Gazing in the Congo (DRC): the dark heart of Africa (2006-2017)

[M-A Lagrange]

US-trained Congolese troops to aid efforts against M23 rebels
Congolese soldiers undergo training at a camp in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in this September 2010 photo. A U.S.-trained light infantry battalion of Congolese soldiers will help in efforts to halt advances by the M23 rebel group in the DRC, the United Nations says.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us-train...ebels-1.183281

[M-A Lagrange]

SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2012
US State Department's Statement on Rwanda

In light of information that Rwanda is supporting armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Department of State has decided it can no longer provide Foreign Military Financing (FMF) appropriated in the current fiscal year to Rwanda, considering a restriction imposed by the 2012 appropriation act.

As a result, we will not obligate $200,000 in Fiscal Year 2012 FMF funds that were intended to support a Rwandan academy for non-commissioned officers. These funds will be reallocated for programming in another country.

We will continue to provide assistance to Rwanda to enhance its capacity to support peacekeeping missions.

The Department continues to assess whether other steps should be taken in response to Rwanda’s actions with respect to the DRC.

The United States government is deeply concerned about the evidence that Rwanda is implicated in the provision of support to Congolese rebel groups, including M23.

The United States has been actively engaged at the highest levels to urge Rwanda to halt and prevent the provision of such support, which threatens to undermine stability in the region.

Restraint, dialogue, and respect for each other’s sovereignty offer the best opportunity for Rwanda and the DRC, with the support of their partners, to resume the difficult work of bringing peace and security to the broader region.

We are encouraged by the ongoing high-level dialogue among the states of the Great Lakes region, and we join the Security Council in taking note with interest of the communiqué issued by the eleven member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) on July 12.

Developing a disciplined and unified army as part of a comprehensive security sector reform process remains critical to the stabilization of the DRC.

We support efforts to bring to justice alleged human rights abusers among the mutineers, including Bosco Ntaganda, who is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. We are concerned by reports that the mutineers have forcibly recruited child soldiers.

Hilary Fuller Renner
Spokesperson
Bureau of African Affairs
U.S. Department of State

[M-A Lagrange]

Rwanda's Paul Kagame warned he may be charged with aiding war crimes

The head of the US war crimes office has warned Rwanda's leaders, including President Paul Kagame, that they could face prosecution at the international criminal court for arming groups responsible for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Stephen Rapp, who leads the US Office of Global Criminal Justice, told the Guardian the Rwandan leadership may be open to charges of "aiding and abetting" crimes against humanity in a neighbouring country – actions similar to those for which the former Liberian president Charles Taylor was jailed for 50 years by an international court in May.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...ame-war-crimes

Washington is increasing pressure on Rwanda while in the field, military pressure is set by M23 on FARDC and MONUSCO:

Early this morning, at 3am (local time), the M23 started an offensive against the FARDC in Rutshuru. Heavy fightings took place between M23 and FARDC who are supported by MONUSCO. MONUSCO, to enforce FARDC movement deployed 3 light infantry "tanks" in Rutshuru on 22 july 2012.
At 15h00, after nearly 12 hours of fightings, combats in Rutshuru and Kiwanja have stopped but FARDC and M23 are still fightings in the surrounding areas.
Yesterday, on 24 july 2012, M23 launched an offensive in the south of their position. MONUSCO used its airpower to stop them, 23 km far from Goma, the North Kivu capital.

UN helicopters fire on rebels in eastern DR Congo

United Nations helicopters fired on rebel positions Tuesday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after new clashes broke out between rebel fighters and loyalist troops, officials said.

The second such UN action against rebels came in response to a rebel offensive "against the civilian population", said Mamodj Munubai, a spokesman for MONUSCO, the UN mission in DR Congo.

The airbourne action followed renewed clashes that broke out between M23 rebel fighters and loyalist troops, north of the regional capital Goma.

Major Olivier Hamuli, the army spokesman for Nord Kivu province, said fighting erupted after rebels attacked army positions around Rugari and Kimumba, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of regional capital Goma.

http://www.france24.com/en/20120724-...rn-dr-congo-un

To all my friends there: stay safe!

