Big Fucking Deal: Eastwood & Obama at Tampa Republican Convention (A Skit by Clint Eastwood)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:



CLINT EASTWOOD, a dishevelled blabbering old Hollywood actor and

director of global fame, standing in front of a pulpit;



BARACK OBAMA, an incumbent US president running for reelection,

sitting by and furiously tweeting on his smartphone.



***



EASTWOOD: (laughing; looks down at Obama, who's fidgeting with his

smartphone) So, Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you

have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle

them?



I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just -- you know -- I know

-- people were wondering -- you don't -- handle that OK. Well, I know

even people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn't

close Gitmo. And I thought, well, closing Gitmo -- why close that, we

spent so much money on it. But, I thought maybe as an excuse --



OBAMA: (shakes his head as he keeps fidgeting with his phone) Shut up, old man!



EASTWOOD: (laughs out) what do you mean, Shut up?



OBAMA: (shows Eastwood the middle finger while still riveted to his phone)



EASTWOOD: OK, I thought maybe it was just because somebody had the

stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City.



I've got to... to hand it to you. I have to give credit where credit

is due. You did finally overrule that finally. And that's --



OBAMA: (without looking up) You're welcome!



EASTWOOD: (delighted) Now we are moving onward. I know you were

against the war in Iraq, and that's okay.



But you thought the war in Afghanistan was OK.



You know, I mean -- you thought that was something worth doing. We

didn't check with the Russians to see how did it -- they did there for

10 years.



But we did it, and it is something to be thought about, and I think

that, when we get to maybe

-- I think you've mentioned something about having a target date for

bringing everybody

home. You gave that target date, and I think Mr. Romney asked the only

sensible question,

you know, he says, "Why are you giving the date out now? Why don't you

just bring them

home tomorrow morning?"





And I thought -- I thought, yeah--



OBAMA: (still thumbing on his phone) For crissake! I'm busy tweeting

here, old freak! Would you shut the fuck up?



EASTWOOD: I am not going to shut up, it is my turn.



So anyway, we're going to have -- we're going to have to have a little

chat about that. And then, I just wondered, all these promises -- I

wondered about when the --



OBAMA: (still fidgeting with his phone) By the way, tell Romney to

shove it up his tight ass! Ha! Ha! Ha!



EASTWOOD: What do you want me to tell Romney?



OBAMA: (still tweeting on) You heard me!



EASTWOOD: I can't tell him to do that. I can't tell him to do that to himself.



You're crazy, you're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden.



OBAMA: (smiling, with a thumb up, and still fascinated by his phone)

Big Fucking Deal!



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Via: npr.org

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Kinshasa Daily Le Potentiel accuses DRC Top Cop Gen. Charles Bisengimana of usurping state powers

(PHOTO: Gen. Charles Bisengimana Rukira)



***



Kinshasa independent daily Le Potentiel accused today DRC acting top

cop, Gen. Charles Bisengimana, of having usurped powers well above and

beyond his pay grade.



(Gen. Bisengimana has been acting in an interim capacity as DRC top

cop since the suspension in June 2010 of his boss, Gen. John Numbi,

whose name surfaced in the double murder of rights activist Floribert

"Flori" Chebeya and his driver Fidèle Bazana.



Gen. Bisengemina, a Rwandophone and an ex-officer of the former rebel

outfit RCD, was integrated into the national police since the peace

accords of 2003.)



The Potentiel article is titled "Confusion at the Congolese National Police."



(Page Address: www.lepotentielonline.com/709-confusion-a-la-police-nationale-congolaise)



In contention is the DRC Organic Law No. 11/013 of August 11, 2011.



The law, still to be implemented by a decree of the prime minister,

merges the Police Nationale Congolaise (PNC) and the Police Judiciaire

des Parquets (PJP) as subdivisions into one single entity called the

Police Nationale (PN).



Up to the implementation of the new law, the Congolese National Police

(PNC) is in the purview of the Interior Minister whereas the Public

Prosecutor's Judicial Police (PJP) is a division of the Justice

Minister.



Also, until the new law sees the light of day, the PJP is in charge of

the National Central Bureau (NCB) that links the resources of the

national police with INTERPOL.



Le Potentiel charges that for quite some time now, Gen. Bisengimana

has kept bombarding himself in administrative correspondence with the

rank of "Acting General Commissioner of National Police."



Again, Le Potentiel insists, the "National Police" to this day is

still an entity that only exists on paper.



Worse, on May 8, 2012, Gen. Bisengimana took upon himself to address

to INTERPOL Secretary General a letter in which he explains the new

structure of the National Police.



In the same letter, Gen. Bisengimina arrogated to himself the rank of

head of Kinshasa NCB/INTERPOL as well.



This was the last straw that triggered the response from the Judicial

Police, which frowned on Gen. Bisengimana for treading on its turf

without any legal mandate.



In a letter addressed to Gen. Bisengimana on June 8, Deputy General

Inspector of Judicial Police Pierre Masudi expressed his astonishment

at seeing the mention of "National Police" in official correspondence.



And to Masudi's knowledge, as of June 8, PNC and PJP were still two

separate entities--with the latter in charge of NCB/INTERPOL.



Masudi also reminded Gen. Bisengimana that in the protocol of the

International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO)/ INTERPOL, a police

entity that also deals with domestic political investigations can't be

part of a country member's NCB.



The conflict between Gen. Bisengimana and Masudi escalated so badly

that Attorney General Flory Kabange Numbi had to intervene in order to

remind both parties that the implementation of the reform was still

pending.



Le Potentiel sees this hoo-haa occurring at a time when the government

"is at pain to get out of the quagmire in the east where M23 are

consolidating" their positions as a nefarious ploy by Gen.

Bisengimansa "to seek the paralysis of both of these structures" [PNC

& PJP].



This is some heavy allegation made by Le Potentiel given, as I

mentioned above, the nature of the background of Gen. Bisengimana.



Were his downfall to happen, some would see it as the start of a purge

of former associates of M23 operators still in sensitize positions in

the DRC security sector.



***

PHOTO CREDITS: AFP

Via: prensalibre.com

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From Zuma's Penis to Michelle Obama's boobs: Outrage of the Absurd

(PHOTO: Cover of Spanish fashion magazine Fuera de Serie with British

artist Karine Percheron-Daniels's retouch of Marie-Guillemine

Benoist's "Portrait d'une négresse" with Michelle Obama)



***



I'm furious to see French feminist painter Marie-Guillemine Benoist

(1768-1826) maligned by association in the current "racism"

controversy swirling around the very revolutionary painting that

established her reputation when it was displayed at the 1800 Salon.



On display at the Louvre today, "Le Portrait d'une négresse" is a tiny

oil on canvas painting (85x65cm) in which Benoist densely compresses

its theme to a flashpoint.



The painting was meant as a celebration of the abolition of slavery.



By a subtle subversion of its overt meaning, however, Benoist was able

to superimpose layers of radical connotations.



For instance, Benoist chose as subject a woman, instead of the male

slave usually associated with the hard labor of slavery on the

plantations of the Americas.



She further casts her subject in a bourgeois setting as an object of

sexual desire.



But what Marie-Guillemine Benoist brilliantly achieves is to make a

mockery of two major promises of the French Revolution:



1) The "brotherhood of the human race" was a con after all, and in

fact, two years after Benoist's painting, Napoléon reinstated slavery;



2) Gender equality was likewise another lie: French women were still

second-class citizens and in many ways just as disenfranchised as

plantation slaves.



Who knows? Maybe the "négresse" in Benoist's painting is the Parisian

woman still shackled as a slave in her bourgeois surrounding.



Now, fast forward to the furore these past few days over the Spanish

magazine Fura de Serie for having on its cover the "palimpset" over

Benoist's painting by Bristish artist Karine Percheron-Daniels.



