"Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft."
~~Winston Churchill
FIRST READ:
DR Congo troops 'flee into Uganda' after rebel clashes
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
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/fooling-us-about-ugandas-neutrality-in.html
President, Dr, Gen Paul Kagame on a Special visit to Uganda begging for another service
June 13, 2012 By
Rwema IT Webmaster
The Congolese Government’s reaction against the continued
support of Rwanda to their
enemies in the Congo has
led Dr Kagame desperately heading back to Uganda
to plead for help from his mentor His excellence Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
President Kagame was on his way back from the US
where he had gone for treatment, President Kagame spent less than
three hours in Uganda
on a visit which was kept confidential that even his ambassador Frank
Mugambagye had no clue.
Once his rebels are well hidden in Uganda, they will be beyond the reach of DRC authority. The government of Uganda will put them under protective custody just like they did to Gen. Gad Ngabo of FPLC rebels.
Kagame’s plan is to hence claim his innocence with the rebels and Museveni will deny investigators any access to them. Museveni will then be the mediator between Kagame and Kabila to temporally give Kagame opportunity to be let-off the international radar as the de-stabilizer of the Congo.
Museveni is considering this as an opportunity to mediate the fuelling conflict; Kagame is sponsoring the shedding of the blood of the people of DRC and manipulating President Kabila by pretending to engage in dialogue. “Essentially burning the house and calling the fire brigade”.
These kinds of secret meetings between Kagame and Museveni about the DRC happened since 1998 in Rwakitura and Mweya Safari lodge. However, Kagame turned around and slaughtered numerous Uganda troops under Muhoozi’s Special Unit. It is evident that Museveni is a peaceful man who wishes peace for the entire region. This could still be the reason for his continued support which turns around to become a disappointment to the blood-thirsty Kagame
The situation of Gen Bosco Ntaganda-
- The most likely scenario is getting him killed, so that he does not release information to the ICC.
- The second scenario is to allow him cross the border with the rest of M23 rebels and be ‘arrested’ by the Ugandan authorities and get held like Gen Laurent Nkunda.See, Rwanda arrests Congo rebel leader Gen.Nkunda http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7846339.
- Also see, What Happened to
Congolese General Laurent Nkunda?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/what-happened-to-congoles_b_1214372.html
- Kagame will claim he has nothing to do with Ntaganda.
- The understanding is that Uganda will resist handing over Ntaganda to ICC.
- Ntaganda was sent by Kagame to Ituri to fight for Lubanga (Hema) supported by Rwanda against Lendu supported by Uganda.
- At that time Kiiza Besigye’s rebels who were supported by Dr. Kagame were also on the side of the Hema and Lubanga.
- Question is why would Museveni protect a proxy commander (Ntaganda) who was used by Rwanda to kill Ugandan soldiers in Ituri?
- Why should Museveni put Uganda’s credibility to protect a war criminal who ordered James Kabareebe to kill countless Ugandan soldiers in Congo?
- What will Uganda do with hundreds of M23 soldiers on Uganda territory? Is Museveni ready to shoulder Kagame’s self inflicted burdens?
- Has Museveni forgotten that Kagame betrayed him and tried to kill him? Would Museveni so easily forget and rest assured that the betrayal will not be repeated.
- Are Ugandans so blind not to realize that Rwanda/Kagame is shifting the burden on to Uganda?
- Would Kagame do the same for Museveni when it is common knowledge that over the years, Ugandan opposition was bankrolled by Kagame?
Tutsis of the Congolese
Kagame is insensitive to the Tutsi of Congo though he claims to be their savior. He has inflicted pain to them and involved the in endless wars and does not mind how many of them die, get displaced, raped or disappear! To Kagame, as long as the chaos allows him to plunder the riches and places him in a position of diplomatic influence in the region, he does not mind about what happens to the Tutsi of Congo.The tired and outdated reason given by Kagame government of hunting the FDLR no longer sells because the founders and leaders of FDLR have already joined Rwandan government.
According to James Kabareebe the FDLR’s almost been eliminated, so where did the thousands go. We are told the FDLR committed genocide in Rwanda but we have not had any of the FDLR troops tried in genocide cases.
