Dr. Denis Mukwege evacuated from Bukavu for unknown destination

(PHOTO: Rama Yade, then French minister for Human Rights, left, tours
Bukavu Panzi Hospital with Dr. Denis Mukwege; Monday, June 8, 2008)

***

Two days following the attempt on his life, under armed escort by
MONUSCO peacekeepets, Dr. Denis Mukwege, alongside his family, left
Bukavu in the morning of Saturday, October 27, for an unknown
destination, according to newswires.

Radio Okapi reports that Dr. Mukwege and his family boarded an
Eco-Flight aircraft at Bukavu Kavumu Airport for an unknown
destination.

A source close to Dr. Mukwege's is quoted by Radio Okapi as saying:
"They were evacuated for security reasons at the request of his
Western friends."

The Radio Okapi report quotes provincial authorities asserting that
the police investigation on the attempted assassination of Dr. Mukwege
and the murder of his night watchman are still "ongoing," though the
murderers are still at large.

Contrary to what my Bukavu sources told me, Radio Okapi claims that
the assailants donned civilian clothes.

The departure of Dr. Mukwenge is undoubtedly a terrible loss for the
mass rape patients at his Panzi Hospital.

I got the privilege to meet and to photograph Dr. Mukwege on Thursday,
June 30, 2011, at the Woodrow Wilson Center, in Washington, DC.

He is a tall and charismatic figure who exudes confidence, comfort,
and compassion.

His penetrating, intelligent eyes all focused on you as you talked to
him and the soothing smile that seemed never to depart from his lips
were certainly much prized by his patients who were gra, I thought at
the time as I briefly chatted with the man nicknamed "The Angel of
Bukavu."

Dr. Mukwege was one of the panelists of an event billed as "Sexual Violence and
the Political and Security Implications in the Congo."

Other impressive panelists included Maria Otero, US Undersecretary of
State for Democracy and Global Affairs; Mark L. Schneider, of the
International Crisis Group; Steve McDonald, of the Woodrow Wilson
Center; and Dr. Faida Mitifu, DRC ambassador to Washington and a
native of Bukavu.

According to the notes I took of his remarks--and encapsulated in my
post of of July 3, 2011, titled "Congolese Women Sexual Terror Victims
as sitting ducks"--Dr. Mukwege argued that sexual terrorism was a
sophisticated and "carefully planned strategy," allowing mass rapists
to "create a space for themselves" in order to achieve the following:

1) To extract minerals and other resources;

2) To effect the destruction of the social fabric of a community by
carrying out broad daylight public rapes in front of victims'
relatives;

3) To weaken and undo the political and social strength of local
communities; and

4) To impact the demography of an area (mass rape is therefore a
sophisticated form of ethnic cleansing or "femicide," that is, the
intentional and targeted destruction of women by rape and infliction
of genital injuries with bayonets or other sharp objects).

As I re-read this Dr. Mukwege's anthropological theory of sexual
terrorism, it now dawns on me that the scenario of a robbery gone awry
that Thursday evening just doesn't hold water.

It was a planned assassination attempt.

And by killing or forcing Dr. Mukwege to leave Bukavu, sexual
terrorists have added another layer of buffer to consolidate the
"space" they've created for themselves in the Kivus.

--(With www.radiookapi.net, newswires, & materials from this blog)--

***
PHOTO CREDITS: Via: www.3tamis.org

Read More

Bukavu: 1) City on lockdown; & 2) Details of deadly home invasion at Dr. Denis Mukwege's domicile

(PHOTO: Dr. Faida Mitifu, DRC Ambassador to Washington (left), & Dr. Denis Mukwege; Thursday, June 30, 2011,
Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC)

***

1) City on virtual lockdown

Sources in Bukavu tell me today that the provincial capital of North Kivu was on virtual lockdown this Saturday morning after a night of shooting spree by angry FARDC soldiers.

The anger of the the soldiers was sparked by the killing of one of their elements at Uvira.

Details of this killing at Uvira weren't readily available.

Those sources say that, given the tense atmosphere in the city, most residents stayed home this morning.