Percheron-Daniels's retouch adds its own layers of subversion to

Benoist's subversive painting.



The absurdity of the present outrage is that the article of Fuera de

Serie is laudatory of Michelle Obama.



And Percheron-Daniels, a big fan of the American First Lady, meant her

work to be a tribute to her.



Oh, by the way, Percheron-Daniels's nude series has also one featuring

Barack Obama with his penis out!



Odd that this Obama's penis didn't get as much press and absurb

outrage as Brett Murray's The Spear.



I got a theory: ignoramuses being outraged by art these days never

had the basics of art history or aesthetics.



This tautological theory of mine won't do them justice. For they

belong to the category of the nutjobs willing to kill over a cartoon!



***

PHOTO CREDITS: fueradeserie.expansion.com

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François Hollande in Kinshasa this October: Opposition wish for delocalizing Francophony Summit dashed

(PHOTO: French Prez François Hollande speaking at the 20th Conference

of Ambassadors at the Elysée Palace, Paris, Monday, August 27, 2012)



***



Some Congolese opposition parties--chief among them, the UDPS--were

campaigning for the delocalization of the Summit of Francophony, which

will be held in Kinshasa in mid-October.



A stupid strategy, if you ask me. For what better platform for the

opposition to voice its grievances than the Summit of Francophony?



Besides, at a time when the country is being attacked by Rwanda, you'd

think that the political class would show some maturity by presenting

a solid common front.



Instead of which some opposition leaders flooded the Kinshasa French

Embassy with petitions and memos demanding that the Summit be

delocalized to another African capital!



Maybe these slow-witted pols misconstrued the gathering as an

international plebiscitary summit of the Kabila regime under the aegis

of France, instead of construing it as the pride of an entire nation

hosting such a prestigious worldwide event.



Well, this past Monday, at the 20th Conference of (French)

Ambassadors, François Hollande dashed the opposition wish for

delocalizing the Summit while jabbing at the Kabila administration.



Said Hollande:



"I will be heading in a few weeks to the Summit of Francophony in

Kinshasa. I will reaffirm there that the Francophony is not simply

language sharing, it is also a community of principles and ideals, and

reminding those on every occasion is necessary, especially in the

Democratic Republic of Congo."



Hollande added he'll also be meeting with Congolese opposition and

civil society leaders.



I can safely predict that Etienne Tshisekedi won't certainly be among

those opposition leaders Hollande will be meeting in Kinshasa.



As one diplomat recently told me, by proclaiming himself president of

the republic, Tshisekedi has turned "radioactive" and, hence,

"irrelevant."



***



PHOTO CREDITS: MAE/F. de La Mure

Via: diplomatie.gouv.fr

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Kigali tells Belgian FM Didier Reynders the whole world is hallucinating

(PHOTO: Didier Reynders at the Paras Belges Memorial in Kigali,

Saturday, August 25, 2012. Ten Belgian peacekeepers were slaughtered

here by the génocidaires on April 7, 1994)



***



Didier Reynders's visit at the Paras Belges Memorial is part of

mandatory state protocol for any Belgian official visiting Kigali.



But the Memorial was also pregnant with potent symbolism for

Reynders's very own "shuttle diplomacy."



The génocidaire Major Bernard Ntuyahaga is the maniac who ordered the

massacre of the 10 Belgian paratroopers, and the murder of their

charge, then Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana (her husband

was killed with her too, in front of their residence ).



Subsequently, Major Bernard Ntuyahaga moved on to actively participate

in other genocidal atrocities.



In 2007, Major Ntuyahaga was convicted by a Belgian court and

sentenced to 20-year behind bars.



But to this day, this sociopathic génocidaire is still claiming his innocence.



In fact, this maniac was so good at faking his innocence that at his

first trial the prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for

Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha dropped all charges against him.



Then, faced with the public outrage over this blattant miscarriage of

justice, Tanzania extradited this mass murderer to Belgium!



(See Page Address: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Ntuyahaga)



Well, Kigali has taken a page from the playbook of génocidaire Bernard

Ntuyahaga: pleading not guilty despite the mountain of incriminating

evidence!



Kigali is further and further entrenching itsefl into the small hole

of this stupid strategy with apparently no dignified way out.



Not even the soft warning of Reynders about a possible "international

escalation" of sanctions at the UN if Rwanda doesn't change its tune

was of no effect on Kigali unhinged leaders.



But all those in their right mind--that is, the rest of the world--are

getting sick and tired of Kigali dissemblers.



Belgian reporter and blogger Colette Braeckman, who's covering

Reynders's Africa trip, opens her August 26 post titled "Collective

Hallucination" by rehearsing the improbable premises of the pitch

Rwanda has been attempting to peddle to the flabbergasted world in the

past few months:



"The UN experts and blue helmets, the populations of Rutshuru,

Bunagana and of the entire border area, countless local peasant

organizations, international rights NGOs like Human Rights Watch, a

few journalists--are they all stricken by some strange disorder, some

kind of collective hallucination that might have led them, without

talking with one another, to denounce, with supporting evidence, the

support extended to M23 mutineers by Rwanda?"



(blog.lesoir.be/colette-braeckman/2012/08/26/hallucination-collective/)





***



PHOTO CREDITS: belga.be

Via: lesoir.be

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M23 baffling tactical event at Kiwanja: Prodding MONUSCO INDBATT-2 resolve?

(PHOTO: Indian troops of MONUSCO Peacekeeping brigade battle group

battalion "INDBATT-2" defending their Kiwanja base against M23, July

25)



***



Radio Okapi is reporting that, breaking the lull observed these past

few weeks on the frontline, the M23 staged a major tactical event

north of Kiwanja.



The event took place from the morning of Thursday, August 23, till the

evening of Friday, August 24.



Radio Okapi sources didn't provide the number of casualties--if there were any.



Other sources tell Radio Okapi that M23 had attempted to skirt the

FARDC and were repelled up to the town of Mabenga, about 18 km north

of Kiwanja.



As in most media reports, Radio Okapi doesn't provide a map of troops'

positions and movements.



The report further says that none of the FARDC senior officers at

Mabenga could confirm or deny the incident.



But what's certain is that for the first time road traffic between

Kiwanja and Kanyabayonga has been cut off--grounding merchandise

trucks heading southward towards Goma.



The report concludes:



"A precarious calm was observed since the morning of Saturday, August

25, in the town of Mabenga and the inhabitants, who have fled in the

bush, have started to return to their village."





(Page Address: radiookapi.net/actualite/2012/08/25/nord-kivu-des-affrontements-auraient-oppose-les-fardc-au-m23-kiwanja/)



***



Reading this report, a number of observations come to mind.



FIRSTLY, this report is credible.



Radio Okapi has reliable military sources within MONUSCO in the area.



SECONDLY, what's baffling in the report is that there's no mention at

all of the role--if any--played by the MONUSCO Indian Brigade Battle

Group Battalion INDBATT-2 based at Kiwanja.



This professional warlike battalion has several Infantry Combat

Vehicles (ICVs) it can deploy in the theater, with a follow-up of

search-and-destroy Quick Action Teams (QAT) on foot it can unleash in

no time.



Furthermore, INDBATT-2, like the rest of the Indian brigade deployed

in North Kivu, can count on air support from the MONUSCO Indian

Aviation Contingent-III (IAC-III) that has a number of gunships in the

area.



THIRDLY, in the past couple of years, the Indian contingent has

suffered a number of casualties at the hands of armed groups in the

area.



One such major incident, with INDBATT-2 at the receiving end, took

place in mid-August 2010 when about 50 Mai-Mai armed with machettes

stormed the MONUSCO outpost of Kirumba (near Mabenga), killing 3

Indian peacekeepers.



The most recent Indian casualty occurred on July 5, when an INDBATT

blue helmet was caught in a cross-fire between FARDC and M23 at

Bunagana.