Although the government of Rwanda has denied involvement in DRC and Uganda may help them save face, war crimes will always remain. Come rain or shine, one day, Kagame will be brought to book. What is mindboggling is why should Museveni again involve Uganda in fiasco – just to stop funding from Kagame to Besigye? What a price to pay? Our investigations indicate that the M23 is likely to be heading to Uganda if President Museveni accepts the request from Dr Kagame; Most of the M23 commanders being Rwandese origins have entered Rwanda and others on boarders, however they cannot attack DRC from Rwanda anymore because they are the main suspects of destabilizing the region. We call for the international community to support the United Nations in order to continue the Good job they have been doing and to keep their promises arrive as indicated in the UN mandate. http://enoughproject.org/blogs/u-turn-time-us-uk-change-rwanda-policy
President Kagame Makes Surprise Visit to Uganda
Published on 12-06-2012
The Plane Carrying President Kagame touched ground at Entebbe International Airport at Mid-day on Tuesday.
Details of their discussions have not yet been made public. Uganda’s Daily Monitor has only published leaked Photos of President Kagame shaking hands with President Museveni at State House Entebbe.
The photo is tagged to a story with a headline "Uganda tops Africa in blood donation" probably to scoop their archrival state owned New Vision.
NewVision carried a lead story of Heroic welcome of EALA Speaker Margaret Zziwa Tuesday at Entebbe Airport upon her return from Arusha Tanzania.
Equally Rwanda’s State owned media and Rwandas only Print Daily has not published this surprise visit by President Kagame to Uganda.
Presently Rwanda and Uganda relations can be described as Excellent.
Revealed: 2,000 UPDF troops died in Kisangani
http://www.ugandacorrespondent.com/articles/2010/09/revealed-2000-updf-troops-died-in-kisangani/
By Dennis Otim6th Sept 2010
Gulu: An explosive and previously untold
version of the story of the bloody clashes between Rwandan and Ugandan troops
in Kisangani
more than 10yrs ago has emerged.
In June 2000, the two armies [Rwanda’s RPA and Uganda’s
UPDF] that had fought shoulder to shoulder as allies to oust President Mobutu
Sese Seko from power in Zaire,
[now Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] turned against each other for the
second time and fought a bitter and bloody war that lasted up to six
days. The first clashes between the two erstwhile allies took place in
1999; no long after they toppled Mobutu.
At the time, analysts interpreted the clashes
between the two invading armies as “a battle for influence and mineral
resources”. Media reports at the time put the number of civilian
fatalities at approximately 150 dead with scores more injured. The
fighting also destroyed water and electricity supplies to Kisangani, a town situated in north-eastern
DRC.
But all that has been in the public domain.
Now here is the untold story of the Kisangani
clashes: According to a source that spoke exclusively to Uganda
Correspondent in Gulu town, the UPDF, under the overall command of Major
General James Kazini [RIP] at the time, lost over 2,000 soldiers in the Kisangani clashes.
Hundreds of light weapons were also reportedly lost to the superior Rwandese
troops. A good number of heavy weapons were also captured or destroyed by
the Rwandese.
Our source, a 41yr old Congolese woman who came
to Uganda with a UPDF soldier but now lives alone in Gulu, said her estranged
husband, a UPDF foot soldier who fought and survived the Kisangani clashes,
broke down and sobbed inconsolably as he talked to her about the losses that
they [UPDF] had suffered at the hands of Rwanda’s RPA troops. “Ali
liya machozi na mimi vile nika liya kama ana
niyambiya basoldier ba wuganda zaidi ya elif imbili balifariki kwa hiyo vita”.
Swahili, especially the Congolese version of it,
is not your reporter’s strongest point. But another Congolese woman in
Gulu who helped Uganda Correspondent during the course of the entire
interview translated what our source had said to mean, “…he cried tears and
I cried too as he told me that more than 2,000 Ugandan troops had been killed
in that battle”.
She further added that her ex husband told her
that in one particularly bitter battle, Rwanda’s battle hardened RPA troops,
full of morale after victory over the UPDF in a previous skirmish at a fishing
village in the outskirts of Kisangani, lured a huge convoy of Ugandan troops
and tanks on to Chope Bridge [on the Chope River] and mercilessly attacked
them.