[M-A Lagrange]

While Rwanda through its foreign affairs is protesting, accusing western powers to treat african countries as children, hopefully, western powers do not listen:

UK and the Netherlands withhold Rwanda budget aid
The UK and the Netherlands have joined the US in withholding aid to Rwanda over its alleged backing of rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UK government said it was delaying £16m ($25m) in budget support due this month while it considered whether aid conditions had been met.

Rwanda again rejected allegations in a UN report that it was supporting the M23 movement rebels in DR Congo.

Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told the BBC it was "one sided".

The rebels mutinied from the Congolese army in April and some 200,000 people have fled their homes as a result of fighting.

News of the further aid suspensions came as a senior UN official told the BBC that defecting Congolese rebels have confirmed that they were recruited in Rwanda.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19010495


It's a wake-up call for Rwanda... to figure out a way to sustain our development without being subjected to bullying and pressure from donors said Louise Mushikiwabo Rwandan foreign minister

Well, I believe it should be a wake up call for Rwanda... To figure out a way to sustain development without bullying and exploiting illegaly its neigbour ressources.

[M-A Lagrange]

joins the club of the naughty western children:

Germany latest to suspend Rwanda aid
Germany's development ministry said on Saturday it suspended $26m in contributions to Rwanda's budget planned from this year through 2015. Britain and the Netherlands already have suspended support and the US cut planned military aid of $200,000.

Dirk Niebel, the German development minister, said he expects "unreserved co-operation" by Rwanda with the UN experts. "The accusations must be cleared up completely, and it must be clear that Rwanda does not support any illegal militias in eastern Congo," he said in a statement.

Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda's foreign minister, expressed regret on Friday at the "hasty decisions based on flimsy evidence".

The Netherlands said it was suspending $6.1m promised to improve Rwanda's judicial sector while Britain, Rwanda's biggest donor, said it was delaying a budget support payment scheduled this month.

London's Financial Times newspaper quoted a Swedish aid official on Thursday saying Scandinavian countries on the board of the African Development Bank also forced the delay of a decision on the disbursal of $38.9m in budget aid to Rwanda from last week until September.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa...579389961.html

[M-A Lagrange]

Rwanda just published a response to the UN group of Experts report pointing Rwanda has the master mind of M23 mutiny:

Rwanda's response to UN Group of Experts interim report
Kigali: (1). On 21st June 2012, the UN Group of Experts (GoE) for DRC submitted its interim annual report to the UN Sanctions Committee. Five days later, on 25th June the GoE submitted a 48-page addendum to the interim report under intense pressure from the media and non-state actors who had been aggressively touting the baseless claim that the hastily-drafted addendum was being withheld for political reasons or as the result of illegitimate intervention on the part of Rwanda or its allies at the Security Council.

http://www.safpi.org/news/article/20...interim-report

The report from Rwanda government is accessible from that site.

Among many questions rised by Rwanda, the main one is the final aim of Rwanda support to M23.
Here is a response from Herman Cohen, the US diplomat, who cannot be accused to be against Kigali.

Hank Cohen: Rwanda fights to maintain economic control of the region
The Congolese Government wants to retake control of these units, and either disarm them, or transfer them to other regions of this vast country. The economic stakes are too high for Rwanda, and it is virtually impossible for Rwanda to acquiesce in this attempted reversal of the military balance in the eastern Congo.

The current fighting may however be the end of the line for Rwanda's illegitimate exploitation of the eastern Congo's mineral resources. The fact that the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) is fighting on the side of the official army is an indication that the international community has had enough. Rwanda may consequently be entering a period of difficulty.

Herman J. "Hank" Cohen served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1989 to 1993.

http://www.safpi.org/news/article/20...control-region

[AdamG]

What do we do when those we entrust with our greatest hopes betray that trust? If the betrayers are United Nations peacekeepers, the answer seem to be nothing at all. There is distressing new evidence, most of it reported here for the first time, that foreign soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo can sexually and violently violate young girls with impunity so long as they wear that iconic blue beret or blue helmet.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...51/?cmpid=rss1