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Rwandan President Paul Kagame
The United States moved to block U.S. military aid to Rwanda because of its support for the M23 Congolese rebel group believed to use child soldiers, the State Department said on Thursday.
U.S. sanctions Rwanda
over M23 rebels
Publish Date: Oct 04, 2013
The United States moved to block U.S. military aid to Rwanda because of its support for
the M23 Congolese rebel group believed to use child soldiers, the State
Department said on Thursday.
The sanctions also apply to the Central African Republic, Myanmar, Sudan and Syria, according to the U.S. State Department. It was unclear whether those nations receive U.S. military assistance.
"Our goal is to work with countries who have been listed to ensure that any involvement in child soldiers - any involvement in the recruitment of child soldiers - stop," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Rwanda was sanctioned because of its "support for the M23, a rebel group which continues to actively recruit and abduct children" and to threaten the stability of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
M23 is a Tutsi-dominated rebellion of former Congolese soldiers that began taking parts of eastern Congo last year, accusing the government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal.
Rwanda will not receive U.S. International Military Education and Training funds, which help train foreign militaries, nor will it get U.S. Foreign Military Financing, which funds the sale of U.S. military materiel and services, Harf said.
Brigadier General Joseph Nzabamwita, spokesman for the Rwanda Defense Forces, said his country should not be held responsible for events outside its control.
"It is surprising that Rwanda would be liable for matters that are neither on its territory, nor in its practices," he said. "As a long term partner of the Rwanda Defense Forces, the United States has ample evidence that our forces have never tolerated the use of children in combat."
"Rwanda's commitment to a sustainable solution that seeks to bring an end to the DRC conflict and its consequences, including the use of child soldiers, remains unchanged," he added.
"The collaboration between the Government of Rwanda and the United States remains strong, particularly in the field of peacekeeping, and Rwanda will continue to hold its forces to the highest standards of professionalism and discipline," he added.
Harf, the State Department spokeswoman, said she was not aware of Syria receiving any U.S. military assistance. She also said she did not believe Syria or Myanmar receive such aid and would check on whether or not Sudan did.
Three other countries whose militaries are known to recruit and use child soldiers, however, received waivers from the U.S. sanctions - Chad, South Sudan and Yemen, another State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia received partial waivers, the official said, adding that the Obama administration has decided such exemptions "would be in the national interest of the United States."
By law, the U.S. State Department must keep track of nations whose governments recruit and use children as soldiers as part of its annual report on human trafficking. The 10 countries affected by Thursday's actions were all cited in the State Department's latest findings, issued in June.
Those countries can be denied some types of U.S. funds for military assistance unless the White House grants a waiver. The 2008 law also allows U.S. officials to block licenses needed for those nations to buy military equipment.
It was not immediately clear how much U.S. funding would be blocked because of Thursday's action.
Rwanda was not granted a waiver because of its role backing the M23 rebels in nearby Democratic Republic of Congo, Thomas-Greenfield, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, said in an online forum with reporters broadcast on the State Department website.
U.N. investigators and the Congolese government have accused Rwanda of sponsoring the rebellion, a charge Rwanda denies.
"Any support of those rebel groups is seen as contributing to conflict in the region," Thomas-Greenfield told reporters, adding that U.S. officials will continue to discuss the issue with the Rwandan government.
The United States will still support peacekeeping efforts in Rwanda, the other official added. Reutesr
Rwanda sanctioned over rebel use of child soldiers
Publish Date: Oct 04, 2013
M23 rebels in the village of Karuba, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.CREDIT/AFP
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the United States was invoking the 2008 Child Soldiers Protection Act in sanctioning Rwanda, as Washington seeks to end "any involvement in the recruitment of child soldiers."
The sanctions were linked to actions by the M23, a group of former rebels who were integrated in the army in 2009 but mutinied last year.
"We will continue to have discussions with the Rwandan government on that issue," Thomas-Greenfield said.
A senior US State Department official said the measures terminated financial and military assistance in the fiscal year 2014, which began on October 1.
"This ends all international military education and training in financial year 2014," the official said.