Meanwhile, provincial authorities shut down border crossing points to the Rwandan city of Cyagungu.

***

2) Details emerge of deadly home invasion at Dr. Denis Mukwege's domicile

Details and motives of Thursday's brutal attack against Dr. Denis Mukwege, his family, and his driver are still sketchy and baffling.

But according to the same sources alleging the FARDC nightly shooting spree, five "robbers," in army fatigues, had invaded the domicile of Dr. Mukwege in the posh quarter of the peninsula of Muhumba--within walking distance of the MONUSCO HQ.

Dr. Mukwege had just returned to Bukavu from Brussels.

The sources speculate that the motive of the home invasion was "robbery."

"As Dr. Mukwege was returning from Belgium," one of the sources told me, "the robbers assumed he had plenty of cash in his home."

It appears that after entertaining some guests, Dr. Mukwege had accompanied them but on his way back home he was then jumped by the five "robbers."

The five bandits then forced at gun point Dr. Mukwege and the night watchman into the garage where the two victims were tied and locked.

The five "robbers" then stormed the main residence where they attacked Dr. Mukwege's family, tying and locking them in the living room as they ransacked the residence in search of money.

At one point, Dr. Mukwege and the night watchman broke free and made a run for it; but before getting to the gate of the residence, they were spotted by the five armed men, who wildly strafed them with automatic gunfire.

The night watchman was struck by a bullet in the back of the head and was instantly killed; whereas Dr. Mukwege, though unscathed, also hit the ground and played dead.

As the gunshots could have raised the alarm at the nearby MONUSCO HQ, the "robbers" took off in Dr. Mukwege's vehicle.

But the "robbery" doesn't square with the narrative of Dr. Mukwege, who is calling the deadly home invasion an "assassination attempt" by a squad of hitmen contracted by those frowning upon his medical engagement and advocacy on behalf of mass rape victims.

In a phone interview Friday, Dr. Mukwege reacted with "shock," adding that he has been "saved by a miracle."

Radio Okapi gives the following different version of the incident:

"witnesses report that the assailants, numbering four, introduced themselves to the watchman as guests of the doctor.

"Once inside the house, wielding guns, they ordered children to not raise alarm.

"Dr. Mukwege who was readying himself to get into his car through the kitchen door came face to face with another assailant who took the ignition key from him.

"Taking in the scene, the watchman rushed to the spot, yelling to raise neighbors.

"one of the bandits who was in the living room came out and shot the watchman, who died on the spot.

"In the meantime, the physician went into the house, managing to avoid the gunshots discharged in his direction.

"The assailants then fled in Dr. Mukwege's SUV.

"The car was found this Friday morning in a street of the Commune of Kadutu.

"The police arrived at the residence of the physician, located in the vicinity of the headquarter of MONUSCO, one hour after the incident had taken place."

--(With sources in Bukavu, newswires, Kinshasa media, & radiookapi.net)

***
PHOTO: Alex Engwete

Read More

North Kivu Gov curbs border crossings as M23 metastasizes into Revolutionary Army of Congo

(PHOTO 1: Goma resident wounded by grenade blast, Monday, October 8)



(PHOTO 2: Nganda Nova, Goma, Saturday, October 13, 7:15 p.m. Not one

single beer sold that evening)



***



According to AFP and newswires, M23 metastasized this past Sunday into

what its spokesperson, self-anointed "bishop" Jean-Marie Runiga,

dubbed the Revolutiomary Army of the Congo.



Runiga was making this statement at the border crossing city of

Bunagana, upon returning from Uganda where he was in consultation with

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the so-called "mediator" of the

North Kivu armed conflict.



But, as it turns out, Uganda has just been charged by a UN Report as

another enabler of M23 qua Revolutionary Army of Congo.



Runiga added:



"We are witnessing the reinforcement of military positions of the

FARDC on the frontline where the FDLR and the FARDC are gearing up for

what they call the final assault on our positions."



Runiga vowed that the insurgents will defend themselves and repel any

assault against their positions.



The claim that the FARDC gang up with the FDLR figures in the long

worn-out Rwanda's talking points to justify its repeated aggression of

the DRC.