Uganda Correspondent was told that by
the end of that battle, all the Ugandan battle tanks in that fateful convoy
were up in thick smoke and a total of 2,000 troops were, according to our
source, officially declared “unaccounted for”.
The assumption, the source said, was that many of
the UPDF soldiers who had not been killed by Rwandese bullets simply dived into
and drowned in the Chope
River below.
According to our source, her ex husband also told her that the few UPDF
soldiers who knew about the loss of the 2,000 troops were given strict orders
never to disclose that information for fear that it could destroy morale among
the troops.
Uganda Correspondent also learnt that in
another bloody incident at a place called Sotsike near Bangoka International Airport,
103 UPDF soldiers lost their lives in a battle that lasted approximately three to
four hours. The dead troops, our source said, had been sent as
reinforcement from a UPDF base at Kaparata Barracks. Sotsike was
also the place where General Kazini’s “tactical base” was located.
In the end, we learnt, that except for 12 middle
ranking UPDF officers [two Majors among them] whose remains were flown back to
Uganda for burial, the rest were simply left to rot where they had fallen on
the battlefield. An earlier attempt by the surviving UPDF soldiers to
bury their fallen colleagues in a mass grave had been rudely thwarted by an
attack from Rwanda’s
RPA troops. So a decision was taken to leave the corpses behind instead
of risking further loss of life.
A fairly senior UPDF officer who was contacted by
Uganda Correspondent for comment [on this story] on the strength of
his participation in the Kisangani clashes took an evasive approach and said “…we
are not Journalists. We are soldiers. We don’t dwell on
history. We match forward”.
Correspondents say it is a startling about-turn by Rwanda, which had been accused of backing Gen Nkunda.
The BBC's Thomas Fessy says there is a sense of relief among residents in Goma who feel the war is nearing an end.
Some 250,000 people fled their homes in the region when Gen Nkunda led an offensive on the city towards the end of last year.
Some 4,000 Rwandan troops entered DR Congo this week to help fight rebel forces in the area.
The UN refugee agency warns that further military action against other rebel
groups in the area could lead to a humanitarian disaster.
BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says Gen Nkunda has been caught in the rapidly changing diplomatic situation in Central Africa.
Gen Nkunda had been Rwanda's
ally in eastern DR Congo - a Tutsi, like Rwanda's leaders, he guarded their
western flank against attacks from the Hutu forces who fled there after the
Rwandan genocide of 1994.
But in mid-November Rwanda shifted its position, announcing it would work with the Congolese to destroy the Hutu rebels.
Gen Nkunda did not back the new alliance and so became an impediment to Rwandan plans in the region, causing Rwanda to turn on him, our correspondent says.
The decision earlier this month by a group of Gen Nkunda's top commanders to break away and join forces with government troops gave them their opportunity, he adds.
Henry Boshoff, an analyst from South Africa's Institute for Security Studies, told the BBC that following intense diplomatic pressure in recent months, Rwanda was obliged to arrest Gen Nkunda.
The next step is for the joint Congolese-Rwandan force to tackle the FDLR Hutu rebels, some of whose leaders are accused of involvement in the 1994 slaughter in Rwanda of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
But Mr Boshoff says this may not be easy, as they have resisted previous attempts to disarm them.
Arrest warrant
The rebel leader was detained in Rwanda after troops converged on his stronghold in the Congolese town of Bunagana.
"The ex-general Laurent Nkunda was arrested on Thursday 22 January at 2230 hours while he was fleeing on Rwandan territory after he had resisted our troops at Bunagana with three battalions," a Congolese-Rwandan official statement said.
Rebels with him were being urged to disarm, reports said.
Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga, told the BBC he welcomed the arrest.
"I think it is a good achievement for peace and security in this area and this region of Great Lakes," he said.
Mr Omalanga said he wanted Rwanda to extradite him to face justice in DR Congo.
DR Congo has issued an international warrant for Gen Nkunda's arrest following past accusations that his forces had committed atrocities.