"The US will however continue to support peacekeeping training that is not restricted to this child soldiers prevention act."
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said Rwanda was being sanctioned for supporting M23, describing it as "a rebel group which continues to actively recruit and abduct children" and "threatens peace and stability in the Eastern DRC."
The M23 was founded by former Tutsi rebels who were incorporated into the Congolese army under a 2009 peace deal.
In April 2012, the M23 turned their guns on their former comrades and launched the latest rebellion to ravage DR Congo's mineral-rich and conflict-prone east.
The United Nations accuses Rwanda of backing the M23, a charge the country has adamantly denied.
The UN and various rights groups have accused the M23 of atrocities, including rape and murder, in addition to the use of child soldiers, in a conflict that has caused tens of thousands of refugees to flee.
AFP
Rwanda slams US sanctions over rebel use of child soldiers: As a senior US official terminates financial and military assistance to Rwanda
KIGALI, Oct 4, 2013 – Rwanda’s army on Friday slammed United States’ sanctions for the use of child soldiers by rebels it is accused of supporting in Democratic Republic of Congo, saying it had no factual basis.
“It
is surprising that Rwanda would be liable for matters that are neither
on its territory nor in its practices,” army spokesman Joseph Nzabamwita
said in a statement, adding that the “decision to include Rwanda among
states that use child soldiers is not based on evidence or facts.”The United Nations accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels in neighbouring eastern DR Congo, a charge the country has adamantly denied.
On Thursday, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas Greenfield said Washington was invoking the 2008 Child Soldiers Protection Act in sanctioning Rwanda as a measure seeking to end “any involvement in the recruitment of child soldiers.”
A senior US State Department official said the measures terminated financial and military assistance in the fiscal year 2014, which began on October 1.
“As a long term partner of the
Rwanda Defence Force, the United States has ample evidence that our
forces have never tolerated the use of children in combat,” Nzabamwita
said, adding that Kigali would continue to work with the US.
The M23 was founded by former Tutsi rebels who were incorporated into the Congolese army under a 2009 peace deal.
In April 2012, the M23 turned their guns on their former comrades and launched the latest rebellion to ravage DR Congo’s mineral rich and conflict prone east.
Stop asking me how to fix DRC
September 30, 2013
NEW YORK, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he
doesn’t understand why people keep asking him how to end decades of
conflict in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, despite
accusations by U.N. experts that Rwanda backs Congolese rebels.
“It’s like, you know, the world has decided, for Congo, you ask Rwanda. Why? I don’t understand,” Kagame told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York.
Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger in Congo’s resource-rich eastern borderlands during nearly two decades of ethnically driven conflict that has its roots in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
A more than year-long insurgency by M23 rebels is the latest incarnation of a Tutsi-dominated rebellion. There have been repeated, and unsuccessful, efforts to integrate rebel groups into the Congolese army. U.N. experts and the Congolese government have accused Rwanda of backing the rebellion, a charge Rwanda denies.
The United States and other countries have called on Kigali to end support for M23 rebels, saying there is evidence Rwandan military officials have been involved.
“My question always is, why doesn’t the country, the state of Congo, deal with the issues themselves? They should be the ones telling the world nothing is working, or what they think can work for them,” Kagame said late on Sunday.
Kagame was attending the “This World: The Values Network” event in New York, with other guests including Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
“I cannot be the one to keep being asked to answer what should work for Congo. This is a serious problem,” he said.
Congo’s army and a 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO, have struggled against M23, which briefly occupied the eastern city of Goma in November, forcing Congolese President Joseph Kabila to accept the Ugandan-brokered peace talks as a condition of the rebels’ withdrawal.
However, with the help of a new U.N. Intervention Brigade – created in the wake of Goma’s seizure and given a tough mandate to neutralize armed groups – the army has pushed M23 fighters away from the city of one million.
Kagame said of the Intervention Brigade: “I don’t think they have done much in the way of resolving the problem, looking at the time they have been there, at the results we have on the ground.” (Writing by U.N. bureau; Editing by Claudia Parsons)
September 29, 2013
Shouting “No more killing!” and “Kagame is an assassin!” through megaphones, protesters brandished placards with photos of bloodied victims outside a luxury hotel where Kagame and his delegation were believed to be staying ahead of a meeting to mark Rwanda Day.
