DRC Government as Wordsmith: "Diplomatic-Political-Military Triptych Panel"

It all started a few days ago, when North Kivu Governor Julien Paluku(photo above) publicly called for an "assessment of the Accords ofMarch 23, 2009" between the DRC government and the Rwandan-made CNDP,the political and militia outfit that has since hatched M23.Paluku then posted his statement on his blog.A statement that baffled the whole nation, and to which M23 leadersresponded with jeers of contempt.Then, last Saturday, in a torpid interview...

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1) Glamor in Kinshasa: Filmmaker and French Minister Yamina Benguigui on official visit; 2) Kabila's soporific interview; & 3) Rwanda's rebuttal adds insult to injury

1) Glamor in Kinshasa: Filmmaker and French Minister Yamina Benguiguion official visitFilmmaker and French Minister Delegate to Francophony Yamina Benguigui(photo above), who arrived in Kinshasa last week's end, ended herofficial visit in the DRC on Wednesday, July 25.By the way, Kinshasa will be hosting the Francophonie Summit inOctober of this year.Benguigui met with several senior Congolese officials, oppositionleaders, civil society and independent...

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Mail to Blogger Glitch: Test from Mobile Phone

The previous post was a test emailed from a desktop at a cybercafé.I'm now emailing this post from a mobile pho...

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Another test: Mail to Blogger

This is yet another attempt to see whether the Mail to Blogger glitchhas been fix...

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Mail to Blogger failure and erratic postings

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Scandal at Rwindi: FARDC troops go hungry for 4 days

Dr Emmanuel de Mérode published this evening a post titled "Rwindiunder Strain."It reads:"We finally managed to get contact with Rodrigue, our warden inRwindi. He made the decision toevacuate most of his staff to Kanyabayonga, tothe north west of Rwindi, but has remained at the station with 10 ofhis rangers."The situation is extremely tense, with several thousand soldiers whofled Kiwanja and Rutshuru after the fighting yesterday. Many of themhaven't...

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Terrible News: M23 seize Rumangabo

Dr Emmanuel de Merode with Ranger InnocentTerrible news was logged this morning by Dr de Merode under the title "Rumangabo under Rebel Control, Rwindi Under Attack" (as my Mail to Blogger has a glitch, I can't publish as many posts as previously; I'm posting this from a cybercafe):"Yesterday the fighting was short and very violent. Initially, there was sporadic bombing with two tanks and the 12-tube multiple rocket launchers firing from the gate....

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A glitch with my Mail-to-Blogger, M23 not yet done with Rumangabo & FARDC regain offensive initiative

It seems I got a glitch with my Mail-to-Blogger feature yesterday, ontop of the daily hassle I got with the trackball of the Blackberry8310 that's disintegrating on me.I typically file my posts from the portable convenient remove of mymobile phone.This proved however to be a daily challenge in itself.The Blackberry 8310 I'm now using as replacement since my SamsungInfuse was stolen in Kinshasa--woe unto that wretched Kinois who stolemy android!--is...

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The Battle of Rumangabo: A victory of the FARDC & Dr Emmanuel de Mérode flies a wounded teacher to Goma

Virunga National Park Chief Warden Dr Emmanuel de Mérode, aneyewitness to the man-made wanton destruction now taking place ineastern Congo, cautions us, in the post he filed in the evening ofWednesday, July 25, about the kind of bragging implicit in the titleof this post.Dr de Mérode ends that heart-wrenching post by remarking:"The battlefield victories lose their relevance amidst the cries ofthe injured."Who's gonna blame him?In one single afternoon,...

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Bold pincer movement by gunship-strafed M23 apparently broken near Virunga National Park HQ

M23 attacked FARDC positions in the early hours of Tuesday, July 24,forcing Congolese troops to fall back to about 1 kilometer fromKibumba, according to newswires.Kibumba is at 28 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Goma.A Western diplomat told AFP the town of Kibumba is the "last bolt before Goma."MONUSCO gunships made sorties, strafing M23 so as to stymie theinsurgents' push.MONUSCO spokesman Mamodj Mounoubaï said the sorties of gunships...

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Bold pincer movement by gunship-strafed M23 apparently broken near Virunga National Park HQ

M23 attacked FARDC positions in the early hours of Tuesday, July 24,forcing Congolese troops to fall back to about 1 kilometer fromKibumba, according to newswires.Kibumba is at 28 kilometers north of the provincial capital of Goma.A Western diplomat told AFP the town of Kibumba is the "last bolt before Goma."MONUSCO gunships made sorties, strafing M23 so as to stymie theinsurgents' push.MONUSCO spokesman Mamodj Mounoubaï said the sorties of gunships...

