirky, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general, said in New York.

TALKS FAILURE

After the breakdown of the Kampala talks this week, the Congolese government said it had rejected the demands of the rebel movement for an amnesty for its leaders and its reintegration into the army.

M23 says it has no desire to rejoin the Congolese forces but is seeking an amnesty for its leadership.

In an address to congress on Wednesday, Congolese President Joseph Kabila threatened military force.

"The government will not continue to expose the lives of our compatriots to blind bombings and abuses of all kinds," he said. "(M23) is caught between the force of the army and a narrow political escape route."

It is the second time in three months that peace talks have faltered and combat has broken out.

In late August, government troops with the support of the U.N. Intervention Brigade forced M23 from positions just north of Goma.

M23 began as a mutiny by Congolese soldiers in early 2012. The rebels demand that the government fully implement the terms of a 2009 peace deal signed after a previous rebellion which was backed by Rwanda.

U.N. investigators have accused Rwanda of supporting M23, a charge that Kigali strenuously denies.

I think the best result that we can hope for is a M23 surrender and an end to the senseless bloodshed. I doubt M23 are viable going forward and that should be something Rwanda is taking into consideration. 

DR Congo : HRW nails Rwanda ( part 1 )

Human Rights Watch reports

DR Congo: M23 Rebels Kill, Rape Civilians

New Evidence of Rwandan Support for M23

M23 rebels take position near the town of Mutaho, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on May 27, 2013.

© 2013 Reuters

(Goma) – M23 rebels have summarily executed at least 44 people and raped at least 61 women and girls since March 2013 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Local residents and rebel deserters reported recent forced recruitment of men and boys by the M23 in both Rwanda and Congo.

After behaving relatively well during the M23 occupation of Goma it would seem that M23 are reverting to type. It should be noted that infighting in the M23 rebels was at its height at during March culminating in the surrender to the International Criminal Court of one of the M23 leaders Bosco Ntaganda. There can be no doubt that rape is seen as weapon of war in the DR Congo but it is interesting to note that it increases after Ntaganda's defeat. It is also interesting to note that that Rwanda supported the faction of Sultani Makenga who was the eventual victor in the factional conflict. I guess you can draw your own conclusions.

After a nearly two-month-long ceasefire, fighting resumed on July 14 between the Congolese armed forces and M23 rebels near the eastern city of Goma.

Residents and rebel deserters described recent support from within Rwanda to the abusive M23 forces. This includes regular movements from Rwanda into Congo of men in Rwandan army uniforms, and the provision of ammunition, food, and other supplies from Rwanda to the M23. The M23 has been recruiting inside Rwanda. Rwandan military officers have trained new M23 recruits, and have communicated and met with M23 leaders on several occasions.

Absolutely no surprises here. Rwanda is of course in denial, but they are fools if they think anyone believes anything they say.

" The Group of Experts, which monitors compliance with UN sanctions for Congo, also said in its interim report that M23 rebels in Congo continue to recruit fighters in neighbouring Rwanda with the aid of sympathetic Rwandan military officers.
Rwanda has denied the group's allegations, accusing it of bias."

“Not only is Rwanda allowing its territory to be used by the abusive M23 to get recruits and equipment, but the Rwandan military is still directly supporting the M23,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This support is sustaining an armed group responsible for numerous killings, rapes and other serious abuses.”

I have been arguing from about March that the tide has been going out on M23. It would seem to have become apparent to Rwanda that their Congolese proxies are losing ground and this would seem to be an attempt by Rwanda to reinforce them. It however would seem to be to little to late. That this is a situation created by Rwanda ( through their support of factionalism in M23 )   would be amusing but for the the price that the people of the DR Congo might well pay for that.    

The latest Human Rights Watch findings are based on more than 100 interviews since March, including with former M23 fighters who left the movement between late March and July and civilians living near the Congo-Rwanda border, some of whom were victims of abuses.

That number of interviews gives a huge amount of credibility to the report. 
In addition to M23 abuses, Human Rights Watch documented several cases of killings and rapes by Congolese Hutu militia groups operating in and around M23-controlled territory. Some Congolese army officers have allegedly supported factions of these groups, as well as factions of the allied Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) – a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group, some of whose members participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

This is a very short sighted act on the part of the Congolese army. The FDLR are incapable of inflicting any real damage on Rwanda. FARDC support of these groups at best pisses the Rwandans off but crucially if gives Rwanda an excuse to interfere in the DR Congo. One they have and will continue to use as a justification.  

Since its inception in April 2012, the M23 has committed widespread violations of the laws of war. Despite numerous war crimes by M23 fighters, the armed group has received significant support from Rwandan military officials. After briefly occupying Goma in November, then withdrawing on December 1, the M23 controls much of Congo’s Rutshuru and Nyiragongo territories, bordering Rwanda.