Toronto police, who along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are providing security for the visit, escorted the roughly 200 demonstrators off the hotel grounds and onto the street. The protesters then set off recordings of sirens and called for Kagame’s arrest.
Kagame is expected to address members of the Rwandan diaspora in Canada, and speak about his country’s political and economic progress since 1994, when he rose to power after routing ethnic Hutu extremists responsible for a genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people.
The Rwanda Day event has been shrouded in secrecy in order to deter demonstrators.
“We came here to protest against Kagame because he’s a criminal,” Pierre-Claver Nkinamubanzi, one of the organizers.
“He killed a lot of people not only in Rwanda but in the Congo. He’s responsible for the deaths of millions of people.”
Kagame’s government has come under fire for supporting a new militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the M23, which has raped, killed and displaced thousands of civilians in the eastern Kivu provinces.
“It’s like, you know, the world has decided, for Congo, you ask Rwanda. Why? I don’t understand,” Kagame told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York.
Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger in Congo’s resource-rich eastern borderlands during nearly two decades of ethnically driven conflict that has its roots in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
A more than year-long insurgency by M23 rebels is the latest incarnation of a Tutsi-dominated rebellion. There have been repeated, and unsuccessful, efforts to integrate rebel groups into the Congolese army. U.N. experts and the Congolese government have accused Rwanda of backing the rebellion, a charge Rwanda denies.
The United States and other countries have called on Kigali to end support for M23 rebels, saying there is evidence Rwandan military officials have been involved.
“My question always is, why doesn’t the country, the state of Congo, deal with the issues themselves? They should be the ones telling the world nothing is working, or what they think can work for them,” Kagame said late on Sunday.
Kagame was attending the “This World: The Values Network” event in New York, with other guests including Nobel Peace laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
“I cannot be the one to keep being asked to answer what should work for Congo. This is a serious problem,” he said.
Congo’s army and a 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO, have struggled against M23, which briefly occupied the eastern city of Goma in November, forcing Congolese President Joseph Kabila to accept the Ugandan-brokered peace talks as a condition of the rebels’ withdrawal.
However, with the help of a new U.N. Intervention Brigade – created in the wake of Goma’s seizure and given a tough mandate to neutralize armed groups – the army has pushed M23 fighters away from the city of one million.
Kagame said of the Intervention Brigade: “I don’t think they have done much in the way of resolving the problem, looking at the time they have been there, at the results we have on the ground.” (Writing by U.N. bureau; Editing by Claudia Parsons)
Toronto Protesters rally against Rwandan president Kagame in style
http://www.inyenyerinews.org/amakuru-2/toronto-protesters-rally-against-rwandan-presidents-kagame-in-style/September 29, 2013
TORONTO (CANADA) (AFP) – Demonstrators rallied in Toronto Saturday against a private visit to Canada by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, urging his arrest.
Shouting “No more killing!” and “Kagame is an assassin!” through megaphones, protesters brandished placards with photos of bloodied victims outside a luxury hotel where Kagame and his delegation were believed to be staying ahead of a meeting to mark Rwanda Day.
Toronto police, who along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are providing security for the visit, escorted the roughly 200 demonstrators off the hotel grounds and onto the street. The protesters then set off recordings of sirens and called for Kagame’s arrest.
Kagame is expected to address members of the Rwandan diaspora in Canada, and speak about his country’s political and economic progress since 1994, when he rose to power after routing ethnic Hutu extremists responsible for a genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people.
The Rwanda Day event has been shrouded in secrecy in order to deter demonstrators.
“We came here to protest against Kagame because he’s a criminal,” Pierre-Claver Nkinamubanzi, one of the organizers.
“He killed a lot of people not only in Rwanda but in the Congo. He’s responsible for the deaths of millions of people.”
Kagame’s government has come under fire for supporting a new militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the M23, which has raped, killed and displaced thousands of civilians in the eastern Kivu provinces.