If anything, Indian peacekeepers have an axe to grind with M23 and

other armed groups.



Therefore, there's no way INDBATT-2 would sit by and let dangerous

attackers run amok in their midst.



FIFTHLY, a slight change of mandate of MONUSCO troops deployed in the

North Kivu happened recently. They've now been mandated to interdict

any M23 progression towards Goma.



What's more, most recent press reports give a skewed version of

troops' positions in the area.



While it's true that some M23 are perilously close to Goma, this

report shows that Kiwanja, at 70 km north of Goma, is still in the

hands of FARDC and MONUSCO.



However, early this month, British photojournalist Phil Moore saw the

forest area around Kiwanja and Mabenga teeming with M23--especially

along the River Rwindi that runs nearby.



So what were the M23 up to at Kiwanja?



Why come so near Kiwanja, where MONUSCO has a solid foothold and where

FARDC have moved in after M23 withdrawal?



And, more importantly, why this move northward where they'd likely

encounter tough resistance--including from hostile local militias?



Were M23 prodding the resolve of INDBATT-2 or of the FARDC?



Was this some kind of a diversionary maneuver gone awry?



Was the move meant to tighten the noose on Goma?



I don't know what this wasteful tactical maneuver staged by M23 really means.



What it demonstrates, however, is the equally wasteful defensive

"status quo" option the FARDC are taking.



Be that as it may, INDBATT-2 or the still imaginary "neutral force"

won't fight all the battles of FARDC.



***



PHOTO CREDITS: © MPIO-NKB

Via: monusco.org

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Rwanda: From RPF Congo Desk Fund to AGACIRO Development Fund (AgDF)

(PHOTO: Prez Paul Kagame at the launch of the Agaciro Development

Fund, at Kigali Serena Hotel, August 23)



***



The Kigali 5-star Serena Hotel was the setting of the festive launch

by President Paul Kagame of the Agaciro Development Fund (AgDF) on

Thursday, August 23.



According to Kigali New Times reporter Edwin Musoni, "Agaciro" is a

Kinyarwanda language word "closely translated to mean

dignity or self-worth."



(Page Address: www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?i=15094&a=57454)



The Agaciro, a "solidarity fund," is a brainchild of President Kagame,

who's been mulling it for over a year now.



But its urgency came in full force recently with the spate of aid

cutoffs by Western governments as Rwanda was seen to be embarking in a

another war of pillage of Congo resources.



The idea is that all Rwandan citizens can contribute to the fund to

offset the loss of development aid monies.



At the launch of the Agaciro, $2m was pledged.



President Kagame, who's denying any involvement in the current war in

eastern Congo just as he'd denied it in the past, is now claiming that

Rwanda is a victim of a worldwide conspiracy.



President Kagame told the audience at Serena Hotel:



"The way the whole world descends on Rwanda is a mystery. It is not

understandable.



"This form of injustice you can't find anywhere else."



The Agaciro should give the heebie-jeebies to the Congolese government

as it's a pointer to the fact that Rwanda is in this war for the long

haul.



For, though touted as a development fund, the Agaciro seems to be the

countrywide broadening of war chests Kagame had established in the

past in his military entrepreneurial ventures in the Congo.



One such Kagame's war chest comes to mind: the "Congo Desk," into

which all the Rwandan troops plundering the Congo had to

contribute--in money and minerals.



The "Congo Desk" made the war in and occupation of the Congo a

successful sustainable enterprise.



In an op-ed published in April 2004 in The Guardian titled "Victim's

Licence," George Monbiot wrote:



"By 1999, the 'Congo Desk' of the

Rwandan army was generating 80% of the Rwandan military budget--some

$320 million.



"This is the equivalent of

20% of Rwanda's gross national

product."



(Page Address: www.monbiot.com/2004/04/13/victims-licence/)



I see the same thread running from Congo Desk to Agaciro.



The Agaciro is a further streamlining of the fundraising drive for a

more permanent plunder of Congo resources designed by Kagame for his

Rwandan military entrepreneurs.



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Via: newsofrwanda.com

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Belgian FM Didier Reynders and Prez Kabila at Lubumbashi: Shuttle Diplomacy or lessons on SSR to Congo?

(PHOTO: Belgian Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders

with Prez Joseph Kabila at Lubumbashi, August 22)



***



Belgian Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders is on a

4-day visit in the DRC.



Reynders is scheduled to fly to Kigali on Saturday after visits to the

Kivus--including, according to reporter Colette Braeckman, a stop at a

hospital run by the Order of Malta on Idjwi Island, in South Kivu.



Despite their diplomatically friendly demeanor towards Reynders,

Kinshasa officials are angry at Belgium.



Belgium is one of the last European holdouts that still continue to

extend financial aid to Rwanda to the tune of €165m.



During his stay in Kinshasa, Reynders met successively with Speaker

Aubin Minaku and Premier Augustin Matata Ponyo, both of whom are

pressuring the government of the former colonizing power to take a

more aggressive stance against Rwanda--starting off with cutting off

aid money.



To both Congolese officials, Reynders kept repeating his mantra:



"Belgium recognizes the complete sovereignty of the Congo on the

entirety of its territory, takes exception to any undermining of the

rule of law, condemns unequivocally a rebellion there's nothing to

negotiate with!"



Kabila is still in Lubumbashi, the provincial capital of Katanga,

where he flew in from Maputo, Mozambique, where he'd attended the SADC

meeting.



And Reynders flew to Lubumbashi to meet with Kabila as well as to

visit mining companies.



Emerging from a one-hour meeting with Kabila on Wednesday, August 22,

Reynders told the media:



"The priority in the short term is the pacification of the east. It's

also to condemn the rebellion that's taking place in the east; it's to

make certain that the integrity of the territory of Congo is

guaranteed; that there's no interference whatsoever."



But Reynders also snarled at the DRC government--closing his litany

above by blasting state incompetence and impotence as well as the

misguided approach to the Securiry Sector Reform (SSR) in the DRC:



"This is achieved more particularly by the reinforcement of the state

of law and a reform of the army!"



Adding:



"The mistake made in the past was to want to integrate more often into

the Congolese armed forces a certain number of rebels, of mutineers,

and of undisciplined [elements]. That mistake shouldn't be repeated in

the future."



Reynders ended his SSR lesson with his version of the obvious,

"Garbage in garbage out":



"By integrating undisciplined elements, undiscipline is integrated by

the same token."



Reynders is talking as if this SSR approach of integration,

incorporation, and "brassage" [intermingling] was a concept dreamed up

by the Congolese--and not by international experts, including those of

the European Union.



Reynders maintains he didn't come to the African Great Lakes for

shuttle diplomacy, but to talk to DRC and Rwanda separately, which

could obtain, he firmly believes, a breakthrough.



Said Reynders:



"If indeed Rwanda doesn't wish to play a negative role in the east of

Congo, it's up to it to make the first step and to play a positive

role."



Well, good luck on that mission impossible, Mr. Reynders!



***



PHOTO CREDITS: AFP: Via: lesoir.be

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Thriving Insurgent Economy (M23's taxes vs. FDLR's bushmeat) and their chokehold on Goma

(PHOTO: A "lady with hippo meat" nabbed by Virunga Park Rangers on

August 21. The hippo was killed by the FDLR. With The proceeds from

the sale of the hippo meat, the FDLR bought 2 PKM machine guns)



***



There's no other way around this observation:



The DRC government is asleep at the switch.



It now allows the status quo to fester unchecked, hoping against all

hope that its Hail Mary pass to regional and international bodies

would somwhow deal a deadly blow to the multi-faceted insurgencies in

the North Kivu Province.



Already on August 17, the M23 announced the composition of its

10-member government (not counting the 11 vice-ministers)--though DRC

Media Minister called the announcement a "non-event."