On April 25 and 26, M23 fighters killed 15 ethnic Hutu civilians in several villages in Busanzagroupement in Rutshuru territory, and at least another 6 in mid-June, in an apparent attempt to “punish” villagers for alleged collaboration with Congolese Hutu militias.

Other civilians killed by M23 fighters since March include a 62-year-old man who was shot dead because he refused to hand his sons over to the M23, a motorcycle driver who refused to give money to the M23, M23 recruits who were caught after trying to escape, and others accused of collaborating with Hutu militia.

It is time for justice to be done. Sultani Makenga must be held accountable for these act along with the perpetrators. Rwanda's participation and responsibility for these acts should also be examined and not through the looking glass of the genocide. Atrocities have never and will never justify further atrocities.  


On July 5, four M23 fighters gang-raped a 12-year-old girl as she went to fetch water in her village in Rutshuru. An M23 fighter who accosted an 18-year-old woman near Bunagana shot her in the leg on April 15 when she refused to have sex with him.

Since June, M23 leaders have forced local chiefs in areas under their control to undergo military and ideological training and obtain recruits for the M23. The M23 considers these chiefs to be part of their “reserve force” that can be called upon to provide support during military operations.

M23 fighters have arrested or abducted dozens of civilians in recent weeks in Rutshuru, most of them Hutu. The M23 accused many of them of collaborating with the FDLR or allied Congolese Hutu militias. M23 fighters beat them severely, tied them up, and detained them. The M23 then forced many of them to undergo military training and become M23 fighters.

If it sounds like desperation on the part of M23 that is because that is what it is. We can expect more such stories. 

A former M23 police officer, who deserted in April, told Human Rights Watch that he participated in investigations of killings of civilians. He said that before each investigation, a high-ranking M23 commander, Innocent Kayna, told him: “You will do the investigation. You will say it’s bandits in the neighborhood who killed, not M23.”
Human Rights Watch contacted the M23’s military leader, Sultani Makenga, but he was unavailable to speak about the recent alleged abuses.

M23 seem to have come to the conclusion that they are a sovereign nation  

GOMA, Congo — A rebel group in eastern Congo on Friday defended its right to organize criminal trials despite concerns from the country’s United Nations mission, which has said that the proposed prosecution of 11 young men on weapons charges could not meet international standards.

They are of course deluded.

Those recruited in Rwanda into the M23 include demobilized Rwandan army soldiers and former FDLR fighters, most of whom had become part of the Rwandan army’s Reserve Force, as well as Rwandan civilians. A 15-year-old Rwandan boy told Human Rights Watch that he and three other young men and boys were promised jobs as cow herders in Congo, but when they got to Congo were forced to join the M23. They were given military training by Rwandan officers in Congo and told they would be killed if they tried to escape. Other M23 deserters also said Rwandan officers were training new M23 recruits.

Former M23 officers who had been part of previous Rwanda-backed rebellions said they recognized officers serving with the M23 who they knew were members of the Rwandan army. Congolese deserters told Human Rights Watch that a number of M23 fighters admitted freely that they were Rwandan. Some said they had served in the Rwandan army’s peacekeeping contingent in Darfur.

It is hard to see why Rwanda persists, despite all the evidence against it, in its denials. The contempt shown for the rest of the world verges on that of the apartheid regime of South Africa and it is time for the world community to make it clear that it can expect the same isolation South Africa experienced should it persist.

Recent M23 deserters interviewed by Human Rights Watch described frequent – in some cases weekly – arrivals of soldiers and recruits from Rwanda. Sometimes these were rotations, with new soldiers replacing others who had returned to Rwanda. Weapons, ammunition, large containers of milk, truckloads of rice, and other supplies were brought to the M23 from Rwanda. M23 deserters also described phone conversations and meetings in both Rwanda and Congo between senior M23 leaders and people the deserters were told or knew to be Rwandan officials.

All of the recent M23 deserters interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that Rwandan soldiers, officers, and trainers were present throughout their time with the M23, and that there had been new arrivals from Rwanda in recent months.

“For the past 17 years, the Rwandan army has repeatedly deployed troops to eastern Congo and backed abusive proxy forces responsible for war crimes,” Bekele said. “As in the past, Rwanda denies it’s supporting the M23, but the facts on the ground speak for themselves.”

On this evidence it would be reasonable to conclude that Kilgali intends to fight to maintain its position in the DR Congo. This can not be allowed to happen. 