Rwandan army spokesperson Major Jules Rutaremara told the BBC that General Nkunda was being held by the Rwandan forces in Rubavu district in western Rwanda, close to the border with the DR Congo.
But the Rwandan authorities have not yet issued any formal statement concerning his arrest.
Some of Gen Nkunda's forces - perhaps as many as 2,000 - are still said to be loyal to him.
The question now is whether they will fight, or whether they will join the new consensus and become integrated into the Congolese army, correspondents say.
The CNDP launched a major offensive in August 2008, which displaced more than a quarter of a million people in North Kivu and raised fears of both a humanitarian crisis and a wider regional war.
Correspondents say this may have been Gen Nkunda's undoing, by bringing huge international pressure on all sides to end the conflict in DR Congo.
Human rights group have accused CNDP forces, along with those of the government, of numerous killings, rapes and torture.
All sides in the Congolese conflict have also been accused of using the fighting as a pretext to loot eastern DR Congo's rich resources of minerals such as gold, tin and coltan, used in mobile phones.
Some five million people are estimated to have died as a result of almost 15 years of conflict in DR Congo, following the Rwandan genocide.
Goma, January 3, 2009
The television in the squalid hotel dining room was tuned to an early morning French newscast. The male commentator was quoting a BBC report that General Laurent Nkunda, head of the CNDP, had been ousted. There was something terribly wrong about the report. Our group had just come from a meeting with Nkunda at his compound near Jomba where he had been very much in control. There was an easy way to confirm that the BBC report was wrong. We called Nkunda on his cell phone.
The television in the squalid hotel dining room was tuned to an early morning French newscast. The male commentator was quoting a BBC report that General Laurent Nkunda, head of the CNDP, had been ousted. There was something terribly wrong about the report. Our group had just come from a meeting with Nkunda at his compound near Jomba where he had been very much in control. There was an easy way to confirm that the BBC report was wrong. We called Nkunda on his cell phone.
"This is absolutely not true," Nkunda said from his location in north Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The rival who challenged Nkunda's leadership was CNDP military chief of staff General Bosco Ntaganda, who was wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed in 2002. Nkunda said that Ntaganda had as many as 36 troops with him, but had not staged a successful coup.
The media was reporting a coup that hadn't happened.
This was not the first time that lies formed the basis of statecraft in the case of Laurent Nkunda. Was he a renegade rebel, freedom fighter, dissident, murderer, saint, or savior? Truth, quote unquote, was whatever the international media and factional interests decreed. This template of "truth" was forged in international strategic and military interests in the Great Lakes region, not to mention gold, coltan, tin, diamonds and oil.
China was also silently waiting in the wings for the spoils and Nkunda viewed the Chinese as a threat to his country's heritage and wealth -- a robber baron of the future of Congolese children. In our 2009 discussion during a Virunga thunderstorm at Jomba, shielded from its force by a tattered UNICEF tarp, Nkunda predicted deals between DRC's President, Joseph Kabila, and the Chinese would benefit no one but Kabila.
In fact, by October of 2011 it was Kabila who approved a $6 billion copper-for-infrastructure deal with China that left Congo holding an empty money bag and $5.5 million the worse for the deal. The Economist and the British press commented: "The sale of mining licenses at below-market value to firms associated with friends of the president has raised eyebrows."
In three years, no one has heard from Nkunda after his betrayal by Rwanda's Paul Kagame in a mutually beneficial alliance with Congo's Joseph Kabila. Paul Kagame's press office has not responded to repeated requests for an interview.
Contrary to news reports at the time, Nkunda was not on the run, nor had he been ousted in a coup d'état by the war criminal Bosco Ntaganda. Against the advice of advisors, Nkunda went willingly to a meeting called in Rwanda to consider peace talks. Associates suspected a trap, and they were correct. But a "renegade" general "on the run" is a compelling story.
Today, Nkunda is being held under house arrest in Rwanda with no criminal charges pending against him. A petition filed by his lawyer in the Supreme Court of Rwanda in March 2010 says Nkunda:
This document has been recently scrubbed from the ICC website. The Hague has not
responded to our request for an explanation. One explanation might be that the
complete petition demonstrates that Rwanda is in violation of its
constitution, since it holds Nkunda with no criminal or civil charges filed
against him.