(In my view, two members of this renegade government should be of

special interest to the DRC justice system, in the event that these

M23 highway bandits are brought to justice one day: Justin Gashema,

their mock minister of Finances, Budget and Natural Resources; and his

2 deputies, Castro Mbera and Ephrem Bwishe.)



What unfolds as an intolerable daily event for Gomatracians (as Goma

residents are called), however, is the skyrocketting prices of basic

commodities.



As strange as this might sound, the cogwheels of commerce were hardly

stopped by the current war in North Kivu.



In fact, there's a thriving trade and even a two-way movement of

people between M-23-occupied areas and the city of Goma--and beyond.



The M-23 are relying for now on hefty taxes on merchandise and road

tolls on trucks heading to Goma.



On their part, the FDLR are killing near-extinct species of animals at

the Virunga National Park and selling them wholesale to traders, who

then go to sell them on retail in Goma.



Charly Kasereka is a Gomatracian journalism student who has an

informative blog in French called Actu du Kivu (Page Address:

actudukivu.blogspot.com).





Charly Kasereka is bold enough to travel to areas held by the M23.



In a recent France 24 report (via Radio Okapi) describing the

chokehold of the insurgent economy on the provincial capital of Goma,

Charly Kasereka was quoted as saying (my translation from the French):



"You don't find anything worthwhile these days in Goma markets and

everything has become very expensive: corn, beans, milk, all basic

commodities.



"Before [the insurgency], a 100kg-sack of manioc cost between $25 and

$30. Today, the same quantity costs between $45 and $50.



"And 1kg of beans, for example, that cost $0.5 before now fetches almost $1.



"Prices for basic commodities have almost doubled!



"In a city where residents are already very poor, people are suffering.



"Many people are unemployed and the minimum income and wage of a

person living off of small trade or working in a shop is only between

$20 and $30 per month.



"Food therefore now costs the earth.



"A few days ago, I met truck drivers who were complaining of their

[worsening] work conditions.



"One of them, who's been shuttling merchandise between Goma and Lubero

[at 215 kms of Goma] for ten years, told me that before [the current

war] it took him 8 hours to reach Goma.



"Today, it takes him 14 hours.



"Ever since they seized Rutshuru in early July, the M23 rebels have

multiplied barriers and carry out long inspections of trucks.



"On his last trip, they [M23] levied a tax of $350 on his manioc cargo.



"Before the arrival of rebels, he used to pay at the most $50 in cargo taxes.



"Trucks that transport wooden and timber planks for construction face

even heftier taxes [according to Radio Okapi, each truck with a cargo

of wooden planks is taxed $1,000].



"There are other roads to Goma.



"But two of them are as dangerous [as the Beni-Goma road section],

because they go through areas where a new armed group is wreaking

violence.



"And at any rate, taking these other routes forces trucks to take

enormous detours.



"It's still possible to go to Rwanda [Goma is near the Rwanda-Congo border].



"But there, you mostly find household appliances, clothing items, but

no foodstuffs.



"Rwandans themselves come shopping [for foodstuffs in Goma].



"The Beni-Goma road is therefore absolutely essential."







(SOURCE: observers.france24.com/fr/content/20120816-taxee-rebelles-m23-nourriture-devient-hors-prix-goma-republique-democratique-congo-rdc-camions-route-nationale)



***



While the M23 are holding Congolese truck drivers to ransom and slowly

choking, their FDLR compadres are cowardly killing specimens of

near-extinct fauna in the Virunga National Park.



Virunga National Park Chief Warden, Dr. Emmanuel de Mérode, gives a

chilling account of the ongoing massacre perpetrated by the FDLR at

the Park in his post of August 21 titled "Caught in the Act."



Dr. de Mérode's post reads (I reformat the post for readability as I

am using a mobile phone):



"As we were driving back from the airfield this afternoon, we overtook

a truck.



"Just as we drove past, a waft of that sadly familiar smell of

bushmeat swept through the window.



"A quick call to Sekibibi, who was on duty at Rumangabo just up the

road, and within seconds he was running down the hill with a section

of rangers.



" Just in time to intercept the truck.



"I left them to it, they knew exactly what to do.



"The truck was searched through, and sure enough, a lady with hippo

meat (we've blurred her face for legal reasons).



"She was from Ishasha on her way to sell the meat at the Goma market,

and the hippo was from Nyakakoma, killed by the FDLR militias.



"Each piece of meat sells for an incredible 30 dollars.



"The whole operation lasted less than an hour.



"Unfortunately, with all the armed militias in the eastern sector of

the park we're going to have to launch many such operations to stop

the killings.



"The trade is incredibly damaging.



"Not only is it destroying the park, it's destroying the fish stocks

on the lake (hippos are the main reason the lake is so productive) and

as a result, destroying people's livelihoods.



"It's also putting money into the hands of the FDLR, and they're using

that money to buy weapons that they use to kill our rangers (we

received a report yesterday that they've bought two PKM machine guns

in Ishasha with the money from the sale of bushmeat).





(SOURCE: gorillacd.org/2012/08/21/caught-in-the-act/)



***



PHOTO CREDITS: gorillacd.org

Read More

Rise of the Baluba: Lt. Col. John Tshibangu goes AWOL & creates Tribal Militia to install Tshisekedi as Prez

(PHOTO: Lt .Col. John Tshibangu, 44, second-in-command of the FARDC

4th Military Region before desertion)



***



It's fortunate ridicule never kills anyone.





Otherwise, this buffoon, name of John Tshibangu, would be already dead

as we speak.





When he went AWOL with 12 other fellow tribesmen from the ranks of the

FARDC on August 12, John Tshibangu had the rank of lieutenant colonel

and was second-in-command of the 4th FARDC Military Region (both

Kasais), based in Kananga, Occidental Kasai.





But by the time he'd emerge to announce the creation of his Luba

tribal militia in a phone interview with Radio Okapi on Thursday,

August 16, he'd already promoted himself to lieutenant general!





Lt. Col. John Tshibangu thus skipped in a matter of days three FARDC

full military ranks: colonel, major general, and brigadier general.





Wow! At this rate, in just a few months' time, we might have another

"Marshall of Zaire" in our hands.





I'll however continue to address this SOB by his rank of lieutenant

colonel, until such time when the FARDC will confirm him as lieutenant

general, following intense MONUSCO-brokered negotiations with the DRC

government.





There's a rotgut moonshine in the Kasais called "tshitshampa" or "malakahia."





This rotgut is brewed from a mixture of fermented maize and rotten

manioc peels--all mixed with bhang.





And I suspect Lt. Col. John Tshibangu fills with "tshitshampa" one of

the military-issue canteens velcroed to his belt.





For there's no other way to explain his bizarre braggadocio, the wacky

mission statement of his action, and the ever changing name of his

tribal militia.





When he first came out of the woodwork, Lt. Col. John Tshibangu told

Radio Okapi his militia was called "Mouvement pour la revendication de

la vérité des urnes" [Movement for Claiming the Truth of the Ballot

Box].





Two days later, in another phone interview with the radical opposition

news website "Congo Indépendant," he now called his movement, the

"Armée du peuple congolais pour le changement et la démocratie"

[Congolese People's Army for Change and Democracy].





In both cases, Lt. Col. John Tshibangu failed to provide the sexy

acronym by which should also go by his racketeering and murdering

enterprise.





Be that as it may, that's only a question of details.





And it appears that Lt. Col. John Tshibangu doesn't bother with such

trivial things as details and may in fact have never ever heard of the

proverb, The devil is in the detail.





In any event, the main mission of Lt. Col John Tshibangu purports to

be to stop the "balkanization of the country."





The project of Lt. Col. John Tshibangu for the Congo can be unpacked

in a pitch of less than 30-second sound bite:





"The movement I am leading stems from a Congolese initiative one

hundred percent.