In the meanwhile, insecurity and paranoia have become bywords for the

city of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu Province.



Blogger-journalist Charly Kasereka chronicles this deleterious climate

in the besieged city on his blog Actu du Kivu.



The most recent worrisome development, reports Kasereka, are grenade attacks.



Typically, still according to Charly Kasereka, those grenades are set

up as booby traps in the streets or as drive-by attacks whereby

grenades are thrown into the crowds from speeding

motorcycles--obtaining scores of civilian casualties.



The use of motorcycles in those attacks has led city and provincial

authorities to decree citywide ban on motorcycle rides after 7 p.m.

But as motorcycles-taxis are the only means of transportation for

Gomatracians--or Goma residents--this ban has in effect "killed"

nightlife in Goma.



Nightclub owners and street walkers have even threatened to

demonstrate to vent their displeasure.



And, to make matters worse, North Kivu Governor decided on Sunday,

October 21, to shut down the border crossing between Goma and the

Rwandan city of Gisenyi from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., "pursuant to the

[central] government orders dated October 19, 2012."



The two border crossings at Goma--known as "La Petite Barrière" and

"La Grande Barrière"--have been "experimentally" operating on a 24/7

basis.



Strangely, insecurity is also prevalent in some quarters of the slums

of Kinshasa, where machete-wielding "kulunas" are mugging residents,

at times in broad daylight.



Two days ago, I went out for dinner with friends in downtown Kinshasa.

At around 8 p.m., I got a call from family members frantically

advising that I spend the night at my friend's downtown as "kulunas"

have stormed my neighborhood.



--(With AFP, radiookapi.net, actudukivu.blogspot.com, & newswires)--



***

PHOTO CREDITS: Charly Kasereka

Via: actudukivu.blogspot.com

Read More

Kinshasa: François Hollande makes a stink and Congolese & experts see flop

(PHOTO: Clockwise: French Overseas Minister Victorin Lurel, François

Hollande, Etienne Tshisekedi; & Albert Moleka, Tshisekedi's spokesman.

Kinshasa, Maison de France, Saturday, October 13, 2012)



***



In his comment to the previous post, David Aronson of "Congo

Resources" advocacy blog, criticized the stance of some Congolese

oppositionists who were pushing for the cancelation of François

Hollande's participation at the 14th Francophony Summit in Kinshasa.



Aronson wrote he thought "it's better for Hollande to go to Kinshasa

and make a stink than stay home in protest."



And come here in Kinshasa and make a stink, Hollande did both.



Hollande, who flew in Kinshasa from Dakar in the morning of October

23, went out of his way to be as much disagreeable-- humanly and

undiplomatically--as possible to President Joseph Kabila.



To be sure, there were the handshakes and the smirks with Kabila and

the DRC first lady, Olive Lembe, in front of the cameras.



But at the morning 35-minute closed-door meeting with Kabila,

Hollande is reported to have been blunt, almost "insulting," according

to one angry protocol official familiar with what had transpired

--bloviating on the fundamentals of democracy and human rights;

playing the part of the pedantic Dr. Know-It-All who loves listening

to the sound of his own voice.



(Kabila belatedly countered this charge of flouting democracy and

human rights at a press briefing on Sunday, at the close of the

Summit.



Kabila said:



"The Democratic Republic of Congo, our country, is proud of democracy

practised in this country. The DRC feels in no way ashamed as to the

level of democracy, freedom, [and] the situation of human rights.")



Talking to the press after the closed-door meeting with Kabila and

with the latter standing mum by his side as his silent sidekick,

Hollande claimed there were good stuff in the offing in the DRC which

he's already applauded--like the upcoming reform of the national

electoral commission as well as the soon to be created independent

national commission on human rights.



In other words, anyhing positive has yet to be done.



Then followed the public slap on the face of Kabila, the host of the Summit.



Hollande was the only head of state in attendance who didn't applaud

Kabila at the end of the speech he delivered at the opening of the

Summit.