Rwandan government and military officials did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s requests for a meeting. Rwandan officials in the past have repeatedly denied allegations that the government is providing support to the M23.

The Rwandan government should immediately halt all support to the M23 because of its broadly abusive behavior, Human Rights Watch said. The United Nations and United States special envoys for the Great Lakes region and donor governments should publicly denounce continuing Rwandan support to the M23 and call for sanctions against senior Rwandan officials responsible for backing the armed group.

The Congolese government should immediately suspend, investigate, and prosecute as appropriate Congolese military officers and government officials who have provided support to the FDLR or allied groups. The government should make clear that abusive militia commanders will not be integrated into Congo’s army as part of any political settlement.

I have been suggesting this course of action with regard to sanctions but I would go further and say that the sanctions should also be applied to the officers of FARDC and Congolese officials who are assisting the Rwandan rebels such as FDLR. 

The simple reality is that the possibility of integrating M23 into the Congolese army as required by the failed peace negotiations in Kampala is a pipe dream. If it happens I predict only failure. M23 needs to disband and its leadership and fighters who have been responsible for the atrocities described above need to face the ICC.    

According to international journalists present near the front line and photographs seen by Human Rights Watch, Congolese army soldiers treated the corpses of M23 fighters killed in combat on July 16 in a degrading manner, stripping them, making ethnic slurs, and prodding their genitals with weapons. International law prohibits “committing outrages upon personal dignity,” including against the dead. Human Rights Watch also documented cases in which the Congolese army detained former M23 fighters and alleged collaborators for several weeks without bringing them before a court, and often incommunicado and in harsh conditions.

Congolese military officials should appropriately discipline officers and soldiers responsible for mistreating corpses, and ensure that such acts cease immediately. Military and judicial officials should ensure that captured combatants and civilians are treated in accordance with due process standards, including being promptly brought before a judge and charged, or released. Detainees should not be mistreated or held in inhumane conditions.

The bar is set higher for the Congolese government and FARDC than it is for M23, that is the price of sovereignty.  

DR Congo Development

The BBC reports

DR Congo: US sanctions M23 rebel leader Sultani Makenga

The US government has imposed sanctions against the leader of the M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It said Sultani Makenga was being targeted for his use of child soldiers in the current conflict in DR Congo.

The move follows the UN's decision on Monday to add Col Makenga to its sanctions list.

Last month, a UN panel of experts said Rwanda and Uganda were supplying M23 with weapons and other support - allegations those countries deny.

I have had a quick read through the Experts report there was very little to surprise regarding Rwanda but the Uganda allegations were a surprise.

The DR Congo government said more needed to be done to stop the rebellion in the east of the country, which borders Rwanda and Uganda.

"It's a good start but it's totally inadequate," government spokesman Lambert Mende told the AFP news agency.

"Sultani did not invent this pseudo-mutiny in the east, [but remains] an instrument behind much wrongdoing," he said.

The M23 movement, also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, has been fighting the Congolese government since April following an army mutiny.

Since then nearly half a million people have been displaced by fighting between the rebels and the army.

I don't see any real advantage to Uganda in prolonging the uprising the reality is Uganda is carrying the human cost of the uprising with hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Border closed

"Sultani Makenga is responsible for extensive atrocities against the population in the DRC, including the recruitment of child soldiers, and campaigns of violence against civilians," Adam J Szubin, the director of the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control,said in a statement.

Under the UN sanctions, Col Makenga will be subject to a travel ban and assets freeze.

"Sultani Makenga has committed and is responsible for serious violations of international law involving the targeting of women and children in situations of armed conflict, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction, and forced displacement,"a statement from the UN sanctions committee on DR Congo said.

"According to testimonies and reports, the militants operating under the command of Sultani Makenga have conducted rapes throughout Rutshuru territory against women and children, some of whom have been as young as eight years old, as part of a policy to consolidate control."

Rwanda has denied allegations in a leaked report by a UN panel of experts that M23 leaders received "direct military orders" from Rwanda's defence ministry.

Kigali is widely seen as having backed armed groups in the east of DR Congo as a way to fight Hutu rebels who fled there after the 1994 genocide.

It has been accused of using militias as proxies in an on-going battle for the region, which is rich in minerals.

The same leaked UN report has also infuriated Kampala after accusing it of arming the Congolese rebels.

It has threatened to withdraw Ugandan forces from UN-backed international missions as a consequence.

On Tuesday, Uganda closed the Bunagana border crossing into DR Congo.

"The Congolese were complaining that M23 were taxing lorries and goods going through, so at the request of the government of Congo we have closed the border," AFP quotes Ugandan army spokesman Felix Kulayigye as saying.

He doesn't need sanctions he needs a bullet.