pulled a no-show at the second biennial African Land Forces Summit
(ALFS).
The ALFS was co-hosted by the United States Army Africa (USARAF)--the
army component of AFRICOM--and, for the first time, the Uganda
Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) at Speke Resort & Conference Center, at
Munyonyo, Kampala (May 14-18, 2012).
The first biennial ALFS was held in in Chantilly, Virginia , in 2010.
Besides USARAF Commander, Major General David R. Hogg, top AFRICOM
indefatigable fieldworker and Africa-trotter, Gen Carter F. Hand, also
attended the event.
As Lieutenant Gen Edward Katumba Wamala, UPDF Commander of Land
Forces, put it in the ALFS booklet, this kind of summit is a unique
venue where top brass of African infantry could share "experiences
during the formal and informal settings
provided" with senior officers of the world's most formidable land forces.
That's why USARAF Gen Hogg also advised that as the gathering was
primarily meant to "encourage candid dialogue with free exchange of
ideas, the summit [had to be]
closed to the public."
Land forces chiefs, top brass, technicians and civilian security
experts of the following 36 African countries (including those from
the African Union) intermingled and exchanged with their American
counterparts:
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon,
8Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros,
Congo-Brazzaville, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia,
Libya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger,
Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
Yeah, that's right, even Zimbabwe was there!
Reading that list, I was baffled by the absence of the DRC, given that
US military advisors have trained Congolese battle-ready battalions,
and that on his fairly recent visit in Kinshasa Gen Ham promised a
continued training program for the FARDC .
Plus, with all the security woes besetting the Congo, you'd think the
FARDC top brass would jump at the first opportunity to rub elbows with
the best land forces officers the world and Africa could offer.
Queried by email for this blog post, a USARAF public affairs officer
told me that, "The DRC was invited to participate but declined the
invitation, and we did not ask for a reason."
"Perhaps your question has to be directed to the Minister of Defense
of the DRC," she further suggested. "All countries in Africa are
invited to attend. They do not have to apply. Some choose to attend
and others do not."
Hell! I'll then speculate about this no-show, sparing myself the grief
of looking around for an elusive Public Affairs Officer at the the DRC
Ministry of Defense who wouldn't even know the first thing about the
absence of Congolese officers at the ALFS--let alone what ALFS is all
about.
I'd then assume that the Congolese government might have wanted to be
spared a double humiliation.
Humiliation Number 1.
The FARDC's own chief of land forces, Major General Gabriel Amisi
Kumba aka Tango-Four, would have been out of his league among the
topnotch officers and guest speakers arrayed at the Kampala Summit.
Tango-Four got his commission when rebel groups merged with and were
integrated into the national armed forces. What possibly could he have
been talking about at lunch breaks with highly trained officers (many
of whom with university degrees and impressive resumes) who attended
the Summit?
Additionally, the theme of the Summit was: "The Strength of an Army
for the Nation and its People"--with all kind of complex topic
discussions, presentations, and grueling Q&A sessions.
Tango-Four might have been up to his ears!
(The solution could have been to
send instead the Congolese equivalent of the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staffs, Gen Didier Etumba, who was trained in the Belgian
Royal Military Academy. The problem was that Gen Etumba was in eastern
Congo overseeing counterinsurgency operations.)
Humiliation Number 2.
Besides the staggering incompetence of the FARDC land forces
commander, there is also the fact that the current UDPF Land Forces
Commander Gen Edward Katumba Wamala worked under the late Gen James
Kazini as Operations Commander of the infamous and plunderous
"Operation Safe Haven" in DR Congo between 2000 and 2001.
An operation denounced by the UN that obtained countless of Congolese
civilian deaths and scandalous ill-gotten gains by corrupt Ugandan
military top brass--including Gen Kazini who President Yoweri was
compelled to fire in 2003.
Be that as it might, the DRC needs to get its act together by training
and appointing competent and meritorious officers in key positions.
Also, things ought to start from a clean slate somewhere, despite past
atrocities and injustices. Who could have imagined, as I think
President George W. Bush once remarked, that Gernany would today a US
ally?
After all, things had seemed to be moving in the right direction with
joint military operations with Uganda (against the LRA) and Rwanda
(against the FDLR).
Regional armed forces could only be strengthened by gatherings such as
the ALFS or by integrated maneuvers that have still to be designed and
implemented. For the mutual benefit of all involved, in enhanced
security and improved economies.
***
PHOTO CREDIT: USARAF
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