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

[Stan]

If M23 holds Goma airport, has the UN moved all their helos to Bukavu?

Hey Carl,
If I were a betting man and had the fuel to do so, I would beat feet to Entebbe where my UN logistics base resides. Otherwise, I’d fly my butt for 15 minutes to Kigali.

Bukavu seems a crap shoot with a dilapidated airfield and true Congolese hospitality on the tarmac

How goes it ?

Regards, Stan

[AdamG]

Otherwise, I’d fly my butt for 15 minutes to Kigali.

Considering that Rwanda is supporting M23, wouldn't that be sort of... weird?

[AdamG]

From 8 hours ago -

MONUSCO, the U.N. peacekeeping force, is still present in Goma and remains in control of the airport in Goma, said Eduardo del Buey, deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general. The peacekeeping force has largely stayed out of the fighting in recent hours. Del Buey added that "robust patrolling by 17 quick reaction force teams is also ongoing" and MONUSCO troops will continue efforts to protect civilians.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/20/wo...els/index.html

From a few minutes ago -

Congolese rebels seize Goma, take airport, push toward Bukavu

“Goma is in the process of being occupied by Rwanda,” said Mende, speaking from Congo’s distant capital of Kinshasa. “We have people who saw the Rwandan army traverse our frontier at the Nyamuragira volcano. They have occupied the airport and they are shooting inside the town. Our army is trying to riposte but this poses an enormous problem for them — this is an urban center where hundreds of thousands of people live,” he said.

A Congolese colonel, who was at the frontline in Goma before the city fell, said that the soldiers he saw were Rwandan. Neither his claim nor Mende’s could be independently verified.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...3_story_1.html

[Stan]

From 8 hours ago -



http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/20/wo...els/index.html

From a few minutes ago -

Congolese rebels seize Goma, take airport, push toward Bukavu


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...3_story_1.html

I'd worry about anything Mende Omalanga (DRC Minister of Communications) had to say. This is what the rest think!

[Stan]

Considering that Rwanda is supporting M23, wouldn't that be sort of... weird?

Hi Adam,
Well, based on a phoncon this morning via the BBC, the M23 unequivocally denies receiving anything from Rwanda.

In fact, they responded to the question regarding arms sources by saying they fled with firearms and munitions from the Congolese army.

Here's what some of my recent documentation provides (source intentionally left out for fear of loss of salary, retirement, limbs, etc. )

The Contractor should plan on deploying the capacity from the home country through Kigali, Rwanda or Entebbe

I was only trying to figure out what I would do if I had a helo license and lived in Goma (which I sadly have done without a helicopter).

Regards, Stan

[AdamG]

Hi Adam,
Well, based on a phoncon this morning via the BBC, the M23 unequivocally denies receiving anything from Rwanda.

Well, that's settles it then.

U.N. officials have also accused neighboring Rwanda of backing the rebels, which Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has denied. A 44-page U.N. report by experts monitoring an arms embargo in Congo found that Rwandan officials have played a leading role in the rebellion, including financing the insurgents and providing them with sophisticated military equipment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...f23_story.html

Also, I'd recommend reading some of the earlier posts in this thread.

No Kingali exodus for you.

[Stan]

Well, that's settles it then.

Adam,
Was kinda hoping you got my strange sense of humor

Also, I'd recommend reading some of the earlier posts in this thread.

Thanks... been reading and also directly witnessing. Carl is right, the DRC is a weird place and most agree that it is also a great place to test failure of policy and goodwill.

Actually our E&E point is Kigali and the same organizations that pin blame on Rwanda are the same that recommend Kigali as a safe destination (security of equipment and personnel is thankfully not politically sensitive). I've driven the estimated 10 hours from Goma to Bukavu and even on semi-hard surface to Uganda. Both options make Russian roulette safer to perform.

[M-A Lagrange]

I don't know if that threat is the best place but may be it is time to initiate a discussion on military coordiation between main western powers and Great Lakes peace spoilers.