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Death of A President: Ghanaian JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS, 68, loses battle to throat cancer

Ghanaian President John Evans Atta Mills, 68, passed away today at the37th Military Hospital in Accra, a terse statement released byInformation Minister John Henry Martey said.The statement added:"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sudden and untimelydeath of the President of the Republic of Ghana."EXCERPT FROM THE BBC REPORT:"According to a presidential aide, the leader had complained of painson Monday evening and diedon Tuesday afternoon,...

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Unrepentant Prez Paul Kagame's Metanarrative: DRC screwed by Western countries

President Paul Kagame--flanked by Defense Minister Gen. James Kabarebeand Chief of Staff of Defense Gen. Charles Kayonga--inauguratedyesterday, Monday, July 23, the university-accredited Rwanda DefenceForce Command and Staff College at Nyakinama, Musaze district,Kigali-based New Times reporters Edwin Musoni and Sam Nkurunziza writetoday.In his address to the 45 officers of the first promotion of what willbe the most prestigious military academy in...

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Dark Knight Rises: Bam on Aurora: The political malpractice of quoting from the wrong book of Scripture

Uncannily, in his speech yesterday about the mass murder last Fridaynight in a Century 16 moviehouse premiere of "Dark Knight Rises" inAurora, Colorado, perpetrated by an unhinged shooter, Barack Obamaquoted from a certifiably unhinged biblical prophet: John!The John quoted by Bam narrates his post-apocalytic, frenzied,psychedelic delusions in a yarn called The Apocalypse, a book alsomildly known as "The Revelation of John."I prefer calling that...

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Lambert Mende's post-Clausewitz's War Theory & Virunga National Park back online with account of feat of arms against FDLR

(File photo of a Kalashnikov PKM machine gun like the ones issued torangers of the Virunga National Park--account below)***Listening to DRC Media and government's spokesperson Minister LambertMende this past week talk to a pool of journos gathered around him ona TV set, you'd think the man has done quite some serious thinking onthe conduct of war and come up with a theory that has improved on thatof Baron Carl von Clausewitz.The novelty in war theory...

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On a 3-day visit in Rwanda, Bill Clinton mum on the fate of Journalist IDRISS GASANA BYIRINGIRO, detained incommunicado since Monday, July 16

Idriss Gasana  ByiringiroJournalist of the Kigali-based weekly  The ChroniclesHeld incommunicado since Monday, July 16, 2012by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID)(Credits)President Bill Clinton flew to Kigali from South Africa on Wednesday, July 18, on a 3-day visit, Rwanda Times reports.But so far, President Clinton has been deafeningly mum on the fate of journalist Idriss Gasana Byiringiro of the weekly The Chronicles, abducted...

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Dr Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma aka Iron Lady, new President of the African Union Commission

(Below is the full AFP portrait of Dr Dlamini-Zuma published in the Johannesburg-based daily Mail & Guardian) Elected by the 54-member pan-African bloc in Ethiopia on Sunday, she becomes the first woman to head the African Union commission. An experienced diplomat, Dlamini-Zuma (63) is known for her competent management and stern personality. A doctor by training, she was health minister when Mandela became the country's first black leader....

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Female Biopolitical Autonony: Audrey Pulvar tapped as CEO of "Les Inrockuptibles"

About a month ago, I posted a rant here that sounded like theprofessional obituary of Martinican-born French political punditAudrey Pulvar, 40.Pulvar had been fired by her various employers for the professionalethical lapse of being the girlfriend of French Minister of ProductiveRecovery (Industry) Arnaud Montebourg.(Page Address: alexengwete.blogspot.com/2012/06/female-biopolitical-nonautonomy-french.html?m=1)Well, she was tapped last Friday,...

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Kabila & Kagame at Addis: “There was no fighting” but a joke at the expense of the DRC

"There was no fighting!" quipped Uganda's President Yoweri MuseveniSunday, about the face to face meeting presidents Joseph Kabila andPaul Kagame held in the margins of the African Union summit of headsof state.There was no fighting indeed, but in Kinshasa people cringed when theysaw on TV Kabila on smiling and joking terms with Kagame whileinsurgents backed by Rwanda still occupied vast swaths of Congoleseterrority, including the strategic border...