In late 2008, there was intense international pressure on both Rwanda and Congo to end the bloodshed in eastern Congo. When Rwanda decided to join forces with Joseph Kabila to fight the FDLR, Nkunda refused to join the new alliance. Nkunda, a Tutsi, was providing protection for the Rwandan border and also residents of eastern Congo from the Hutu FDLR, responsible for the 1994 genocide. There was good reason for Kagame to want Nkunda marginalized. He was more popular than the Rwandan president. As far as Kabila was concerned, Nkunda's CNDP was marching almost unopposed towards Kinshasha, and an alliance with the enemy Rwanda was an easy solution to the Nkunda "problem." 21,000 square kilometers were under CNDP control.
One of the most sensational and damaging press reports focused on the massacre at the village Kiwanja in December 2008. The bloodshed was blamed on Nkunda and he vehemently denied any involvement.
The Kiwanja incident is one of several in which hindsight proves that there is no absolute truth in warfare. A cable tells a different story from the one carried by all international media outlets in 2008.
The Hutu leaders of Kiwanja backed Nkunda's story.
"All 69 civilian killings belong to all ethnicities, contrary to declarations of deputies/representatives who abusively attribute them to their ethnic group. We are not able to attribute the responsibility for these events to the CNDP. "
It is the wild discrepancies in the Nkunda narrative that are troubling.
In fact, no media outlet, no State Department spokesperson, no humanitarian organization has spoken out about Nkunda's denials as well as the denials of the Hutu leadership of Kiwanja.
Why would the United States act in virtual collusion with the storyline put forth by the Congolese government? Why has the United States continued to prop up the regime of Rwanda's Paul Kagame as it continues to trample on the free speech of anyone offering opposition to his rule? Look no further than the new state of the art embassy in Kigali -- a sop to silence -- the three-headed dog of Rwanda, the U.S. and Congo guarding the gate to strategic interests.
Payoff in US dollars at border for war criminal Ntaganda Source: Public UN Document
The factionalized CNDP was "integrated" under the command of Ntaganda with the regular Congolese army (FARDC), was promised influencial cabinet posts, and has gained control of lucrative mining interests near Walikale. The United Nations reports that smuggling by Rwanda has increased, and attacks against civilians continue, but deep in the forests and away from the cameras. Today, it is innocent villagers who are paying the price as they pay bribes for protection that brings no relief from atrocity.
Rwanda has never made good on its pledge to route the FDLR genocidaires from eastern Congo.
Today, Congolese tell me that they wonder now whether they were better off with Nkunda. In the same breath they say that they will be killed if identified.
Rwanda arrests Congo rebel leader
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7846339.stm
Gen Laurent Nkunda, leader of the strongest rebel group in
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been arrested in Rwanda.
He crossed the border after resisting a joint Rwandan-Congolese operation to
arrest him, both countries say. Correspondents say it is a startling about-turn by Rwanda, which had been accused of backing Gen Nkunda.
The BBC's Thomas Fessy says there is a sense of relief among residents in Goma who feel the war is nearing an end.
Some 250,000 people fled their homes in the region when Gen Nkunda led an offensive on the city towards the end of last year.
Some 4,000 Rwandan troops entered DR Congo this week to help fight rebel forces in the area.
Correspondents say Gen Nkunda's arrest removes one obstacle
to peace but other rebel groups remain active.
BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says Gen Nkunda has been caught in the rapidly changing diplomatic situation in Central Africa.
 |
But in mid-November Rwanda shifted its position, announcing it would work with the Congolese to destroy the Hutu rebels.
Gen Nkunda did not back the new alliance and so became an impediment to Rwandan plans in the region, causing Rwanda to turn on him, our correspondent says.
The decision earlier this month by a group of Gen Nkunda's top commanders to break away and join forces with government troops gave them their opportunity, he adds.
Henry Boshoff, an analyst from South Africa's Institute for Security Studies, told the BBC that following intense diplomatic pressure in recent months, Rwanda was obliged to arrest Gen Nkunda.
