Uganda, Saturday, November 24, 2012)
***
President Joseph Kabila may have squandered Saturday all the respect
and political capital he still got left among Kinshasa residents--and
arguably among a vast number of Congolese citizens--with news of the
Kampala Declaration issued by the heads of states of the International
Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
(Among the ICGLR Kampala resolutions are the following: 1) M23 have to
move back to Kibumba, 20 km north of Goma, leaving behind a
company-strong force at Goma airport alongside an FARDC company in two
days' time, the clock running from Saturday--a call rejected by the
insurgents; and 2) the DRC government should listen to the "legitimate
grievances" of M23.)
"Did Kabila really sign in on this?"one angry bus rider fumed Sunday
evening. "Has he run mad or is he a walking zombie?"
The Kinshasa daily Le Potentiel was of the opinion that, by accepting
so-called "legitimate grievances" of M23, Kabila has by and large
undercut the DRC's own narrative, according to which M23 are Rwanda's
proxies and stooges, and Rwandan troops the backbone of the insurgent
outfit.
And now, after Saturday, charging Rwanda as the force behind M23 might
sound hollow, incoherent, and utterly untenable.
What is even more maddening to people is that Kabila took the
extraordinarily stupid step of meeting with one of M23 leaders on the
sidelines of the Kampala Summit--on top of the Rwandan insult of the
glaring no-show of President Paul Kagame.
Opposition politicians are trumpeting that the Kampala Summit has in
fact established that North Kivu is no more a DRC province but an
indefinite franchise granted to Rwanda by Kabila.
Comparisons with the Mideast were also rife on Sunday, after they were
opened up like a Pandora's box by Congolese music star Koffi Olomide
in a morning interview with state-owned RTNC TV channel.
Olomide said that the DRC is turning into Gaza where all people do all
day long is paradoxically to brag and "whine" at the same time under
the punishing bombardments by the Israeli aviation.
Olomide repeatedly jabbed at the FARDC for their poor performance, no
doubt thus savoring a sweet revenge at suspended Chief of Land Forces,
Gen. Gabriel Amisi aka Tango-Four, who had him trounced by his
bodyguards at Kinshasa Grand Hotel in February of this year.
Incidentally, calls are growing from civil society and opposition
political parties for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Gen.
Amisi for "treasonable acts" (selling weapons and ordnance to rebel
groups) that had resulted in the death of civilians.
Opposition MP Emery Ukundji, whose party--the FONUS, the Forces
Novatrices pour l'Union et la Solidarité (Innovative Forces for Union
and Solidarity)--is also calling for the arrest and prosecution of
Gen. Amisi, wants the entire cabinet sacked for "irresponsibility,
incompetence, and cowardice!"
Overall, morale is at its lowest in Kinshasa where there's now a total
disconnect between what's now being called a "government of cowards"
and denizens.
That may be why Kinshasa Gov. André Kimbuta has "unconstititionally"
banned all student demos for fear they'd target symbols of Kabila rule
and party in the Congolese capital.
***
PHOTO CREDITS: Via: www.groupelavenir.cd
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