DR Congo: M23 follow through on batshit crazy plan to shoot down MONUSCO helicopter

Radio Okapi reports ( In French translated by Google Translate and me any errors are mine alone)

North Kivu: MONUSCO helicopter under fire from M23 Rumangabo

                                                       MONUSCO helicopter, Kisangani, December 2010

A MONUSCO helicopter was attacked on Friday, October 11 in the afternoon by shooting from the positions of the rebel Movement of 23 March (M23) in the region of Rumangabo in North Kivu.The head of MONUSCO Martin Kobler strongly condemns this act and said that air missions of the UN mission will continue .

"The M23 rebels will not exclude MONUSCO from Congolese airspace . We will continue to make every effort to protect the civilian population, including by force if necessary " , said the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations.

For its part, the M23 has acknowledged that there had been a "major incident".

This was entirely predictable. M23 made threats several days ago about shooting down white helicopters. 

" 01. This Tuesday, October 1, 2013, two helicopters painted white colors and marked A flew at very low altitude, our space for more than three hours from the southern town of KIBUMBA through those RUGARI, Bukima, Runyoni, Ntamugenga TONGO to come out;"

Note the use of " our space " M23 are quite deluded when it comes to the concept of sovereignty.

"The helicopter flew at low altitude camp in Rumangabo to 16 h00 '(14h, UT), whereas usually it passes ten miles away as the crow flies" , said the spokesman M23 military, Lieutenant Colonel Vianney Kazarama, quoted by AFP.

Unfortunately for Colonel Vianney Kazarama his story is contradicted by his colleague Comrade Amani Kabasha who is the head of the " M23 Media and Communications department.

" 04. It is therefore a camouflage under the label UN enemies gear to deceive the attention of our Army to ensure coverage of military reconnaissance, including surprise attacks."

So it turns out that it was a UN helicopter that was cunningly disguised as a UN helicopter.

He said that the soldiers thought it was a FARDC plane before the shooting.

"When I questioned (M23), they said they thought that it was FARDC  commandos  (government army) not MONUSCO who wanted to start a fight, then M23 fired with machine guns " said Lieutenant Colonel Vianney Kazarama, who did not know if the helicopter had been damaged or not.

For him, there was an error on both sides " both MONUSCO and M23."

Except that it wasn't an error on the part of M23 and once again they are hoisted by their own petard. 

" As a result, management of our Movement warns those responsible for acts of provocation. They are therefore warned that in case of recurrence, clear and unequivocal instruction are those of our army to ensure the immediate destruction and without warning of these deadly weapons."

Remember this is from an official M23 press release dated October 2 2013.

"According to my analysis from the field, I think the pilot made a navigational error and arrived at the Rumangabo camp" , said military spokesman M23.

According to my analysis of the M23 press release and the radio Okapi report M23 are lying through their teeth, but I guess given they are loyal to Kigali ( Rwanda ) that is no surprise at all. I hope MONUSCO responds to this incident by killing the bastards.

M23 was formed in May 2012. It calls for the implementation of the agreement signed on 23 March 2009 between the CNDP of Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese government. The UN regularly accuses Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the rebels. Something both these  countries deny.

Hat Tip:  Charly Carolüs Kasereka 

DR Congo: Hilarious...M23 reduced to Facebook threats.

All Africa reports

Congo-Kinshasa: Rebel Leader Makes Death Threats Towards Journalist Online

                                          Colonel Vianney Kazarama

Journalist in Danger (JED) is extremely upset over death threats made by Mr. Vianney Kazarama - spokesperson for the M23 rebel group - towards a journalist in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Marne Levine, Facebook’s VP of Global Public Policy makes it fairly clear what the Facebook policy with regard to death threats online is. 

" We prohibit content deemed to be directly harmful, but allow content that is offensive or controversial. We define harmful content as anything organizing real world violence, theft, or property destruction, or that directly inflicts emotional distress on a specific private individual."

I would think the first thing to do is draw the fools remarks to the attention of Facebook and ask that his account be closed. His Facebook account is here. I might even make a complaint myself. Mind you I can't find the offending piece but I am assured that nothing ever really goes away so I am sure it will be traceable. I noticed that he also seems to recieve a few death threats as well.

 "...son of a bitch, tutsi uncircumcised, thief.We will exterminate."

And that is of course at least half of the problem that the people of the Great Lakes Region face. The pointless stupid racism that pervades attitudes and leads to killings on an extraordinary stage, all most all of them, quite arbitrary.

 

On 1 September 2013, Vianney Kazarama published a menacing message on Facebook, without stating the name of the targeted journalist. Here's an excerpt of the original message in Swahili: "Kuko mupasha habari moya wa Goma amesahu kazi yake anaanza pana habari za bongo. Asiwe na shaka mumasaha kidogo tutafanya kakitendo kadogo kenye katamufurahisha sana. Wandugu wa penzi katamihumisha rohoo, lakini sisi kama jeshi tunajuwa nini tunafanya... "

The message translates into the following: "There's a journalist in Goma who has forgotten how to do his job by spreading false information. But he shouldn't worry, because very soon, we will do a little something that will make him very happy. Dear beloved brothers, this will shock you, but as an army, we know what we're doing... "

I am probably not one of the beloved brothers he refers to I concede but never the less I am more than a little surprised that he seems to think M23 know what they are doing. I guess getting scores of your militia killed and retreating in total disarray is a valid tactical response but boasting about it as if it was part of the greater plan seems a bit weird.  

According to research carried out by JED, this message was posted after Thomas Kubuya - a journalist for the private, Goma-based Virunga Business Radio (VBR) - posted information on Facebook about safety issues in eastern DRC.

I am feeling a little bit left out at the moment, I have been calling M23 murderous thugs and serial rapists for quite sometime. I have yet to receive a death threat. I might have to post a link to this on his Facebook page but that will of course necessitate delaying my complaint to Facebook. The agony of choice.

Contacted by JED, Thomas Kubuya said "It was shortly after I published my post, titled 'Kibumba: Who does the truce benefit?' on Facebook, that Mr. Kazarama targeted me without explicitly naming me. Regardless of whether it is about me or another journalist, it's not up to Colonel Kazarama to shut us up; our profession requires us to publish information that is completely true and objective."

Actually the Colonel's ability to carry out his threat I suspect is somewhere between nil and a snowballs chance in hell. His medium term future is probably a cell in the Hague or an eternity watching the daisies grow from underneath.     

JED vehemently condemns and denounces the threats made against this media worker, who did nothing more than exercise his freedom of expression in publishing an intellectual analysis on a social network.

JED should grow some balls and do something concrete rather than issue pointless press releases.

JED asks Mr. Vianney Kazarama of the M23 to take back his remarks, and asks all of the armed groups operating in eastern DRC to scrupulously respect freedom of the press and freedom of expression in all of the areas under their control.

JED will hold the M23 and its leaders responsible for any violent act that could put media professionals' lives in danger in eastern DRC.

I very much doubt that threat is going to achieve anything either maybe they should send Kazarama a face book death threat.