Wednesday 21 November 2012

Chaos by Design: When aggressors become mediators: When wolves pretend to be sheep: The US supports Museveni Congo mediation: M23 rebels capture Goma as the UN looks on: Kabila and Kagame fly to Kampala for talks


 
Ambassador Scott De Lisi says Uganda's role in Congo Crucial

FIRST READ:

Fooling us about Uganda’s neutrality in the Congo Conflict!!! Militarizing the Congo to help USA and allies to rape Congo resources: DRC troops, civilians fleeing to Uganda after rebel clashes


Seeing through the lies, hypocrisy and disinformation antics of the American New world system: US to cut military aid to Rwanda over support of Congo rebels: Oh really!

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/seeing-through-lies-hypocrisy-and.html

UN+UN peace keeping in Congo =American New World Order: UN security council condemns Goma takeover by M23 rebels

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/11/unun-peace-keeping-in-congo-american.html


Taking us to be fools!!! Four African CLIENT STATES of the US have been tasked by regional governments in the Great Lakes region to form a force of 4,000 troops to fight the M23 rebel group in DR Congo.




Asad Ismi , The Western Heart of Darkness: Mineral-rich Congo ravaged by genocide and Western plunder


Asad Ismi , The Ravaging of Africa, Western neo-colonialism fuels wars, plundering of resources

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/october-2002-ravaging-africa

 

Uganda Blackmails UN On Somalia -- Fearing Sanctions Over Congo

http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/8532/2012-11-04.html

UN Report Says M23 Totally Controlled By Rwanda And Uganda


Rwanda: Gen. Kagame Deserves Conviction Not Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza

http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/8530/2012-10-30.html

My analysis

You should not be fooled by Uganda’s seeming neutrality in the Congo conflict. Uganda is a client state of the USA and is part and parcel of the game of helping USA and her allies rape the mineral wealth of the DRC. Uganda and Rwanda are being used to fuel conflict and confusion in the DRC as American and Europeans Companies continue to rape the DRC of its resources. What the USA and her allies want is to make this look like an internal conflict in which the west has no part to play whatever. What the USA fears is peace in the Congo because this will mean that certain system of governance will come in place and will EXPOSE what is going on. 

M23 rebels celebrate on the streets of Goma yesterday. AFP PHOTO

 

US says Uganda's role in Congo more crucial

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/637468-us-says-uganda-s-role-in-congo-more-crucial.html

Publish Date: Nov 21, 2012

By Steven Candia
The renewed clashes in the eastern DRC between the M23 rebels and government forces have made Uganda’s role in pacifying the region even more crucial, the US Ambassador to Uganda has said.

Speaking at a meeting with internal affairs minister Hillary Onek yesterday, ambassador Scott De Lisi said there was no doubt regarding the important pacification role that Uganda was playing in the region, which even comes in more handy, given the recent flare up in eastern DRC.


The ambassador hailed Uganda’s role in Somalia under the auspices of the African Union (AU) and said Uganda’s lead role in numerous regional peace initiatives has endeared it to many countries in the region.


“Uganda enjoys the support of all countries in the region in addressing these issues and that speaks volumes. The recent upsurge in fighting in the DRC makes Uganda’s role and voice in these initiatives even more critical in addressing this issue,” Scott De Lisi said at the meeting held at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.


The meeting was attended by Police boss Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura, the director of immigration, Godfrey Sasagah and director corrections in the Uganda Prisons services, Tommy Ochen, who represented the Commissioner General.


Responding to a question on a leaked UN panel of experts report implicating Uganda, Scott De Lisi maintained that it was important that Uganda be heard before a final position is reached. Uganda which has sent a team to the UN has since dismissed the report as false and threatened to pull out of all regional peace initiatives, including Somalia.


On the recent spate of corruption in the country, Scott De Lisi said the US government was concerned, though no direct funding from the US had been misappropriated. He, however, said they expect the government of Uganda to tackle the vice decisively.


“We met the President on Monday and he assured us of the Government commitment’s to fighting corruption,” he said.


The ambassador also hailed the Police as being professional, noting that it had undergone a major transformation.

