M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo have been fighting since April. PHOTO BY AFP
Government admits secret talks with DRC rebels
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Government-admits-secret-talks-with-DRC-rebels/-/688334/1616870/-/obrwwiz/-/index.html
By Risdel Kasasira
Posted Sunday, November 11 2012 at 02:00
Posted Sunday, November 11 2012 at 02:00
In Summary
Innocent act? Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga says Uganda only got
involved at a request by the ICGLR Secretary General and that the DRC President
knows this. Dr Kiyonga told the Sunday Monitor, in an exclusive interview, that secret meetings have been going on between Ugandan authorities and the rebels fighting President Joseph Kabila’s government, following a request by the Secretary General of International Conference for Great Lakes Region, Mr Ntumba Luaba. The request came after the M23 rebels threatened to attack Goma town.
“We reached out to them and we have been having quiet contact with them for two reasons. The first reason was to insist that they stop fighting and secondly, to try and understand why they are fighting,” Dr Kiyonga said, “These people are rebels. You need to get their confidence. So, the agreement was that our contact with them should be discreet,” Dr Kiyonga said.
“In this case, the quiet contact was appropriate. You can’t conduct matters of the rebels in the press. But it was sufficient that all key parties knew what was going on. This was not our initiative, we were contacted and requested to make these contacts discreet.”
Fighting to clear a name
The revelation by the minister comes at a time when Uganda is fighting to clear its name with the United Nations, who, in a leaked report, accused Uganda of supporting the rebel group.
In reponse, Uganda has threatened to pull out of the Somalia peacekeeping mission, unless the allegations against it are withdrawn. ICT Minister, also former UN Representative, Ruhakana Rugunda, delivered Uganda’s protest letter to the UN last week.
Dr Kiyonga said allegations that Uganda supports the rebels could have been as a result of “misreading” of the meeting between Ugandan authorities and the rebels.
“Whatever we get from them, we share with the summit members. I think there are some leakages that these contacts were ongoing and because they are quiet contacts, people say Uganda is now training them politically and giving them political cover,” he said.
“That’s not our intention. What we are doing is known to the UN and President Kabila’s government.”
President Museveni is the chairman of ICGLR and has organised and chaired four heads of state meetings in an effort to bring to an end the fighting in eastern Congo.
But the allegations in the leaked UN report that Uganda and Rwanda support M23 rebels threaten to derail these efforts, with questions being raised whether Uganda has the moral authority to continue leading talks between Kinshasa and the rebels.
SEVEN QUESTIONS: ‘Kabila knows we are meeting M23 rebels’
By Crispus Kiyonga
Posted Sunday, November 11 2012 at 02:00
Posted Sunday, November 11 2012 at 02:00
In Summary
Following a leaked UN report accusing Uganda and Rwanda
of supporting the M23 rebels, Uganda
has embarked on a serious diplomatic campaign to explain its position. Risdel
Kasasira talked to the Defence Minister, Dr Crispus Kiyonga, about the allegations
and whether Uganda
has the moral authority to chair the International Conference for Great Lakes
Region, a body making efforts to end the fighting in eastern DRC. This was an International Conference for Great Lakes Region, mainly to receive the report of the structure we had set up. It’s called a military assessment team. These are military experts from the 11 member countries of ICGLR. We received this report and we agree with it. We took decisions and made recommendations to the heads of state. We are now going to report to the chairman of ICGLR who is President Museveni, since the meeting of the heads of state may not take place soon.
2. Did you discuss the allegations that Uganda and Rwanda support M23 rebels? What did the Congolese minister say?
We did not specifically discuss the report but since questions were being raised about Uganda and being the chair of ICGLR, I had to first ask whether it was okay for Uganda to chair this particular meeting. Since Uganda is the chair, it means that at every level in the ICGLR, Uganda chairs every meetings. But because of these accusations by the UN and the public image that has been created, a moral question was asked whether Uganda should go ahead to chair the meeting. I raised this issue with my colleagues before we went for the session.
They said they had confidence in the leadership of Uganda at all levels and urged me, as the chairman of defence ministers, to continue chairing the meeting. The report was not substantively debated because it was not on our agenda. For us, we have continued with the road map made by the summit. But because this moral question arose, I ensured that it was cleared before we started the meeting. But everybody expressed confidence in our leadership and we decided not to be diverted by these accusations.
3. What are some of the recommendations made in the report to be presented to President Museveni?
We recommended that a neutral international force should be deployed in the eastern DRC to help in that situation. That we should move faster to mobilise the troops and other resources required and that we should seek the UN and AU mandate to deploy the force.