"We were hoping that the political personnel would find a political

solution to problems that arose after the much decried presidential

election of November 28, 2011.





"Nothing was done.





"We talked with some friends before making up our mind.





"The Congolese people is asking for change. Last November 28, Etienne

Tshisekedi wa Mulumba was elected President of the Republic.





"Our objective is to install him at the helm of the state."





And blah blah blah...





With this kind of flippancy, you've got to be as loco as the mad

lieutenant colonel himself to even think, as some opposition pols are

suggesting, that Angola is anywhere near this loquacious war-painted

tribal warlord.





What though Lt Col. John Tshibangu is an impenitent blabbermouth, yet

he's got a vast audience of slow-witted pro-Tshisekedi supporters in

the Congolese diaspora who call themselves "combatants."





A group of them has even set up a website dedicated to their tribal hero.





Lt. Col. John Tshibangu denies any link with M23--though one could

still see M23 painted all over the guy.





During Africa's World War, Lt. Col. John Tshibangu deserted the

Congolese army to join the RCD.





Then, when this movement of war profiteers splintered, Lt. Col. John

Tshibangu went with former warlord and current MP Antipas Mbusa

Nyamwisi, who recently vanished from Kinshasa and has since, as rumors

has it, defected to M23.





(Talking of rumors and vanishing MPs, it's being reported this evening

in Kinshasa official media outlets that former warlord and current MP

Roger Lumbala has defected to Kigali on his way from Paris. Lumbala

also happens to be a Luba!)





FARDC intelligence officers who are on the manhunt for Lt. Col. John

Tshibangu insist that the renegade officer was attempting to recruit

young Baluba men in the administrative "groupement" of Bakwa Tshiya,

at Miabi, in the Oriental Kasai Province, when they caught up with

him.





They claim he was planning to march with those recruits to North Kivu

to rejoin his pals of M23.





His activity at Bakwa Tshiya was recklessly unprofessional. Assuming

that as he was on Tshisekedi's turf, he could openly recruit fighters,

he was before long ratted on to military intelligence.





But when the officers stormed the compound where he was holed up, Lt.

Col. John Tshibangu fled on foot into the surrounding bush, leaving

behind his uniforms and his weapons.





The FARDC intelligence operatives then arrested the friend who was

harboring Lt. Col. John Tshibangu as well as other suspects found at

the scene.





This friend of the prattling would-be warlord happens to be a

journalist of Radio-Télé Autonome du Sud-Kasaï at Miabi.





Predictably, the FARDC and the police stormed the TV station where

they ransacked everything.





The journalist rights group "Journaliste en Danger" is denouncing the

"collateral damage" that the TV station represents.





***



(SOURCE Page Address:

www.lecongolais.cd/john-tshibangu-lhomme-qui-veut-chasser-joseph-kabila-du-pouvoir/)



***



(PHOTO CREDITS: Via: lecongolais.cd)

Read More

Kabila at SADC Maputo Talk Shop where leaders showed contempt for the People

(Prez Kabila mobbed by media upon arrival at Joaquim Chissano

Conference Centre, Maputo, August 17, 2012)



***



The heads of states or their representatives of the 16 member states

of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) held their 32nd

ordinary summit at Maputo, Mozambique, on August 17 and 18.





The regional bloc's summit was hailed for blasting Rwanda's aggression

of DRC; criticized for its slow pace in resolving the ongoing

political crises in Zimbabwe and Madagascar; and bemoaned for barring

access to the SADC Tribunal to citizens and civil society.





The heads of states summit came on the heels of SADC council of ministers.





Talking to the press on August 15, South African Foreign Minister

Maite Nkoane-Mashabane summed up the negative impact of insecurity

(DRC) and democracy crisis (Madagascar & Zim) on SADC countries:





"SADC will never achieve regional development and true integration

without regional stability and democratic governance."





In the summit final communiqué, read on August 18 by SADC Executive

Secretary Tomaz Augusto Salomão, the regional bloc condemned Rwanda

for its support of M23:





"On DRC, Summit noted with great concern that the security situation

in the Eastern part of DRC has deteriorated in the last three (3)

months, causing displacement of people and loss of lives and property.



"Summit also noted that this is being perpetrated by rebel groups with

assistance of Rwanda, and urged the latter to cease immediately its

interference that constitutes a threat to peace

and stability, not only of the DRC, but also of the SADC Region."





But strangely, on this same Congo conflict, SADC also wants its

"secretariat to collaborate with the International Conference of the

Great Lakes Region [ICGLR]Secretariat in pursuit of peace and security

in the Eastern DRC."





I've said it already here. Nothing positive for the DRC would ever

issue from the ICGLR, at the core of which the worst enemies of the

Congolese people--Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda--have built their nest

of vipers.





This kind of dereliction of duty, as it were, risks turning SADC into

an irrelevant forum.





An annual "talk-shop characterised by high-sounding" resolutions

without any concrete takeaways, as Njabulo Ncube of the Zimbabwean

weekly Financial Gazette rightly surmises in an article titled "Maputo

SADC Summit, another talk shop."





What the DRC needs right now is not empty talk, but tons of weapons

and urgent training of battle-ready troops as well as direct military

assistance.





Besides the DRC, the summit also dwelt at length on the Zimbabwean and

Malagasy political crises.





Zim journos report that PM Morgan Tsvangirai was left to left to kick

his heels in the lobby as the heads of states held their first

closed-session meeting.





Tsvangirai was so incensed he left Maputo without saying goodbye.





(Another leader to leave precipitately was President Jacob Zuma in the

wake of the Marikani massacre.)





What's more, SADC failed to resolve once and for all the political

crisis in Madagascar that has been simmering since the 2009 coup

staged by current president Andry Rajoelina.





The SADC proposal of "neither...nor"--that is, neither Rajoelina nor

deposed president Marc Ravalomanana will run for the next presidential

election--is a bitter pill to swallow for both parties.





Backers of Rajoelina are already questioning the impartiality of

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, elected as Chair of the

influential SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation,

just vacated by President Jacob Zuma.





They claim Kikwete is pro-Ravalomanana. But the latter's supporters

are in turn accusing SADC of being a private club of incumbent heads

of states and, as such, it is, as a body, pro-Rajoelina.





More damning, this charge of "privatization" of the bloc by southern

African presidents is now being echoed by the civil society leaders of

member states.





They charge that the SADC Tribunal has now been put out of reach of

common people by the Maputo Summit.





In other words, SADC citizens can't file lawsuit to bring their

leaders or institutions to account, despite the pressure of the "Save

SADC Tribunal" campaign that Archbishop Desmond Tutu joined.





Paragraph 24 of the Final Communiqué of the Maputo Summit sounds the

death knell of the wishful thinking of "Save SADC Tribunal" campaign

and its supporters of the ilk of Archbishop Tutu by stating that:





"[The] mandate [of the Tribunal] should be confined to interpretation

of the SADC Treaty and Protocols relating to disputes between Member

States."





Reacting to Paragraph 24 of the SADC Final Communiqué, the

Johannesburg-based Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) issued, on

August 20, a press release that quoted its Director, Nicole Fritz, as

saying that:





"The decision to deny the region's inhabitants any access to the

Tribunal is astounding and entirely

without any lawful basis.



[...]



"Civil society groups were worried that SADC leaders would conspire to

weaken the Tribunal but this is far worse than we had feared. SADC has

destroyed it.





"The decision flies in the face of the recommendations of both the

SADC-instituted review of the Tribunal and SADC's own Ministers

of Justice and Attorneys General.





"It is also completely at odds with the best practice of other

regional institutions and undermines the protection of human rights

and hopes for future economic growth and development.





"Our leaders have shown their contempt for all of us in southern

Africa and for the rule of law.





"Not only did they deny the region's citizens access to the Tribunal

but Member States almost

never bring legal cases against each other so the court will be a

complete waste of taxpayers' money."