Onek on his part reiterated the Government’s commitment to combatting fraud and hailed the relationship that the two countries enjoy.


The meeting, he said, was to explore ways of cultivating “a productive partnership” between the two countries that may result in more support for the Police and Prisons. The support, Onek said, could be in the area of counter-terrorism, human trafficking and cyber crime. He hailed the US for the continued support it has been rendering to the Police.

Why Goma is a point of interest?

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Why-Goma-is-a-point-of-interest/-/688334/1625370/-/11cbrpkz/-/index.html

By Richard Wanambwa

Posted  Wednesday, November 21  2012 at  02:00

Goma is the commercial capital of North Kivu and is found in the east of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan town of Gisenyi.

The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine rift, the western branch of the East African rift system. The mineral-rich area lies 13 to 18 kilometres due south of the crater of the active Nyiragongo Volcano.

The recent history of Goma has been dominated by the volcano and the Rwandan genocide of 1994, which in turn fuelled the first and second Congo wars. The aftermath of these events was still having effects on the city and its surroundings in 2010.

Hutu militias set up operations in Goma attacking ethnic Tutsis in the two Kivus and Rwandan government forces at the border. For political reasons, the Kinshasa government of the then Zaire led by Mobutu Sese Sseko did not prevent the attacks, and so the Rwandan government and its Ugandan allies threw their support behind the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Zaire, a rebel movement led by Laurent Kabila against Mobutu. Rwandan forces stormed the camps at Goma, resulting in thousands of additional deaths, and with their help and that of Uganda, Kabila went on to overthrow Mobutu’s regime in the first Congo war, which ended in 1997.

Within a year Kabila had quarrelled with Uganda and Rwanda and by 1998 the Rwandan government backed a Goma-based rebel movement against Kabila, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD, sometimes called RCD-Goma) made of Banyamulenge people, related to the Tutsis.

They captured Bukavu and other towns, and the Second Congo war began. The Goma refugee camps, in which the Hutu had created a militia called the FDLR (Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda), were again attacked by Rwandan government forces and the RCD.

Uganda mediates in Rwanda-Congo crisis meet

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/637469-uganda-mediates-in-rwanda-congo-crisis-meet.html
 
Publish Date: Nov 21, 2012

By Anne Mugisa & Agencies

KAMPALA - President Yoweri Museveni last evening convened a crisis meeting with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic of Congo (DRC) over the crisis in DRC,  hours after M23 rebels overrun the mineral-rich city of Goma.


Diplomatic sources said before they met their host, who is also chairman of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Kabila and Kagame held private talks at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala.


The presidents’ meeting came on the heels of an earlier one in the day by ministers of the 11 member countries of the ICGLR also convened at Munyonyo on Lake Victoria’s shores, to discuss the deteriorating situation in DRC.


The M23 has no representative at the Kampala meeting. “The M23 presence in Kampala is not necessary. Their issues are already well known so it’s up to Kabila to say ‘I agree to this or that and I don’t agree with that’,” said Asuman Kiyingi, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.


Before travelling to Uganda, President Kabila made a televised address to his nation, mobilising the citizens to rise up and defend the country’s sovereignty. The outcome of the presidents’ meeting hadn’t been established by press time.


This is the first high-profile regional meeting since the October leaked UN report of experts, which accused Uganda and Rwanda of supporting Congolese rebels.

Both governments contested the document with Uganda threatening to pull its troops from peacekeeping operations in Somalia unless the UN allegations are withdrawn.


On Tuesday, Rwanda urged the M23 and the DRC government to desist from further hostilities that have harmful repercussions not only on Congolese citizens but on Rwandan civilians in the border areas.


Rwanda foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo said political dialogue was more important than ever after the fall of Goma to M23. She said that recent events should refocus attention and commitment to the on-going ICGLR process.


“What happened in Goma is a clear indication that the military option has failed to bring about a solution to this crisis and that political dialogue is the only way to resolve the ongoing conflict,” she said.


“Rwanda is fully committed to the peace process under ICGLR and we continue to work with member states in the interest of durable peace in our region,” said the minister.