4. Isn’t Uganda in a dilemma over this report and do you have hopes that this road map will continue as planned?
Well, unless something new happens, at the government level, we have found it our duty to explain to other partners. Firstly, we have sent a strong delegation led by Minister Ruhakana Rugunda to the Secretary General of the UN. The delegation will protest the wrong procedure which was used in handling this report, specifically, we were never appropriately contacted by that group of experts. When I say appropriately, I mean, we would have expected the experts to take time and reach out to the appropriate government officials to verify the information they had received.
For example, they never reached out to the Chief of Military Intelligence. They never reached the Chief of Defence Forces. They never reached the minister of defence, the seriousness of the accusations notwithstanding. So, we protest that wrong procedure. Secondly, why leak the report? They are like children. UN is a big body. Why would it go by leaking? UN should also explain clearly and conclusively every piece of accusation that they have made in that report. Another delegation has gone to the UK and European Union. The third delegation is within the region covering the member states of ICGLR. We are explaining ourselves because we know this report is false and there is misreading of actions being undertaken by Uganda.
When those M23 people were threatening to attack Goma, the Secretary General of ICGLR contacted President Museveni, sometime in July, and appealed to him if he could find ways and means to reach out to the M23 people and prevail on them to stop fighting. So, we reached out to them and we have been having quiet contact with them for two reasons. The first reason was to insist that they stop fighting and secondly, to try and understand why they are fighting. These former rebels had agreed with the government of DRC to stop fighting, but why are they fighting all of sudden and causing problems?
Whatever information we get from the M23 people, we share with the summit members. I think there were some leakages that these contacts were ongoing and because they are quiet contacts, people thought that Uganda is training them [M23] politically and giving them political cover. That’s not our intention. What we are doing is known to the UN and President Kabila’s government. That’s why I call this misreading.
5. Why were you meeting these rebels quietly? Wouldn’t it have been better to meet them in the open?
No, no. These people are rebels. You need to get their confidence. So, the agreement was that our contact with them should be discreet. All things are not done in public. We can’t always be acting in the open. That’s not how governments are run. Everywhere, even in organizations, there are things which you do quietly and there are others done in the open. In this case, the quiet contact was appropriate. You can’t conduct matters of the rebels in the press. But it was sufficient that all key parties knew what was going on. This was not our initiative, we were contacted and requested to make these contacts discreet.
6. Are you in touch with President Kabila specifically to explain your position, and if yes, what is he saying?
His Special Envoy was here. He, and the Governor of Goma, met the President. I was not in that meeting but obviously, that meeting must have discussed this situation. I haven’t talked to Kabila myself. But I expect Kabila to be positive and I think he has faith and confidence in President Museveni, to assist in that difficult situation in eastern DRC. That I know and it’s a fact.
7. Isn’t it a sign of lack of trust when President Kabila says Uganda should not stop at rubbishing the report but give a satisfactory explanation?
I don’t know that. I only read it in the press. But I know, for certain, that President Kabila has faith in Uganda since these efforts by the ICGLR to end fighting began.
Oryem says if the UN goes on to condemn Uganda, the East African nation will pull out of Somalia.
UN betrayed Uganda, says minister
Oryem
Publish Date: Nov 13, 2012
By Henry Mukasa
Uganda feels “gutted” and “betrayed” by a UN panel of experts' leaked report which alleges that the country supports M23 rebels fighting the Democratic Republic of Congo government, foreign affairs state minister Okello Oryem has said.
Uganda feels “gutted” and “betrayed” by a UN panel of experts' leaked report which alleges that the country supports M23 rebels fighting the Democratic Republic of Congo government, foreign affairs state minister Okello Oryem has said.
He also reiterated that the UPDF will withdraw from the peacekeeping mission in Somalia if the UN Security Council adopts the report with the allegations in a Monday session.
“If the UN upholds the report and condemns Uganda, we shall withdraw. If they don’t adopt the report and exonerate Uganda, we shall stay,” Oryem said on Sunday.
He observed that Uganda had not softened its stance as articulated by the Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, in his address to Parliament a fortnight ago.
“On one hand they say we are thugs and on the other they say we are doing a good job. They cannot claim that the UPDF is a professional army, doing a fantastic job in Somalia and in the same breath say they are thugs promoting war in Congo by supporting M23 rebels. You choose either of that because the UPDF in Somalia is the same UPDF in Uganda,” Oryem said.
The UPDF soldiers account for more than a third of the 17,600 UN-mandated African Union peacekeeping Mission (AMISOM) battling al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants in Somalia.
Uganda’s threat to withdraw comes at a time when AMISOM and the Somali government forces have driven the extremists out of the capital Mogadishu and several key ports and towns in Somalia.
It is feared that a sudden reduction in troop numbers would undo the security and political gains that recently allowed the first parliamentary and presidential elections since 1991.