***



(Page Address of SADC Maputo Summit Final Communiqué:

www.sadc.int/files/7713/4545/0483/Communique_32nd_Summit_of_Heads_of_States.pdf)



***



(Page Addree of SALC PRESS RELEASE:

www.southernafricalawcenter.org/news/item/News_Release_SADC_Leaders_Deal_Fatal_Blow_to_SADC_Tribunal_Shock_Decision_Denies_Citizen_s_Access_to_Court)



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Via: 25.media.tumblr.com & tumifromjoburg.tumblr.com

Read More

Scenario of blasting the Mullahcracy to smithereens

You may have heard this one already...





This past Wednesday, August 15, American journalist and blogger

Richard Silverstein posted an alleged Israeli draft plan leaked to him

by a former minister.





A plan to blast the mullahcracy of Iran to smithereens, which reads

like stuff from a sci-fi yarn.





I reformat it into shorter paragraphs as I'm writing this on a mobile phone.





THE PLAN:





"The Israeli attack will open with a coordinated strike, including an

unprecedented cyber-attack which will totally paralyze the Iranian

regime and its ability to know what is happening within its borders.





"The internet, telephones, radio and television, communications

satellites, and fiber optic cables leading to and from critical

installations—including underground missile bases at Khorramabad and

Isfahan—will be taken out of action.





"The electrical grid throughout Iran will be paralyzed and transformer

stations will absorb severe damage from carbon fiber munitions which

are finer than a human hair, causing electrical short circuits whose

repair requires their complete removal.





"This would be a Sisyphean task in light of cluster munitions which

would be dropped, some time-delayed and some remote-activated through

the use of a satellite signal.





"A barrage of tens of ballistic missiles would be launched from Israel

toward Iran.





"300km ballistic missiles would be launched from Israeli submarines in

the vicinity of the Persian Gulf.





"The missiles would not be armed with unconventional warheads, but

rather with high-explosive ordnance equipped with reinforced tips

designed specially to penetrate hardened targets.





"The missiles will strike their targets—some exploding above ground

like those striking the

nuclear reactor at Arak–which is intended to produce plutonium and

tritium—and the nearby heavy water production facility; the nuclear

fuel production facilities at Isfahan and facilities for

enriching uranium-hexaflouride.





"Others would explode under-ground, as at the Fordo facility.





"A barrage of hundreds of cruise missiles will pound command and

control systems, research

and development facilities, and the residences of senior personnel in

the nuclear and missile development apparatus.





"Intelligence gathered over years will be utilized to completely

decapitate Iran's professional and command ranks in these fields.





"After the first wave of attacks, which will be timed to the second,

the 'Blue and White' radar

satellite, whose systems enable us to perform an evaluation of the

level of damage done to the

various targets, will pass over Iran.



"Only after rapidly decrypting the satellite's data, will the

information be transferred directly to war planes making their way

covertly toward Iran.





"These IAF planes will be armed with electronic warfare gear

previously unknown to the wider public, not even revealed to our U.S.

ally.





"This equipment will render Israeli aircraft invisible.





"Those Israeli war planes which participate in the attack will damage

a short-list of targets which require further assault.





"Among the targets approved for attack—Shihab 3 and Sejil ballistic

missile silos, storage tanks for

chemical components of rocket fuel, industrial facilities for

producing missile control systems,

centrifuge production plants and more."





Oh my! Did I just hear Senator John McCain hum that Beach Boys song or

am I just imagining this?





(Page Address: www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/08/15/bibis-secret-war-plan/)



***





Coincidentally, on the same day that Richard Silverstein leaked the

assault plan, President Shimon Peres, a figurehead in a Parliamentary

system like Israel, said in a television interview:





"It's clear to us that we can't do it alone. We can only delay [Iran's

progress]. Thus it's clear to us

that we need to go together with America.





"There are questions of cooperation and of timetables, but as severe

as the danger is, at least this time

we're not alone."





This statement triggered the combined wrath of PM Benjamin "Bibi"

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barack who're now assaulting Peres

by the proxy of their aides.





According to today's editorial of Haaretz--oddly titled "The president

is not the enemy"-- "Netanyahu [...]was aggrieved by the chutzpah of

President Shimon Peres, who dared to disturb the monopoly that he and

Defense Minister Ehud Barak had secured over the debate about whether

to bomb Iran."





(Page Address: www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-president-is-not-the-enemy-1.459121)



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Daniel Bar On/haaretz.com

Read More

Dr. Emmanuel de Mérode's Lay of the Land & Brief History of Violence at Virunga National Park

(PHOTO: General Kakule Sikula aka Lafontaine whose Mai-Mai militia

PARECO occupies the western shore of Lake Edward. HE IS A MURDERER OF

PARK RANGERS.)



***



(Page Address of Dr. de Mérode's MAP detailing current positions of

various militia outfits occupying the Park:

gorillacd.org/files/2012/08/militias2.jpg)



***



In an authoritative post titled "Militia Groups" published today,

Virunga National Park Chief Warden Dr. Emmanuel de Mérode brilliantly

achieved the following 3 goals:





1) To give a theory of the rise of militia activity and insurgency in

eastern DRC, where the state's "monopoly of violence [has been]

replaced by zones of unsettled sovereignties and loyalties" (see

Thomas Bloom Hansen & Finn Stepputat, eds., Sovereign Bodies):





"Armed militias have two unique opportunities: the fragility of state

security, coupled with the illegal access natural resources.



"This makes the park and its surroundings fertile ground for an

intricate mosaic of armed militias" [more below];





2) To give his rationale for : a) his fierce armed resistance against

the FDLR, which occupies the "southern half" of the Park, and b)the

Rangers' "pacific coexistence" with M23:





"They [FDLR terrorists] are our biggest problem. They have killed 11

of our rangers since January last year, and are responsible for some

of the worst attrocities in the region"; and, more importantly,





3) To give the lay of the ground at the Park--complete with a tactical

map of sorts--as well as a brief history of violence at and around the

Virunga National Park.





I was particularly astonished to discover that there is no longer just

one single FDLR group but a few FDLR splinter groups--of which at

least 3 operate in the Park (see below).



***



EXCERPT FROM DR. DE MERODE'S POST:





"For a long time, we considered the park to be affected by three main

illegal armed groups.





"The FDLR (Rwandan) in the South, the Mai Mai (Congolese) in the

centre and the ADF/Nalu

(Ugandan) in the north.





"In recent months, things have become a little more complicated with

the arrival of the M23 [...]





"They're all a threat to population and represent the greatest of

concerns for the park authorities.





"In the South, the M23 are a new arrival, though based on a presence

that was always here.





"The movement was born of the CNDP which used to be under the

leadership of the rebel General

Laurent Nkunda, currently under house arrest in Rwanda.





"It came into being in April when former members of the CNDP mutinied

under the pretext that the March 23, 2009 agreements that ended the

CNDP war of 2007 and 2008 were not respected.





"Although they are a rebellion against the government, there is an

understanding on all sides that the park needs to be protected and

that the park's rangers must continue their work in the areas that are

controlled by the M23.





"This is fairly unique, partly as a result Virunga's status as a World

Heritage Site, [thus] offering legitimacy to our claim of being

neutral in the current conflict, [and] partly because the park is

gradually being rebuilt as a government institution genuinely trying

to fulfill its role.





"The southern half of the park is home to several FDLR groups.





"They have a long history in the region dating back to Rwandan

Genocide in 1994, and are an assimilation of the Interahamwe, brutal

irregulars responsible for the worst crimes during the genocide, and

of the pre-genocide Rwandan regular army as well as a collection of

opportunists including some Congolese nationals.





"The group continues to commit war crimes, including murder, torture,

rape, persecution and the recruitment of child soldiers, and has

gained significant prominence in recent months as a result of the

instability caused by the M23 war.



