DR Congo army 'used aid as bait'
MSF is hardly a neutral player in this arena but this report is hardly surprising. The DRC military would be unable to resist such a lucrative opportunity
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DR Congo army 'used aid as bait'
The Democratic Republic of Congo army has used vaccination clinics as "bait" to attack civilians, says aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
Thousands of Hutu civilians were targeted when they visited sites set up to combat a measles epidemic, in areas controlled by the rebels, MSF said.
It denounced the attacks in North Kivu as "an abuse of humanitarian action".
When Will Monuc Stop Blundering?
Although the author blames everything on MONUC, and even goes as far as comparing their ops with failed attempts at stopping the genocide, he has a point - Over 17,000 in country has yet to change much and leave many with other things to politically attend to.
To think our team was 3 strong :wry:
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As things stand, any cynic will be excused for placing blame of the never ending cycle of violence and conflict, squarely on the shoulders of the constantly blundering MONUC, which is mandated to keep peace in the volatile region.
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Most people appreciated the presence of MONUC troops in the region. Blue Helmets conduct daily patrols and provide a logistics and operations support to some 6,000 FARDC troops in the zone, who receive some
23 tons of MONUC food rations every week.
The Congo Desk is dead long live pure capitalistic competition ?
The main question with the famous "Congo Desk" is not "did it exist or not? and did it fund Rwanda with DRC ressources?"...this is fairly clear and generally admitted (except in Kigali).
No. The main question should be "Does it still exists ?".
My understanding is that after RPA's retreat from DRC, the Congo Desk was slowly dismantled and replaced by a different network of local intermediaries sometimes competing each other:
* Congolese Tutsis which had created business with money loaned by Kigali (RDB) before 2003 are still in contact with Kagame's regime but to a much lesser extent than during the RPA presence in DRC.
* These have found in Nkunda a temporary replacement to the RPA or RCD-Goma "favourable" business environment.
* Now, my understanding is that last year, when Nkunda was arrested in/by Rwanda, a deal had been made between Kabila and Kagame: Kabila fights the FDLR and does not threaten those businessmen interests and Kigali suppress the CNDP as an opposition armed group. A Win-Win deal.
Those businessmen are still major business partners for Kigali and could not operate without Kigali's tacit consent. As an example, Rwandan exports CONSIDERABLY more cassiterite than it produces ????? Where does the excess production comes from ????
The MPC company, as an other example, links in the same business partnership Mr Rujigira, and Mai-Mai groups allied with FDLR..... Translated: one close friend of Kagame was or still is making money with a mine then controlled by FDLR and anti-Tutsi Mai-Mai. In business, there is no such thing as "don't talk to the terrorists" i guess....
The legal possession of this mine was opposed by Bangandula mining group.... BMG is own by Mr Makabuza an other business relation of Mr Kagame dating back to the Congo Desk times.
What this shows is that both businessmen linked to Kigali and who used to work hand in hand with the "Congo Desk" are now fighting each other for a mine but still have offices (Comptoir), contacts and political support in Kigali that are critical to their business....Without Kigali's support, they could not smuggle cassiterite...so i guess Kigali must get something in exchange ?????
http://globalpolicy.org/component/co...181/33658.html
MUDACAMURA should be next
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Originally Posted by
davidbfpo
I don't reallly believe this should lead to the collapse of the FDLR in the short term. It will affect their morale surely but the political leadership had very little power and money while the military branch is the real power centre of the FDLR.
The political leadership was used for 2 purposes: express in the media the FDLR demands and approve the nomination of the FDLR command. This last point is crucial. Should Mudacamura (the current military commander) be captured or die, several factions inside the FDLR military command would jockey for that position. Without Murwanashyaka to play the middleman, there is a fair chance that the FDLR military branch would divide into internal struggle. This would lead to disorganisation and ultimately, massive waves of FDLR surrendering.
My conclusion so is...now to solve the FDLR problem..
1/ SPOT Mudacamura and his HQ (area of Numbi in North Kivu),
2/ Send some SF to neutralize him and most of his HQ,
3/ Let the succession turn into an internal civil war
EU parliament call for MONUC to stay
MONUC is closing and packing. Kabila wants it. But fortunately, people who still care about Congolese are not all on that line.
http://www.europa-eu-un.org/articles...le_9355_fr.htm
Congo: MEPs condemn violence and call for perpetrators to be brought to justice
Perpetrators of such abuses should be brought to justice, and the activity of armed foreign groups in eastern DRC, in particular the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and troops of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), should be brought to a swift end, says the resolution, which underlines the need to allow MONUC (the UN operation in DRC) to carry out its mandate in full.
Parliament calls for an immediate end to the violence and human rights abuses in DRC and remains extremely concerned by the worsening humanitarian situation in eastern DRC. It backs the appeal by the UN on 30 November 2009 to raise $7.1 billion for humanitarian work in 2010 and urges all Member States to contribute their fair share.
Parliament is concerned at reports of deliberate killings by Congolese soldiers of at least 270 civilians in the towns of Nyabiondo and Pinga in North Kivu and by recent ethnic clashes which have forced 115,000 people to flee their homes in the Western Equateur province.
Conflict in the DRC has claimed the lives of 5,400,000 people since 1998 and is still causing, directly or indirectly, as many as 45,000 deaths every month. There are some 1,460,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the DRC, including 980,000 in North Kivu.
The arrest of Ignace Murrwanashyaka, President of the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) and his deputy, Straton Musoni by German authorities, is a step towards addressing impunity, says the resolution.
MONUC is not the best thing in the world, far from it. But it's the only one who does officially care of congolese people...:(