The UN has withdrawn its support for an army unit in Democratic Republic of Congo...
This will certainly make things better. I'm just not sure who will be affected more - the hungry soldiers or the remaining population"We have decided that Monuc [UN's peacekeeping operation] will immediately suspend its logistical and operational support to the army units implicated in these killings," Mr Le Roy told UN-backed Radio Okapi.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
Ain't that the truth....I have an idea--let's fly 'em all back west like they did 31st Para in 1994. That worked so well...Originally Posted by Stan
The UN has withdrawn its support for an army unit in Democratic Republic of Congo...
This will certainly make things better. I'm just not sure who will be affected more - the hungry soldiers or the remaining population
The Democratic Republic of Chaos
At the early begining, the deal was: you (the FARDC) behave and we (MONUC) give you food. If you do not behave, we (MONUC) stop logistic support.
Apparently the FARDC have been really really bad boys. (well killing 60 civilian is being very naughty, even by MONUC low criteria).
All the consensus was that basically it would be crazy to implement the second part of the deal.
So now, lets look how MONUC will protect the civilian from FARDC. I gess they will not kick FARDC ass. But they throw both the carrot and the stick at the same time...
Last edited by M-A Lagrange; 11-03-2009 at 01:49 PM.
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
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
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.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.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
The FDLR depends somewhat on mineral sales for money I believe. Some of those minerals are flown out of the field to Bukavu and Goma thence out of the country. The UN runs both of those airports. Could this be used against the FDLR?
The UN controls Goma airport, at least when Nkunda's people don't. One of our guys said that Nkunda actually took Goma airport last year for a little while.
"We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Gen. Nathanael Greene
Carl,
As far as i know, MONUC is present in Kavumu airport (Bukavu), Beni and Goma airports. Other activites on these airports (civilian or other military A/C) are "managed" by the DRC government.... MONUC is not entitled to controll those a/c that are not UN.
An other element is that FDLR minerals are sold to local traders who then under their name sell it to international companies which in turn export it out of Africa (by air from Bujumbura, Kigali (WTF???) or via Uganda and Entebbe).
In conclusion, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda are the one to blame for not stopping this flow of FDLR minerals.
Reference: http://www.csmonitor.com/images/dail...RCNDPDez08.pdf
Nice find Michael !
I recall earlier stories like this one in 2002 where reports concluded Rwanda was the hub out to 29 countries. If that was the case, there's little to control at airports in DR Congo.
More at the link...Approximately 25 per cent of Eagle Wings coltan is shipped from Kigali to the Ulba Metallurgical Plant of NAC Kazatomprom, in Kazakhstan.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
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
Last edited by Michael F; 11-13-2009 at 10:10 AM.
When I was last in Congo, there was a Pakistani Battalion and various helicopters based at Bukavu's airport. Goma had an Indian unit based across the street and multiple helicopters including Indian Mi-24s. There wasn't much UN presence at Beni airport.
Things may go directly out of the country from the mines but an awful lot doesn't, judging by the number of AN-2s and AN-28s going out and back, especially from Kavumu. I realize nothing much can be done, or will be done, but I think the airports are points where effective pressure could, theoretically,
be applied.
I never realized UN reports could read like raw material for a Tom Clancy novel.
"We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Gen. Nathanael Greene
Stan and I took great pride in making our reports better than ClancyI never realized UN reports could read like raw material for a Tom Clancy novel.
One of the guys I know says there are about 14 LET-410s based in Goma, mostly making the Walikale run.
"We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Gen. Nathanael Greene
I'm aware of only one company operating 410s near Goma known as Eagle Air back then. I saw a lot more 410s operating in Brazzaville though.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
Arrests in Germany
See:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8364507.stmPolice in Germany have arrested two Rwandan militia leaders on suspicion of crimes committed in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of the FDLR rebel group, and his aide Straton Musoni were held on suspicion of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
davidbfpo
MUDACAMURA should be next
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
On the other hand
Fishing rights in Mobutu's Equateur province and reports of unaccompanied children of the DRC...
Meanwhile, South Africa's miner MetorexMore than 50,000 people have fled clashes between two ethnic groups in north-western Democratic Republic of Congo in recent weeks...
More than 100 people were killed, including 47 police officers.
Shortly afterwards about 100 men were arrested and the authorities in DR Congo announced that the problem was over.
said on Wednesday its Ruashi mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo could produce 36,000 tonnes copper per year and up to 5,000 tonnes of cobalt in the long term.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
UN-backed forces 'failing' in DR Congo rebel fight
... A leaked UN report written by a group of experts mandated by the UN to look into violations of an arms embargo says Rwandan-Hutu rebels continue to receive arms supplies and recruit fighters.
It says the UN, fighting alongside Congolese government troops, has failed to halt the illegal mineral trade and has inflamed the humanitarian crisis.
The report says Rwandan fighters continue to enjoy support from senior members of the Congolese military who are supposed to be opposing them.
If you want to blend in, take the bus
I am shocked, shocked I tell you....The report says Rwandan fighters continue to enjoy support from senior members of the Congolese military who are supposed to be opposing them.
NOT...
Tom
As a follow up on the Germany arrests:
'We’re everybody’s enemy – that’s how it is to be a Hutu'
Tristan McConnell in Goma
Dressed in a pink cotton tracksuit, Corporal Innocent Rakundo looks an unlikely member of the FDLR, one of Africa’s most feared rebel armies. He fiddles with a pen as he describes the 15 years he spent living and fighting in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the shifting web of political allegiances, commercial interests and military power that stretches across the region, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, better known by their French acronym, are out of favour and under siege. The FDLR’s Europe-based president and vicepresident were arrested in Germany this month, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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...
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