flight of Ethiopian Airlines at Entebbe Airport, Friday, September 7,
2012)
***
South Sudanese Prez Salva Kiir was the first among the 6 Heads of
State to touch down in Uganda this Friday for what is billed as the
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Kampala
Summit-II.
Kampla-II kicks off today at Kampala Speke Resort Munyonyo.
The other heads of state expected to attend the Summit are: Pierre
Nkurunziza (Burundi), François Bozizé (Central African Republic),
Joseph Kabila (DRC), Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), and Paul Kagame (Rwanda).
The agenda of the Summit will deal with the "terms of reference" of
the composition of the so-called "neutral force," based on the report
by the designated ICGLR defense ministers.
The "neutral force" is supposed to be deployed along the DRC border
with Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
At first, people were led to believe that this "neutral force" would
be a counterinsurgency drive aimed at quelling Rwandan-backed
"negative forces" as well as the FDLR plaguing war-torn northeastern
DRC.
This even seemed to still be the understanding of the "Troika" (Organ
on Democracy, Defence and Security) of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC), which met Tuesday in Dar es Salaam--with
President Joseph Kabila called in to brief it.
At the close of that meeting, the chair of the Troika, Tanzanian Prez
Jakaya Kikwete, said:
"SADC would gladly participate to provide military and logistic
support in DRC if the ICGLR decides so."
Adding:
"SADC is totally satisfied with efforts made by ICGLR and thus we
think there is no need for a parallel initiative to tackle the
conflict."
President Kikwete has most definitely misplaced his trust in the
ICGLR, some of whose members are trolls attending the meeting for the
carnival and the show this provides them.
For one, the "neutral force" seems to now being conceived by some of
those ICGLR trolls as a mere border patrol contingent.
Secondly, it's for instance unlikely that Rwanda and Uganda would
agree on SADC forces being deployed along their borders.
Thirdly, Ugandan Defense Minister Chrispus Kiyonga is suggesting
nothing less than the revisitation of the infamous 2009 agreement
whose alleged breach by the DRC government M23 are invoking as a
pretext for their insurgency.
Said Kiyonga:
"These [options for peace in northeastern DRC] include looking at the
agreement of the 23rd March 2009 because the failure to
implement the recommendations of the [AU] Special Envoys has actually
created the formation of M23."
The problem with this line of reasoning is that it's a non-starter for
both the DRC and Belgium, which is now willing to take charge of the
Security Sector Reform (SSR) of the Congo.
In his recent "Shuttle Diplomacy" in the region, Belgian Deputy
Premier and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders was repeating ad nauseum
his "Garbage in Garbage Out" principle on SSR:
"If you in integrate undisciplined elements into the army, you
integrate undiscipline by the same token."
Besides, here in Kinshasa, UDPS MP Rémy Masamba ma Kiese is
spearheading a campaign for opening impeachment proceedings against
Kabila when Parliament convenes this month.
MP Masamba and other opposition leaders contend that as the Parliament
and the Congolese people weren't privvy to the content of the secret
2009 agreement with CNDP qua M23, Kabila might have engaged in
treasonable acts.
They further charge that by not declaring war against Rwanda, Kabila
could also be charged with "high treason"--an impeachable offense.
Though MP Masamba's impeachment motion is unlikely to see the light of
day in Parliament, there's no way Kabila would further erode his
domestic political capital by accomodating M23.
Kampala-II is also torpedoed by Rwanda, who hasn't even come close to
acknwoledging its backing of M23.
Rwanda is still blaming the UN Group of Experts of fabricating
evidence implicating Kigali.
What's more, both Rwanda and the DRC are now wading waist-deep in the
dung of mean negative rhetoric.
DRC Media Minister is denying there were 357 Rwandan special operators
allowed by the Congolese government in the Rutshuru area.
Mende charges that Rwanda took the opportunity of the pull-out of the
less than 100 troops it had in that area to "exfiltrate" some of its
troops backing M23.
He's also calling on Rwanda to withdraw the 5,000+ troops it has in
Bunagana and other areas occupied by M23.
The "exfiltration" of Rwandan troops from eastern DRC recently
prompted the UK to "unfreeze" parts of its aid to Rwanda.
And, bolstered by this "unfreezing" of UK aid, Rwandan Foreign
Minister Louise Mushikiwabo has now gone on auto-pilot mode as an
insult-producing factory.
She told France24 TV news channel this week:
"DRC has gotten into the mood of playing the victim every time they
are confronted with a situation.
"Nothing is ever their responsibility
whenever there is trouble, they always get someone to blame, if it's
not Rwanda, it's Congo-
Brazzaville, if not them, it's the Ugandans or Angolans."
With this kind of hysterical outbursts issuing from Rwanda, Kampala-II
is doomed from the get go.
And maybe the way out for the DRC would be, as MP Rémy Masamba is
shouting out loud, a formal declaration of an all-out war against
Rwanda.
With mortar rounds being lobbed at Gisenyi from Bukavu, at least the
citizens of both countries would be equally sharing the horrors of war
first hand.
***
Sources: newswires; dailynews.co.tz; newvision.co.ug; newtimes.co.rw;
RTNC TV; & Kinshasa media.
***
PHOTO CREDITS: Enock
Kakande/newvision.co.ug
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