And when he took to the lectern in the congress hall of the Palais du

Peuple, the seat of Parliament stunningly redecorated and refurbished

by the Chinese, Hollande went for the jugular:



"It is in French that the 1789 revolutionaries had proclaimed and

therefore written the Declaration of Human and Citizens' Rights.



"Francophony should carry democracy, human rights, pluralism, respect

for freedom of expression, the affirmation that every single human

being ought to be able to choose their leaders."



Speaking to the press at the end of his participation in the Summit,

Hollande continued his ad-hominen attacks on Kabila.



He said in part:



"I also came here, in Kinshasa, to speak clearly as I committed myself

to so doing in Dakar--that is, I don't change discourses depending on

locations and depending on interlocutors.



"I say not what I think but that which France carries as message, as

principles, as values."



This Hollande-speak is construed by Congolese ruling elites to be

nothing less than a "relentless neocolonial assault on Kabila and the

Congolese people," as one Kinshasa University senior academic official

put it to me.



(The same academic told me it was about time the DRC switched from the

"dead tongue of French" to the ''language of the future and sciences

that English represents," pointing out in passing that it was an

African, Léopold Sedar Senghor, who'd coined the word "Francophonie,

not the unintelligent François Hollande.")



In the meantime, Hollande's "relentless" assault continued unabated at

the unveiling of the commemorative plaque for the slain rights

activist Floribert ''Flori" Chebeya at Kinshasa French Cultural

Center, where a new media library center has just been named after

Chebeya.



Talking at the ceremony in front of the families of the late Chebeya

and Fidèle Bazana (Chebeya's driver), Hollande said:



"If we are doing this, it is so that there's a trial, that the

presumed culprits be brought to justice"; adding that there were still

"unacceptable realities" in the DRC.



Hollande was deliberately ignoring the fact that the case was tried;

that the culprits found guilty and sentenced; that the case is now

being tried on appeal.



Crowning his defiance of Kabila, Hollande met with the "historic

oppositionist" (Hollande's own words) Etienne Tshisekedi in the early

evening of Saturday at the Maison Française.



Strangely, Tshisekedi, ordinarily batshit crazy, was unusually

cool-headed, and more importantly, clear-headed about the

relationships between his country and a foreign power.



Emerging from the meeting with Hollande, Tshisekedi answered a journo,

who wanted to know whether he felt any added sense of legitimacy in

his meeting the French president, by stating:



"Legitimacy in the Congo can only stem from the people. In France, I

don't see whether another person could come from abroad to legitimize

whomever in France. It's exactly the same thing in our country."



Be that as it might, Congolese critics of Hollande's negative attitude

toward Kabila points to his "neocolonial cavalier attitude" in meeting

with Tshisekedi in the presence of the French "Ministre d'Outre-Mer,"

who is in charge of France's overseas territories, some of which are

still reclaiming their independence from France.



A feeling somewhat echoed by Serge Michailof, associate researcher at

the Paris-based Institut de Relations Internationales (IRIS) and a

consultant for the World Bank, who, in an interview with the Parisian

daily Le Journal du Dimanche published on the same day that Hollande

was antagonizing Kabila, bluntly assessed the French President's

perfomance in Kinshasa as follows:



"François Hollance has evinced a will to frankness. Though he denies

this, he has a self-righteous tone about it which I find disturbing.



"Let's take the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).



"The French president recalled the doubtful conditions of the

re-election of Joseph Kabila.



"It's a reality, but it is inappropriate.



"That country has just emerged from a civil war that has lasted 10

years and that has cost 4 million lives.



"The political equilibrium is very fragile and François Hollande puts

it at peril by receiving Etienne Tshisekedi, an 82-year old historic

oppositionist.



"You've got to be careful; on the equilibrium of the DRC depends the

equilibrium of the whole Central Africa.



"François Hollande hardly knows Africa and he was poorly briefed [by

his aides]."



A few days ago, DRC Media Minister called this lack of proper

briefing, a "deficit of information" on the Congo on the part of

François Hollande.



In Kinshasa streets meanwhile, feelings vary between derision of

Kabila for having been so brazenly mocked on his home turf and anger

directed at him for having allowed Hollande to trample on the

sovereignty of the DRC as well as to openly insult its head of state.



