Above: Col. Sultani Makenga (seated), the leader of M23 rebel group,
speaks during an interview in Bunagana town, DRC, near the Uganda
border, July 8. PHOTOS BY AFP/REUTERS
FIRST READ:
Trying to fool the international Community: Uganda
closes border with DR Congo: You mean all along you did not know that this was
happening
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/11/trying-to-fool-international-community.htmlUN experts malicious amateurs - Mbabazi
http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/UN-experts-malicious-amateurs---Mbabazi--/-/688342/1621778/-/h7hkmvz/-/index.html
Posted Saturday, November 17 2012 at 02:19
In Summary
October 23, 2012
H.E. Ban Ki-Moon
United Nations Secretary General
NEW YORK
Your Excellency,
REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS AND THE SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT ON THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)
The Government of the Republic of Uganda is totally disappointed at the manner in which the United Nations system has treated her contribution to conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peace building in the region. The disappointment arises from the accusations levelled against Uganda in the latest report of the UN Group of Experts on the DRC and the apparent endorsement of its findings and recommendations by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as expressed in the Presidential Statement adopted by the UNSC on October 19, 2012 on the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the report, Uganda is accused of having provided support to M-23 in the form of direct troop reinforcement in DRC territory, weapon deliveries, technical assistance, joint planning, political advice and facilitation of external relations.
They also claim that units of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) jointly supported M23 in a series of attacks in July, 2012 to take over the major towns of Rutshuru territory and the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo Forces (FARDC) base of Rumangabo and that both governments have also co-operated to support the creation of expansion of M23’s political branch and have consistently advocated on behalf of the rebels. That further, the sanctioned individuals continue to reside in or regularly travel to Uganda.
Prior to the Group of Experts’ visit to Uganda, they indicated that they would be in Uganda for one day and indicated areas where they needed relevant information and, indeed, government officials provided them the response to the questions they raised.
The Experts arrived on September 17, 2012 and departed on September 18, 2012. They held a meeting with government officials on September 18, 2012. At the end of the meeting, they requested to meet with Chiefs of Intelligence but it was not possible to arrange a meeting at such short notice because the Chiefs were engaged with other scheduled duties. The government of Uganda asked the team to extend their stay in order for them to hold the requested meeting but they were unable to do so.
The government of Uganda is, therefore, surprised that issues which were neither notified to Uganda prior to the visit nor discussed in the meeting of 18th September 2012 are the subject of the report. Uganda categorically denies the allegations against her because they are totally false.
For example, how could it be possible as is alleged in the report; that UPDF were inside DRC attacking the FARDC and at the same time a battalion of more than 600 FARDC soldiers ran into Uganda for safety on July 7, 2012? They were received, the wounded ones were treated and, later on all of them were transported and handed over to the DRC government at an agreed location in the presence of UN officials. Logically, the FARDC soldiers would not have fled to Uganda if Uganda had been fighting them alongside M23 at the border. Curiously, the Group of Experts doesn’t even mention this significant event.
You recall that at the height of the conflict in Eastern DRC, you personally contacted H.E. Yoweri K. Museveni, the President of the Republic of Uganda and requested him to intervene and stop the fighting in eastern DRC. About the same time, H.E. Joseph Kabila, President of [the] DRC, contacted President Museveni and explicitly requested him to intervene and facilitate dialogue between M23 and DRC Government.
In accordance with article 23(2) of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region, President Museveni convened four extra-ordinary summits of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) on the security situation in eastern DRC, three of which were hosted in Kampala using Uganda’s own resources.
During the summit of September 8, 2012, President Museveni was specifically mandated by the ICGLR Heads of State and Governments, as the chair, to facilitate dialogue between M23 and DRC government and to coordinate regional efforts to find a durable solution to the security situation in Eastern DRC.
This regional initiative was approved by the African Union Peace and Security Council on September19, 2012. At the last two of the Summits, the UN Secretary General was represented by the Special Representative, Ambassador Abu Moussa, as well as Special Representative for MONUSCO, Ambassador Roger Meece at which your messages of support were highly appreciated. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2012 in New York, you convened a High Level Mini-Summit on DRC and pledged full support to the regional efforts. The international community then also expressed strong support for ICGLR regional efforts.
During the same period, Mr Hervé Ladsous, the (UN) Under-secretary for Peacekeeping Operations, visited Uganda and pledged UN’s total support to the regional efforts spearheaded by Uganda.
In this whole situation, two aspects are not acceptable:
1. The maligning of Uganda that it supports the M23 group and that our troops have secretly taken part in fighting the brother Congolese Army, including taking part, along with the Rwanda troops, in the capturing of the town of Rutshuru. Yet, all serious actors should know, from the past experiences, that we say what we mean and mean what we say. Which troops of Uganda took part in those operations? Where is the evidence? Is it acceptable that an organ of the UN should falsely and carelessly accuse a member of the UN in this way using either amateurs or malicious actors dressed up as “experts”?
As already stated above, our recent involvement in the issues of DRC was at your express request and that of President Kabila when you both, [but] separately, rang President Museveni in July 2012, requesting him to intervene when the M23 rebels were threatening to attack Goma.
It was after those requests that President Museveni started looking for those rebels because we did not even know the individuals involved prior to the requests from you and President Kabila. It was not easy to convince M23 rebels to suspend operations. However, President Museveni was able to show them that political solutions are generally better than military solutions, where those political solutions are possible.