There is no way to diminish the atrocities of 1994. But may it is time to reconsider the out comes of AFRICOM programs in Great Lakes region. Uganda already used its involvement in Somalia, South Sudan and on the LRA track as leverage and Rwanda is using its participation in Darfur and seat in UNSC.
May be it's time to look at how such military cooperation programs are being instrumentalised?

[Stan]

It would be far cheaper and simpler to remove any military entity in the DRC to include their civil guard and police. Their functions and means are clearly not helping.

The only way I see a return to normalcy would be to recolonize the country. It would take decades to return the DRC to the state it was in when I arrived in 84. Even then most Belgians told me it was already too late to bring K-town back.

The UN is spending 1.2 million annually with a 20,000-strong mission and yet, has failed to stop the violence, and ended up in scandals. Lately, they can’t even be mandated to defeat a 1,000-man M23 with attack helicopters.

The US under the watchful eye of AFRICOM has recently spent 50 or 60 million trying to train 750 Congolese to behave and not rape, pillage and plunder. But the elimination of the LRA was hot and cash was abundant. Generally when we use USG cash for training we have to vet all the participants for human rights violations. Generally ? So, we went about business anyway similar to the Chinese who could give a sierra about human rights.

The DRC and UN labels Rwandan president Kagame as a warmonger, but yet he was named the African Peace Personality of 2012 and in October Rwanda was elected one of three countries to take up a non-permanent place on the 15-member UN Security Council. What ?

Honestly, there is no governance, they have never experienced free and fair elections, and the military has always been a dull tool in the shed for the government to use and not pay. We can’t replace something that never existed and no amount of money will suffice.

[carl]

Stan: I never had any problem in Bukavu. They were sort of neighborly in a Congolese officialdom sort of way. Kindu on the other hand...

AdamG: The whole place is weird, that is what makes it so entertaining for ex-pats who are there and so hellish for the locals. Flying to Kigali, Rwanda to seek refuge from Rwandans in the Congo that you have been shooting at makes perfect sense in context.

[AdamG]

AdamG: The whole place is weird, that is what makes it so entertaining for ex-pats who are there and so hellish for the locals. Flying to Kigali, Rwanda to seek refuge from Rwandans in the Congo that you have been shooting at makes perfect sense in context.

Ok, but that same metric work for MONUSCO? They seem sort of hide-bound and maybe paralyzed. In any event, moot since MONUSCO still holds the airport.

M23 and the Congolese army were engaged in running battles in the centre of Goma from early on Tuesday morning. M23 made significant advances, particularly in the streets around the airport, which remained under the control of the UN peacekeeping mission, Monusco.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...s-congo-rebels

PARIS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday urged a review of the United Nations' peacekeeping mandate in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after rebels widely believed to be backed by Rwanda seized the eastern city of Goma.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...,1286460.story

[M-A Lagrange]

Security Situation in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
Press Statement
Victoria Nuland
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC

November 20, 2012

The United States is gravely alarmed by the rapid deterioration of the security situation in eastern DRC. We condemn the renewed military campaign by the M23 rebel group, which is an affront to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC and in violation of international law. We call for a ceasefire, and for the M23 to return Goma to DRC authorities and pull back to their July positions.
We call upon all states to use their influence on the M23 to bring about an immediate end to the hostilities. We urge Presidents Kabila, Kagame, and Museveni to engage in a direct and honest dialogue in pursuit of a political resolution to the immediate hostilities. We believe it is critical that any resolution to the crisis include holding the M23 leadership accountable for their human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law.
We underscore our support for the UN Security Council’s November 17 statement. We support the Council’s call for additional sanctions against the M23 leadership and its demand that any and all outside support and supplying of equipment to the M23 cease immediately.
We underscore the importance of a long-term solution to the instability in the eastern DRC. A durable solution will require security sector reform in the DRC and political dialogue with Rwanda and Uganda and the other relevant states in the region to address the root causes of the crisis.