--(With lejdd.fr; newswires; Kinshasa media & Radio-Trottoir)--



***



PHOTO CREDITS:

AFP PHOTO POOL /BERTRAND LANGLOIS

Read More

French Prez blasts Kinshasa & Kigali in front of Ban Ki-moon

(PHOTO: UNSG Ban Ki-moon and French Prez François Hollade at the

Elysée Palace, Wednesday, October 9)



***



Three days before the opening of the Francophony Summit in Kinshasa, a

summit which the French president will attend, François Hollande

undiplomatically blasted the Kinshasa regime for its allegedly

"unaccepable" anti-democratic practices and Kigali for its

"aggression" on the DRC.



Hollande made those remarks at the joint press briefing he held with

Ban at the Elysée Palace on Tuesday, October 9.



After mentioning the two other subjects discussed at the meeting with

Ban--the situation in Mali (occupied by Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamists)

and in Syria-- President Hollande said [my translation]:



"The third subject we tackled is the meeting in Kinshasa, the

Francophony Summit, to which the United Nation pays a lot of

attention, since this organization is conscious of its interest, its

diversity, its cultural and linguistic plurality.



"Top level relationships exist between the International Organization

of Francophony and the United Nations.



"Besides, their objectives are the same: to allow conciliation, to

develop a democratic system, to nurture values, to give to culture its

due.



"But this summit will take place in Kinshasa, in the DRC, with two

concerns I personally have in mind.



"The first one is the situation in that country, which is absolutely

unacceptable in terms of the rights of democracy and of the

recognition of the opposition.



"The second one is the aggression that country is the object of,

stemming from abroad, along its borders, more particularly in the

Kivu.



"That's why I suppprt the operation engaged by the United Nations to

allow the protection of the borders of the DRC, which ought to be

reinforced if need be."



DRC Media Minister Lambert Mende brushed off Holland's nasty remark.

Mende claimed that President Kabila is a "true democrat."



Adding:



"If oppositionists--and I'm not only talking of big oppositionists of

the likes of Etienne Tshisekedi, but also even the most obscure

oppositionists--can call Kabila birds' names, it goes without saying

that President Hollande can also voice his criticism as a great friend

of the Democratic Republic of Congo."



Tomorrow, President Hollande will fly in to Kinshasa via Dakar, where

he is set to deliver a major speech on his vision of new relationships

between France and Africa.



The French president will also meet self-proclaimed president Etienne

Tshisekedi in the margins of the Francophony summit.



--(With elysee.fr; tv5.org; & Kinshasa media)--



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Reuters

Via: lejdd.fr

Read More

Kafkaesque Republic: White Opposition leader Pierre-Jacques Chalupa gets 4-year jail term for forgery and use of forgeries

(PHOTO: Mireille Akamia Chalupa & her jailed husband Pierre-Jacques

Chalupa at Kinshasa Makala Prison, Monday, July 30, 2012)



***



The Kafkaesque nightmare of White Congolese opposition leader

Pierre-Jacques Chalupa took a turn for the worse Saturday, October 6,

when the Magistrates' Court of Ngaliema, a Commune of Kinshasa, found

him guilty and sentenced him to 4 years behind bars for forgery and

use of forgeries.



The hope his family and supporters entertained that he might be

cleared and released in the run-up to the Francophony Summit that will

be held in Kinshasa (October 12-14) has thus just been dashed by the

Magistrates' Court.



The prosecution alleged--and the Court just concurred--that Chalupa,

64, obtained Congolese citizenship and a voter's registration card

under criminally false pretenses.



Chalupa was born in Uvira, South Kivu, in 1948 to Portuguese parents

and has since never lived anywhere else in the world.



Chalupa is the founder and chairman of the radical opposition

political party "Action pour la Démocratie et le Développement au

Congo (ADD-Congo)"--or Action for Democracy and Development in the

Congo.



ADD-Congo belongs to the political plank that rallied around Etienne

Tshisekedi's UDPS.