The next step is for the joint Congolese-Rwandan force to tackle the FDLR Hutu rebels, some of whose leaders are accused of involvement in the 1994 slaughter in Rwanda of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
But Mr Boshoff says this may not be easy, as they have resisted previous attempts to disarm them.
Arrest warrant
The rebel leader was detained in Rwanda after troops converged on his stronghold in the Congolese town of Bunagana.
"The ex-general Laurent Nkunda was arrested on Thursday 22 January at 2230 hours while he was fleeing on Rwandan territory after he had resisted our troops at Bunagana with three battalions," a Congolese-Rwandan official statement said.
Rebels with him were being urged to disarm, reports said.
Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga, told the BBC he welcomed the arrest.
"I think it is a good achievement for peace and security in this area and this region of Great Lakes," he said.
Mr Omalanga said he wanted Rwanda to extradite him to face justice in DR Congo.
DR Congo has issued an international warrant for Gen Nkunda's arrest following past accusations that his forces had committed atrocities.
Rwandan army spokesperson Major Jules Rutaremara told the BBC that General Nkunda was being held by the Rwandan forces in Rubavu district in western Rwanda, close to the border with the DR Congo.
But the Rwandan authorities have not yet issued any formal statement concerning his arrest.
Some of Gen Nkunda's forces - perhaps as many as 2,000 - are still said to be loyal to him.
The question now is whether they will fight, or whether they will join the new consensus and become integrated into the Congolese army, correspondents say.
The CNDP launched a major offensive in August 2008, which displaced more than a quarter of a million people in North Kivu and raised fears of both a humanitarian crisis and a wider regional war.
Correspondents say this may have been Gen Nkunda's undoing, by bringing huge international pressure on all sides to end the conflict in DR Congo.
Human rights group have accused CNDP forces, along with those of the government, of numerous killings, rapes and torture.
All sides in the Congolese conflict have also been accused of using the fighting as a pretext to loot eastern DR Congo's rich resources of minerals such as gold, tin and coltan, used in mobile phones.
Some five million people are estimated to have died as a result of almost 15 years of conflict in DR Congo, following the Rwandan genocide.
What Happened to Congolese General Laurent Nkunda?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/what-happened-to-congoles_b_1214372.html
Posted: 01/20/12 11:42 AM ET
The television in the squalid hotel dining room was tuned to an early morning French newscast. The male commentator was quoting a BBC report that General Laurent Nkunda, head of the CNDP, had been ousted. There was something terribly wrong about the report. Our group had just come from a meeting with Nkunda at his compound near Jomba where he had been very much in control. There was an easy way to confirm that the BBC report was wrong. We called Nkunda on his cell phone.
The television in the squalid hotel dining room was tuned to an early morning French newscast. The male commentator was quoting a BBC report that General Laurent Nkunda, head of the CNDP, had been ousted. There was something terribly wrong about the report. Our group had just come from a meeting with Nkunda at his compound near Jomba where he had been very much in control. There was an easy way to confirm that the BBC report was wrong. We called Nkunda on his cell phone.
"This is absolutely not true," Nkunda said from his location in north Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The rival who challenged Nkunda's leadership was CNDP military chief of staff General Bosco Ntaganda, who was wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed in 2002. Nkunda said that Ntaganda had as many as 36 troops with him, but had not staged a successful coup.
The media was reporting a coup that hadn't happened.
This was not the first time that lies formed the basis of statecraft in the case of Laurent Nkunda. Was he a renegade rebel, freedom fighter, dissident, murderer, saint, or savior? Truth, quote unquote, was whatever the international media and factional interests decreed. This template of "truth" was forged in international strategic and military interests in the Great Lakes region, not to mention gold, coltan, tin, diamonds and oil.
China was also silently waiting in the wings for the spoils and Nkunda viewed the Chinese as a threat to his country's heritage and wealth -- a robber baron of the future of Congolese children. In our 2009 discussion during a Virunga thunderstorm at Jomba, shielded from its force by a tattered UNICEF tarp, Nkunda predicted deals between DRC's President, Joseph Kabila, and the Chinese would benefit no one but Kabila.