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Youths flee M23-held areas for fear of conscription

Radio Okapi and Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) are reporting thatyouths are being forcibly recruited as militiamen in areas held by M23insugents.Radio Okapi reports that youths from Jomba and Busanza "groupements"(administrative entities grouping several villages) have fled theirvillages for fear of forced recruitment by M23 and are flocking inRutshuru-centre and Kiwanja--now once again under FARDC control.According to Radio Okapi, on Sunday, July 15, the hamlet of Kabaya wassurrounded by M23 insurgents, who then abducted youths and led themaway...

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Kinshasa cracks down on anti-rwandophone rhetoric in the media

Congolese media and political parties calling for "generalmobilization" against "Rwandan aggression" are discovering that theycould be treading a thin line between patriotic calls and xenophobicincitements.And the Congolese government is cracking down on those crossing that fine line.Two weeks ago, the Kinshasa tabloid "La Presse" was suspended forprinting an op-ed that called for the Congolese to hunt down Rwandans.DRC Media Minister warned that...

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Virunga National Park HQ takes a direct lightning strike: Dr Emmanuel de Mérode's internet access cut off

Today morning's entry of the Virunga National Park Headquarters atRumangabo was filed by staff member LuAnne Cadd from Goma, where partsof the personnel have been moved since the intensification of militaryactivities in the park area.LuAnn Cadd's post reads in parts:"As if the park didn't have enough troubles already, one more randomand distressing incident can be added to the list."Yesterday afternoon a massive thunder and lightning storm moved overthe park headquarters, and the main office building took a directlightning hit – frying internet,...

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Africa's WW II: Uganda returns FARDC deserters and wants to enter DRC

Uganda returned on Wednesday more than 500 FARDC deserters who'd fledinto Uganda from the Congolese border town of Bunagana after fierceattacks by M23 troops.Radio Okapi and newswires report that the deserters crossed into theCongo by the Kisindi border crossing.Radio Okapi also quotes Congolese military in the field as saying thatUganda allowed the deserters to cross back with their "militaryequipment."(In my view, the commanders of these men, if they happen to be amongthe returnees, should be court-martialed.)(Page Address: radiookapi.net/actualite/2012/07/13/rdc-retour-de-500-militaires-policiers-qui-avaient-fui-en-ouganda-apres-lattaque-du-m23-bunagana/)Maybe...

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FARDC MI-24 gunships were at it again this Friday morning

Parts of Dr Emmanuel de Mérode's today morning 's log read:"Another bombing raid by the MI-24 helicopters this morning."Yesterday there were some mortarexplosions near Rugare, about five kilometres from here. Otherwise itfeels remarkably calm inRumangabo."Reuters reported a Monusco /FARDC helicopter attack on Rumangabo, butthat was inaccurate, fortunately."Rwindi remains under strain, with a very heavy military presence.Rodrigue's rangers arecontinuing to patrol the main Kiwanja-Kanyabayonga road which has beenone of the main exit routes for displaced...

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Jean-Marie Rugina has never been DRC anti-corruption czar

One funny thing occurred the other day in eastern DRC amid the mostheart-wrenching stuff happening there these past few months.It was the reappearance of gold-watch-dangler Jean-Marie Rugina (photoabove) as the spokesperson of M23, and also donning the mantle of "DRCformer top anti-corruption official."This is a bold-faced lie!There's never been a position of top anti-corruption anything in the DRC.The truth is that in 2003, as the transitionalParliament--representatives...

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Thierry Michel, shuttle diplomacy, M23's demands, FDLR on the loose, and MONUSCO gunships & FARDC Hind copters strafe M23 positions

1) Thierry Michel: Access DeniedAt a time when the DRC needs all the friends it could get, it has justshot itself in the foot, according to Colette Braeckman, by turningback Belgian documentarian Thierry Michel (photo above) at KinshasaN'Djili Airport on Sunday.Michel claims to be holding a 5-year residence visa in the DRC,whereas Congolese immigration authorities claim he doesn't have anyvisa whatsoever.Michel, a prolific documentarist, released...

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Dr Emmanuel de Mérode's Dispatches: Cowardly ethnic attacks by Motorcyclist Gangs in Goma (Monday)

Besides family members and friends who are in Bukavu and Goma withwhom I am in daily contact by phone, posts by Virunga National ParkChief Warden, Dr Emmanuel de Mérode (photo above), on the bloggorilla.cd turn out to be my other reliable intelligence source onthe ground in the current war in North Kivu.Parts of the entry posted yesterday evening by Dr de Mérode read:"Goma is a bit of a worry. There has been quite a lot of civilunrest, mainly cowardly...

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