Elected MP in the 2006 legislative elections in the Kinshasa

constituency of Lukunga, his parliamentary mandate was mysteriously

invalidated a few months later.



Chalupa ran again unsuccessfully in 2011 in the same constituency,

though critics of the regime claim he'd in fact won.



Chalupa has been an inmate of the Kinshasa Makala Prison since

February 2, where he was transferred shortly after his arrest in late

January.



His wife, Mireille Akamia Chalupa, told the press after sentencing

that her husband is being hounded for his "political convictions."



The rights group Voice of the Voiceless (VSV) sees in the saga of

Chalupa yet another evidence of the relentless "harassment of

oppositionists" by the regime.



And yesterday, in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI),

one of Chalupa's lawyers, Hubert Efole, angrily exclaimed: "The

misfortune of Chalupa is to have been born White!"



In Kinshasa streets and on Congolese blogosphere, people are shaking

their heads in disbelief.



They point to other so-called Congolese politicians and members of the

military--like Azarias Ruberwa, Bizima Karahamwetu, Moïse Nyarugabo,

Jean-Bosco Ntaganda, and Laurent Nkandabatware--who are known to have

been born in Rwanda, and yet were or are still left unmolested by the

powers that be.



Hence the conclusion that Pierre-Jacques Chalupa is a "political prisoner."



Mireille Akamia Chalupa and her husband's lawyers have vowed to appeal

this iniquitous verdict.



--(With radiookapi.net, rfi.fr, Congolese blogosphere, & Kinshasa

Radio-Trottoir)--



***

PHOTO CREDITS: John Bompengo

Via: radiookapi.net

Read More

Goma: DRC Murder Capital

(PHOTO 1: A police line at the scene where a captain of the Republican

Presidential Guard and two other people were murdered September 25)



(PHOTO 2: The Goma cityhall mortuary services hearse is busy these

days picking up bodies from crime scenes. Here, it's picking up the

body of an alleged bandit lynched by a neighborhood posse on Tuesday,

October 2)



***



Blogger-journo Charly Kasereka and France24 news channel reporter

Ségolène Malterre write that murder rate has soared in Goma, the

besieged provincial capital of North Kivu Province.



A murder rate that could soon prove unsustainable if this dangerous

trend continues in a city of around 400,000 inhabitants.



With M-23 positions at about a mere 30 km north of the city, Goma

denizens, including city and provincial senior officials, are now

prone to the obsessive fear of infiltration by the insurgents who are

blamed for those daily multiple murders.



(The provincial security minister called the murders acts of "urban

terrorism," whereas FARDC North-Kivu spokesman Col. Olovier Amuli

attributed them to "traditional banditry.")



The accusation of infiltration was rejected by M-23 who, on Monday,

October 1, threatened to "seize Goma to save the population."



MONUSCO quickly countered this threat by stating that it was an empty

threat since the military operation it has set up around the city

makes it impregnable.



Charly Kasereka, who's keeping the grim tally, says:



"From September 23 [to October 2], I've counted 15 people slain.



"Besides, lots of residents are being mugged and then have to live

with the trauma of the mugging. [...]



"In one neighborhood, it's a captain of the Republican [Presidential]

Guard who is killed in a hail of bullets while having a beer; in

another, a man has his motorcycle seized and he's then beaten up.



"The situation is such that on September 26 a special security

meeting was held at the governorate, but that very same night it was

the lieutenant-governor's house that was taken as a target practice,

sustaining gunshots and grenade blasts.



"Just yesterday, a colleague journalist who went for a walk after

nightfall was mugged.



"Personally, I no longer go out after 6 p.m., for that's the time when

armed gangs start fanning out through the streets."



Charly Kasereka and Ségolène Malterre end their report with this piece

of chilling news:



"Being poorly paid, some [FARDC] soldiers don't think twice about

selling their weapons to bandits [...]"