In fact, by October of 2011 it was Kabila who approved a $6 billion copper-for-infrastructure deal with China that left Congo holding an empty money bag and $5.5 million the worse for the deal. The Economist and the British press commented: "The sale of mining licenses at below-market value to firms associated with friends of the president has raised eyebrows."
In three years, no one has heard from Nkunda after his betrayal by Rwanda's Paul Kagame in a mutually beneficial alliance with Congo's Joseph Kabila. Paul Kagame's press office has not responded to repeated requests for an interview.
Contrary to news reports at the time, Nkunda was not on the run, nor had he been ousted in a coup d'état by the war criminal Bosco Ntaganda. Against the advice of advisors, Nkunda went willingly to a meeting called in Rwanda to consider peace talks. Associates suspected a trap, and they were correct. But a "renegade" general "on the run" is a compelling story.
Today, Nkunda is being held under house arrest in Rwanda with no criminal charges pending against him. A petition filed by his lawyer in the Supreme Court of Rwanda in March 2010 says Nkunda:
...was arrested on or about January 22, 2009 by members of
Rwanda Defence Forces of Rwanda (RDF), and remains to this day held by the
Rwandan authorities, and without appearing before a judge so that he can be
informed of the reasons for his arrest and detention....Laurent Nkunda was
arrested while attending a formal meeting to which he had been invited to
participate...
In late 2008, there was intense international pressure on both Rwanda and Congo to end the bloodshed in eastern Congo. When Rwanda decided to join forces with Joseph Kabila to fight the FDLR, Nkunda refused to join the new alliance. Nkunda, a Tutsi, was providing protection for the Rwandan border and also residents of eastern Congo from the Hutu FDLR, responsible for the 1994 genocide. There was good reason for Kagame to want Nkunda marginalized. He was more popular than the Rwandan president. As far as Kabila was concerned, Nkunda's CNDP was marching almost unopposed towards Kinshasha, and an alliance with the enemy Rwanda was an easy solution to the Nkunda "problem." 21,000 square kilometers were under CNDP control.
One of the most sensational and damaging press reports focused on the massacre at the village Kiwanja in December 2008. The bloodshed was blamed on Nkunda and he vehemently denied any involvement.
The Kiwanja incident is one of several in which hindsight proves that there is no absolute truth in warfare. A cable tells a different story from the one carried by all international media outlets in 2008.
The CNDP accused FARDC, in collaboration with FDLR and
PARECO Mai Mai, of targeted killings of civilians in Kiwanja on November 5 in
retaliation for cooperation with CNDP during the latter's occupation of the
town on November 2. The CNDP denounced what it labels a "defamation"
campaign carried out against it by the Governor of North
Kivu, Julien Paluku.
The Hutu leaders of Kiwanja backed Nkunda's story.
"All 69 civilian killings belong to all ethnicities, contrary to declarations of deputies/representatives who abusively attribute them to their ethnic group. We are not able to attribute the responsibility for these events to the CNDP. "
It is the wild discrepancies in the Nkunda narrative that are troubling.
In fact, no media outlet, no State Department spokesperson, no humanitarian organization has spoken out about Nkunda's denials as well as the denials of the Hutu leadership of Kiwanja.
Why would the United States act in virtual collusion with the storyline put forth by the Congolese government? Why has the United States continued to prop up the regime of Rwanda's Paul Kagame as it continues to trample on the free speech of anyone offering opposition to his rule? Look no further than the new state of the art embassy in Kigali -- a sop to silence -- the three-headed dog of Rwanda, the U.S. and Congo guarding the gate to strategic interests.
Payoff in US dollars at border for war criminal Ntaganda Source: Public UN Document
The factionalized CNDP was "integrated" under the command of Ntaganda with the regular Congolese army (FARDC), was promised influencial cabinet posts, and has gained control of lucrative mining interests near Walikale. The United Nations reports that smuggling by Rwanda has increased, and attacks against civilians continue, but deep in the forests and away from the cameras. Today, it is innocent villagers who are paying the price as they pay bribes for protection that brings no relief from atrocity.
Rwanda has never made good on its pledge to route the FDLR genocidaires from eastern Congo.
Today, Congolese tell me that they wonder now whether they were better off with Nkunda. In the same breath they say that they will be killed if identified.