PRN: 2012/1827

[AdamG]

UN evacuating 625 non-essentials from Goma
http://www.mediacongo.net/show.asp?doc=25801

[M-A Lagrange]

Uganda blames leaked U.N. report for escalation in Congo conflict
(Reuters) - Uganda on Tuesday blamed the escalation of fighting in eastern Congo on a leaked U.N. report that accused it and Rwanda of supporting Congolese rebels, a document Kampala said damaged its mediation efforts.

Uganda has vigorously denied the U.N. charges, which emerged in October, and Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Asuman Kiyingi said Kampala had been forced to retreat from its mediating role.

The so-called M23 rebels entered parts of the eastern Congolese city of Goma on Tuesday. On Monday, Rwanda, which also denies the U.N. accusations, accused the government in Kinshasa of shelling its territory, ratcheting up tensions in the Great Lakes region.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/1...8AJ0FW20121120

The UNSC a peace spoiler?
In fact, in that case, some how, may be

[carl]

Ok, but that same metric work for MONUSCO? They seem sort of hide-bound and maybe paralyzed. In any event, moot since MONUSCO still holds the airport.

Nothing would surprise me. If the UN still holds the airport, I suspect it is because M23 (Rwanda) allows them to keep it. I was talking to a friend of mine and we figured that it would not be at all implausible if those UN attack helos didn't go anywhere because of a deal. 'You allow us to stay here and we won't strafe you and shoot rockets at you anymore even though we were doing that this morning.' 'Ok. Fine with us and also you don't see all those airplanes coming in and going out nor do you check their cargoes.' 'Ok. Fine with us.'

The Goma airport by the way is something else. The north end of the runway is (or was when I last saw it) a wall of lava I think about 30' high. That's it. That's the over run area. And they run commercial jets in and out of there.

I never liked Goma much. It was always cloudy with a volcano smoking or glowing to the north. It's like a place where God feels a need to constantly remind you who the real boss is.

[Stan]

It was a mere compromise in 94 when the UN was purportedly in charge. It took some fancy footwork to keep that going.

Not even the Western powers could come to terms all the while the Zairois were stealing everything that was not bolted down.

Goma is a place that cannot be explained on paper. One has to experience it first hand before it remotely becomes clear.

Carl, Goma gives me nightmares to this day !

Nothing would surprise me. If the UN still holds the airport, I suspect it is because M23 (Rwanda) allows them to keep it. I was talking to a friend of mine and we figured that it would not be at all implausible if those UN attack helos didn't go anywhere because of a deal. 'You allow us to stay here and we won't strafe you and shoot rockets at you anymore even though we were doing that this morning.' 'Ok. Fine with us and also you don't see all those airplanes coming in and going out nor do you check their cargoes.' 'Ok. Fine with us.'

The Goma airport by the way is something else. The north end of the runway is (or was when I last saw it) a wall of lava I think about 30' high. That's it. That's the over run area. And they run commercial jets in and out of there.

I never like Goma much. It was always cloudy with a volcano smoking or glowing to the north. It's like a place where God feels a need to constantly remind you who the real boss is.

[carl]

Carl, Goma gives me nightmares to this day !

It spooked me a little when it was all peaceful. I can't imagine how what you and Tom saw added to that.

[carl]

M-A: That is a good point about Uganda and Rwanda using us as much as we are using them.

M-A & Stan: Do you think that, over a period of time, decades maybe and slowly, the DRC may be divided up amongst the neighboring countries?

[Stan]

Carl,
If you mean the return of the AFDL with Zairian political assistance to oust the Pres, then yes. But the DRC has come too far for a repeat performance and I doubt the greedy politicians want another taste of slight freedom and pissed off Ugandan and Rwandan forces.

M-A: That is a good point about Uganda and Rwanda using us as much as we are using them.

M-A & Stan: Do you think that, over a period of time, decades maybe and slowly, the DRC may be divided up amongst the neighboring countries?