***



SOURCES:



(actudukivu.blogspot.com/2012/10/sous-la-menace-des-rebelles-la-ville-de.html?m=1)



and



(observers.france24.com/fr/content/20121002-alors-rebelles-sont-portes-goma-ville-sombre-violence-nord-kivu-guerre-m23-criminalite)



***

Crédits Photo: Charly Kasereka

Via: actudukivu.blogspot

Read More

Nollywood Stuff: Another killing in former home of African-American actress Charlize Theron

(PHOTO 1: "The house in Benoni, South Africa, where actress Charlize

Theron grew up. This is where a man was murdered during a robbery on

Friday." This is also where Theron's mother gunned down her husband

in self-defense in 1991)



(PHOTO 2: "Charlize Theron and her mother Gerda at the 82nd Academy

Awards in 2010")



***



The famous Johannesburg-based tabloid The Star reported on October 3

that last Friday a man called Barry Newland was murdered in his

residence Benoni, in a deadly home invasion attack.



Citing police spokeswoman Lieutenant Nomsa Sekele, The Star reports

that five robbers "forced [Newland] inside the bathroom, where his

hands and feet were tied up and a plastic bag was put over his head.



"The thugs had left him to suffocate."



Unfortunately, an all too common crime these days in South

Africa--what with quasi daily farm invasions, carjackings, etc.



But Barry Newland was fated to gain celebriby status of sort in death.



As it turns out, the house that Newland was murdered in was also the

scene of the killing of the father of award-winning actress and

activist Charlize Theron.



The Star:



"In 1991, Charles [Jacobus Theron] was shot by [Charlize's] mother

Gerda after he had allegedly returned home drunk and threatened to

kill the mother and daughter with his shotgun.



"In an interview with ABC News in 2004, Charlize said the drunk man

had fired the gun into her room before Gerda shot him with a handgun.



"Gerda was never prosecuted for the shooting, which was believed to

have been in self-defence."



(Source: www.iol.co.za/the-star/another-killing-in-charlize-theron-s-former-home-1.1394951)



***

PHOTO CREDITS: Photo 1: Boxer Ngwenya/INLSA; Photo 2: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Read More

Tag der Deutschen Einheit in Kongo: German Ambassador Peter Blomeyer castigates M23 & Rwanda

(PHOTO: Dr. Peter Blomeyer, DRC German Ambassador)



***



Tag der Deutschen Einheit or Day of German Unity--the national day

celebrated to mark the reunification of Germany on October 3,

1990--was marked in Kinshasa by the strongly-worded remarks

castigating M23 and Rwanda by German Ambassador Peter Blomeyer, who is

ending his term in the DRC begun in August 2010.



Ambassador Blomeyer made those remarks on two separate occasions.



First, in an interview with Kinshasa daily Le Potentiel on Tuesday,

October 2. And today at the celebration of Tag der Deutschen Einheit

at Kinshasa Germany embassy.



In the interview with Le Potentiel, Ambassador Blomeyer said in part:



"Germany is very concerned about the deterioration in the security

situation in the east of the country.



"It was a mutiny that was almost quelled by the FARDC, up to when

mutineers retreated to the border area in order to be reinforced by a

neighboring country of the Democratic Republic of Congo.



"The rebellion as well as its external support are utterly unacceptable.



"The territorial integrity of the DRC and the country's sovereignty

must be respected by all the stakeholders.



"We've asked Rwanda to explain itself on this issue in view of the

revelations by the UN Group of Experts about Kigali's support to M23.



"As of today, we haven't received a convincing response.



"Consequently, our budgetary aid to Rwanda, estimated at €21 million,

remains suspended."



Incidently, said Ambassador Blomeyer, the bilateral aid of Germany to

the DRC is more than ten times that amount, hovering around €239

million--but not as budgetary supplement, but in support of various

conservation, rural development, potable water access, and security

sector reform programs.



Speaking from the German embassy on Tag der Deutschen Einheit,

Ambassador Blomeyer repeated almost verbatim what he said in the

interview with Le Potentiel.



Said Blomeyer:



"We are very preoccupied with regard to the deterioration of the

humanitarian situation.



"We are demanding [M23] to stop right away using children in the war,

the violations against women and children; but above all to stop this

mutiny."



--(With radiookapi.net & lepotentielonline.com)



***



PHOTO CREDITS: Innocent Olenga/Radio Okapi

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