"[...]





"Of these [FDLR splinter groups], the FDLR SOKI are our biggest

concern, as they now control the east of the park and have completely

encircled Lulimbi, where a unit of our rangers are trying to maintain

their presence.





"The government army and the UN peacekeepers have fled this area and

the FDLR have taken over.





"The FDLR Soki have attacked us in the past, such in June last year,

when they ambushed one of our

vehicles and captured, killed and decapitated one of our rangers,

Asani Sebuyoli, near Ishasha.





"They've attacked us twice in the past two weeks.





"Two of our rangers were wounded, and four of theirs were killed

during these attacks.





[Dr. de Mérode may be referring to the FDLR dawn attack of July 20 at

Nyakakoma. 12 FARDC troops backed 14 park rangers in repulsing the

assailants.





[One FARDC soldier was killed and the "commanding officer wounded in

the foot" during the engagement.





[At the time, Dr. de Mérode gave the death toll of 3 among the FDLR

assailants. See my post of July 22 and Dr. de Mérode's post of July

21.]





"Other FDLR groups live and operate in the park.





"A strange group is the FDLR Mandevu who operate just north of Goma,

living off the illegal

charcoal from the park.





"These are perhaps best defined as 'rebels without a cause,' other

than looting and pillaging, that is.





"They were probably responsible for the killing of two of our rangers

in September last year.





"They tend to switch sides very quickly, based on the financial

opportunities available to them.





"The Mai Mai are a mixed group that fight amongst themselves as much

as they fight with the

government forces.





"The movement has its origins in the 1960s, but only really came

together after the beginning of the second Congolese Civil War in

1998.





"The main group that affects us are called the Mai Mai Pareco and come

under the command of "General" Sikuli Lafontaine.





"Rangers Safari and Magayani were killed by this group in January 2009

and September 2011.





"The ADF/Nalu are a strange Ugandan islamic group that have been

living in the savannas north

of Lake Edward and in the rainforests of the lower Semliki river for

several decades.





"They are reportedly highly structured and organised and potentially

very dangerous, but tend to avoid confrontations with the Congolese

authorities.





"They are the only armed group that tends to buy its supplies from the

local population rather to

loot them.





"That said, there was a violent incident in 2005 when two of our

rangers were abducted by the ADF/Nalu and were never seen again.





"They have had several run-ins with the army, some of them with deadly

consequences.





"There are a number of other smaller groups such as the ex-RCD-K/ML,

who are a remnant from the

1998-2003 civil war, and who attacked Kasindi in the northern sector

of the park three weeks ago,

killing 2 soldiers, but not that much is known about them.





[The RCD-K/ML was once led by controversial MP Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi,

who has since pulled a disappearing act in Kinshasa.]





"Other smaller militia groups come and go when the opportunities arise.





"Sadly, the failure to re-establish the rule of law by the Government,

despite UN support, the chronic

youth unemployment and the widespread availability of weapons, all

contribute to making armed groups an attractive option for young men

in eastern congo.





"That's it. For now."





***



SOURCE: Page Address: gorillacd.org/2012/08/18/militia-groups/



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Via: urubyiruko.wordpress.com

Read More

ICGLR "Neutral Force": A Masquerade in Progress

(PHOTO: Alexandre Luba Ntambo, DRC Deputy Premier in charge of Defense)



***



The subcommittee of Defense Ministers set up at the August 7-8 Kampala

Summit of the heads of state of the International Conference on the

Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) finally convened in Goma, the provincial

capital of North Kivu.





And on Thursday, August 16, according to DRC Defense Minister

Alexandre Luba Ntambo, the subcommittee retained the following main

recommendations to be submitted by August 28 to President Yoweri

Museveni, the current ICGLR chair:





1) Troops from Burundi, DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda won't be part of the

"neutral force";





2) Troops making up this force would come from the Great Lakes region

and Africa;





3) The "neutral force" will be 4,000-strong. Another sub-subcommittee

will determine the "structrure" of this force;





4) The "neutral force" will be based at 4 "deployment zones": Beni,

Ruwenzori (an administrative sector near Beni, I'd assume), Walikale and Masisi;





5) The Defense Ministers urge M23 to cease all military activity and

to return to their "initial position" at Runyonyi in North Kivu.





To get the gist of the masquerade in progress that this plan

represents, you've got to have the map of North Kivu in front of you.





On this map, you'd notice that the deployment zone is a rough

isosceles triangle with the two base tips being Walikale (west) and

Masisi (east)--respectively at about 160 and more than 80 kms of Goma.





(The distances are my own estimates based on the scales of the maps I'm using.)





Both of these towns are therefore at about the same distance from the

border with Rwanda.





The northernmost tip of this triangle is Beni, about 60 km of Kasindi,

at the border with Uganda. Beni is at more than 200 km of Masisi.





(Again, these distances are my own estimates.)





Walikale and Masisi are areas infested by Mai-Mai militias and the

FDLR, but still under FARDC control. The same configuration prevails

in Beni.





As the DRC doesn't participate in the "neutral force," I wonder what

would be the synergy (if any) between the latter, on the one hand, and

the FARDC and local civil authorities on the other hand.





Add to this mosaic the MONUSCO, which is very present in the area, and

you obtain a volatile mix without some form of integration or

coordination in the field.





Furthermore, as this "neutral force" won't be operating in a

no-man's-land but on Congolese territory, it's only logical to expect

it to have some kind of collaboration with Congolese civil authorities

on the ground.





Otherwise, this whole thing wouldn't make any sense.





And then again it wasn't meant to make sense anyway. It's a

masquerade on a vast scale.





The attitude of the Defense Ministers vis-à-vis the M23 is bizarre.





They aren't telling the M23 to lay down their weapons or else. They

are urging M23 insurgents to return to their "initial position" as if

they were stakeholders of sorts.





Isn't the "neutral force" a foe to M23?





And, let's entertain for a moment the unlikely scenario that M23

would lose their marbles and heed this call to withdraw to their

initial position, what would then happen afterward?





Would the "neutral force" then move in to pacify the area as the M23

insurgents look on with arms folded like lambs to the slaughter?





By the way, this initial position happens to be on the Rwandan border

where this "neutral force" was supposed to be deployed in the first

place and where I don't see it moving to any time soon.





I won't even discuss the fact that Rwanda has still to come clean as

regards its support to M23; that the funding of this whole operation

is still in the air; and that the contribution in troops by African

countries is quite improbable.





The DRC shouldn't have been involved in this masquerade from the get go.





The Congolese government needs to focus on building a dissuasive army

instead of wasting time in those unending meetings.





(By the way, while Rwanda continues to arm itself unfettered, a

crippling arms embargo shackles the DRC.)





As I already said in a previous post, this is no plan for peace; it's

a plan to buy time for Rwanda.





And some leaders in this ICGLR outfit look more and more to me like a

ruthless gang of double-crossers and war profiteers.



***



PHOTO CREDITS: John Bompengo/radiookapi.net

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World Sexiest Prez to David Cameron: Shove it, mate!

(PHOTO: Ecuadorian Prez Rafael Correa, a third world hero)



***



Were the Brits kidding by threatening to storm the Ecuadorian embassy

after Ecuador granted asylum to Julian Assange or were they just

kidding?





It seems that they were dead serious and they even claim to be still

keeping that option on the table, though The Guardian thinks they've

backtracked.





On Wednesday, the British government issued the following

"unprecedented" threat to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London:





"You need to be aware that there is a legal base in the UK, the

Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, that would allow us to take

actions in order to arrest Mr Assange in the current premises of the

embassy. We sincerely hope that we do not reach that point, but if you

are not capable of resolving this matter of Mr Assange's presence in

your premises, this is an open option for us."





Nice!





Had China followed this line of reasoning, the blind activist lawyer

Chen Guangcheng would be rotting today in a Chinese prison.