Speaking in Kampala, Mushikiwabo pointed out that there has to be a new approach to ensure that there is no further deterioration in the current situation.


“By focussing on the blame game and ignoring the root causes of conflict in the DRC, the international community has missed the opportunity to help the DRC restore peace and security for its citizens and bring about much needed stability in the Great Lakes Region. We just cannot afford to continue along a path that has failed to produce results,” she added.


Rwanda she said will continue to work closely with UN agencies and other partners in the country to provide and facilitate humanitarian assistance to those affected by recent events.


On Sunday, UN Chief Ban Ki Moon and President Museveni discussed the DRC conflict. According to UN peacekeeping spokesperson Kieran Dwyer, the President told Ban that he had spoken to the M23 rebels and called for calm.

Kabila, Kagame fly in for talks as Goma falls

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Kabila--Kagame-fly-in-for-talks-as-Goma-falls/-/688334/1625356/-/gioq1hz/-/index.html

By RISDEL KASASIRA

Posted  Wednesday, November 21  2012 at  02:00

In Summary
News of the advancing rebels was reportedly met with violent protests in the other Congolese cities of Kisangani and Kinshasa.

Kampala
Congolese President Joseph Kabila yesterday rushed to Kampala for what sources said was a crisis meeting with President Museveni hours after M23 rebels captured Goma, the commercial capital of eastern Congo’s North Kivu province. He arrived in the country at 2 pm. Two hours later, Rwandan President Paul Kagame quickly followed him as fighting escalated in the Kivu region.

The venue of their meeting was still not known by press time. Sources, however, indicated that President Museveni was scheduled to first meet the two separately before later sitting them down together.

Congolese forces fled their bases in Goma, leaving behind assorted weaponry while the UN peacekeeping mission’s bases in the provincial capital were reportedly surrounded by the rebels.

State minister for regional cooperation Asuman Kiyingi confirmed Mr Kabila’s sudden appearance but described his presence in Kampala as “a normal visit”. “He has been here many times. We have also visited Kinshasa before. This is a normal visit. It’s good that he has come so that we sit down and end this crisis,” he said.

DR Congo is adamant that the largely Tutsi-dominated M23 rebels are receiving military backing from Rwanda, a charge Kigali has consistently rejected.

Several investigations by the UN Group of Experts have also shown that M23 is being propped up by Rwanda, but this too has been vigorously denied by Rwanda.

The meeting of foreign affairs ministers from the Great Lakes Region that is going on in Speke Resort Munyonyo appears to have been overtaken by yesterday’s abrupt arrival of Kabila and Kagame.

News of the advancing rebels was reportedly met with violent protests in the other Congolese cities of Kisangani and Kinshasa. Unknown persons are reported to have attempted to force their way into Rwandan and Ugandan embassies in Kinshasa yesterday but they were driven away by state security forces.

Uganda’s State minister for International Relations, Mr Okello Oryem, told media that security has now been stepped up at both embassies.

Reports from eastern DRC last night said rebel columns were seen marching out of Goma along the road to the South Kivu town of Bukavu. Although M23 says it’s fighting the government over marginalisation of Tutsis, Kinshasa says the reason for the rebellion is over control of Congo’s minerals, a good chunk of which is concentrated in North and South Kivu provinces.
Implication

If the rebels succeed in taking Bukavu, it will mark the biggest gain in rebel territory since at least 2003, when Congo’s last war with its neighbours ended.

Goma was last threatened by rebels in 2008 when fighters from the now-defunct National Congress for the Defence of the People, (CNDP) under Gen. Laurent Nkunda stopped just short of Goma, after intense international pressure.

Their backs to the wall, the Congolese government agreed to enter into talks with the CNDP and a year later, on March 23, 2009, a peace deal was negotiated calling for the CNDP to put down their arms in return for being integrated into the national army.

The peace deal fell apart this April, when soldiers, most of them ex-CNDP members, defected from the army and later rallied under the M23 umbrella, claiming that the Congolese government had failed to uphold their end of the deal.