Talking of China, this kind of threat will never be directed at a

Chinese embassy. Only to the embassy of a tiny third world country

like Ecuador.





What's more, the 1987 act the British government is referring to only

pertains to extreme cases.





Extreme cases like the shootout at the London Libyan embassy on April

17, 1984, or the attempted kidnapping in London of Umaru Diko on July

5 by the Nigerian government agents who drugged him and put him in a

diplomatic bag!





By the way, it was both of these extreme acts of banditry in the

premises of embassies that led to the enactement of the Diplomatic and

Consular Premises Act of 1987.





At any rate, Rafael Correa was unfazed by the diplomatically unbecoming insult.





Correa went ahead and granted Assange political asylum, basically

telling David Cameron: Shove it, mate!



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Via: borev.net

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Tactics Analysis: Virunga National Park Rangers as unwitting allies of M23 insurgents

(PHOTO: Ranger Luc "watches the savannah from a Lulimbi

watchtower" close to the eastern shore of Lake Edward)



***





On their list of shifting demands to justify their insurgency, the M23

have now found a new fake one: the military and logistical support the

DRC is providing to the FDLR, the Rwandan terrorist outfit.





The M23's newly found pretext comes amid fresh reports alleging that

for over a week now, Rwanda has been intensifying its support to the

insurgents as Ugandan troops have entered into the Congo through the

Bunagana border crossing post.





This new intelligence was revealed by Ernest Kyaviro--spokesperson of

Julien Paluku, North Kivu Province governor--in an interview with

Radio Okapi this Thursday, August 16.





Rwandan reinforcement consists in hundreds of Motorola radio sets and

brand new 4-wheel drive trucks at the border area around

Rutshuru-centre as well as on the hills of Mbuzi, Runyonyi and

Ntamugenga in the district of Bweza.





On the other hand, independent sources on the ground told Radio Okapi

that Ugandan troops have been seen entering DRC territory through the

border crossing post of Bunagana, also under M23 occupation.





(see Page Address:

radiookapi.net/actualite/2012/08/16/nord-kivu-le-gouvernorat-accuse-le-rwanda-louganda-de-renforcer-le-m23-rutshuru/)





And this week, MONUSCO has once more denounced the recruitment of

child soldiers by M23.





***



While this new development in the ongoing war is unfolding, a

disburting tactical pattern is also emerging on the ground,

particularly in the area of the Virunga National Park.





The pattern is one of two abutting peaceful neighboring micro-states

set up by the FDLR (slightly northwest of the Ugandan border) and by

the M23 right south of the territory controlled by the FDLR, by the

Rwandan border.





And strangely, this proximity hasn't so far resulted in direct armed

clashes between the M23 and the FDLR.





In point of fact, these two outfits seemingly respect each other's

turfs, where they've set up rogue civil administrations to collect

taxes on residents and businesses as well as tolls on trucks.





This shocking promiscuity is, as I just said, all the more evident at

Virunga National Park.





There, Chief Warden Dr. Emmanuel de Mérode's rangers are hanging by

the skin of their teeth to a small patch of territory around Lulimbi

on the eastern shore of Lake Edward while all the surrounding area is

under the firm control of the FDLR.





The western and southern sides of the Park are under the control of the M23.





In fact, Dr. de Mérode and his rangers live in M23-controlled

territory (including the park's HQ at Rumangabo) where, thus far, he

and his rangers have seemingly thus far been fortunately left to their

own devices.





Note that I've just used the adverb "seemingly" two times above--for

the following obvious reasons:





1) The pacific coexistence between the M23 and FDLR micro-states is

only apparent; and





2) More importantly, if Dr. de Mérode and his rangers are free to roam

the Park fully armed and if they haven't so far been disarmed by the

M23, this is simply because, unbeknownst to them, they've been playing

all along a critical part in the tactics of M23.





Rwandan battlefield managers embedded within M23 have developped a

brilliant, successful, cost-effective and cunningly insidious tactical

"scheme."





This "scheme" is to outsource the defense of the buffer zone between

M23 and the FDLR to the Rangers of the Virunga National Park.





This allows the M23 to focus, unfettered, on one of their main stated

objectives: the capture by attrition of the provincial capital of

Goma.





Small wonder then that the M23 invested such an inordinate amount of

resources in capturing Rumangabo, where they've shifted a number of

their troops and supplies.





Again, let me stress the fact that Dr. de Mérode and his rangers are

by no means privy to or willing participants in this tactical scheme.





But the fact remains that by going after the FDLR, the Park rangers

turn, in so doing, into objective allies of M23.





For, in an ideal warfare situation, 3 scenarios would have already

played out at the Park:





1) The Rangers would fight both M23 and the FDLR;





2) The M23, which claim to be after the FDLR, would have already

launched coordinated attacks alongside the Park rangers against the

Rwandan terrorist group; or





3) The Rangers would have withdrawn altogether from the Park to let

these two so-called belligerents come to direct

confrontation--unfortunately, with devastating consequences to

wildlife.





After all, isn't the FDLR one of the main targets of M23?





But as the situation stands right now, there's no other way to

describe it in tactical terms: as I said above, unwittingly, the Park

rangers are a godsend for the M23.



***



PHOTO CREDITS: gorillacd.org

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US War Crimes Chief Stephen Rapp in Kinshasa: Rwanda support to M23 undermines stability in the region

(PHOTO: Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp)



***



Stephen J. Rapp, United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes

Issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice, is visiting the

African Great Lakes region, visited Kinshasa this week.





According to the State Department, "Ambassador Rapp is on foreign

travel to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, where he will

participate in official meetings on global criminal

justice issues."





Rapp was recently apparently misquoted in a report by The Guardian

that claimed he was threatening the indictment of top Rwandan leaders

by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed in

the DRC by the Rwandan-backed M23 insurgents.





On Thursday, August 9, Rapp held a press briefing at Kinshasa American

Cultural Center.





On Friday, August 10, he flew to eastern Congo, before heading to

Kigali for talks with Rwandan authorities, according to news reports.





At his press briefing, Rapp made the following statement (my

translation from the French):





" We are very concerned, and we continue to monitor the deteriorating

security and humanitarian situation in eastern Congo, as well as the

increase, noted by various international and Congolese humanitarian

organizations, of cases of gender-based violence, abduction and forced

recruitment of children by some armed groups.





"We firmly condemn such acts of violence.





"The United States government will do everything possible to help the

government of the DRC bring to justice those responsible of such acts,

so as to have the rule of law prevail, and to ensure that they are

promptly held to account for their acts.





"The UN Security Council and the High Commissioner on Human Rights

Navi Pillay have recently cited five senior officers who have in the

past participated in atrocities against civilians and who should be

brought to justice: Bosco Ntaganda, Sultani Makenga,

Baudouin Ngaruye, Innocent Zimurinda and Innocent Kaina.





"The increasing unrest in eastern DRC is the direct consequence of the

mutiny issued from the Congolese armed forces and triggered by the

armed group called 'M23.'





"That has forced the Congolese armed forces and the UN peacekeeping

force to redirect resources slated for other regions that are prey to

insecurity.





"We support efforts by the DRC to put an end to the M23 mutiny and to

bring to justice Bosco Ntaganda, who is under an arrest warrant of the

International Criminal Court, as well as any other alleged author of

human rights violations among the leaders of the mutiny, who,

according to various reports, are allegedly recruiting child soldiers.





"The United States is very concerned by the support of Rwanda to M23.





"We have asked Rwanda to stop and to prevent such support from its

territory, to the extent that that support has undermined stability in

the region.





"Violence must stop and a long-term peaceful solution needs to be

found, which respects the sovereignty of the Congolese state and which

allows the DRC government to fully control its territory and its

security forces."



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Via: international.ucla.edu

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