Verification Mechanism, unfurls ICGLR flag in Goma, September 14)
(PHOTO 2: Goma riot cops disperse anti-Neutral Force demos and nab
civil society youths on International Day of Peace, September 21)
***
On Tuesday, September 25, Presidents Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagama
huddled with other regional leaders at an informal "Congo Summit,"
chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on the margins of the
General Assembly.
The previous day, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had an
"unadvertised meeting" with the pair, Reuters reported.
At both of those meetings the pressure was piling up on President
Kagame to stop interfering in Congo domestic affairs by its support of
M23.
As one US senior official summed up for Reuters Secretary Clinton's
démarche at Monday meeting with the pair:
"The secretary made no threats.
"But it is important for Rwanda to cease any support for any groups
operating against the government of the DRC, and it is important for
the DRC government to take steps to protect all of its citizens."
Diplomatic démarches of the kind engaged in by UNSG Ban Ki-moon and
Secretary Clinton wrongly assume that both parties are coming to the
table to negotiate in good faith.
Rwanda isn't negotiating in good faith, it's negotiating "for side
effects," that is, dissembling all along, as I recalled one reading of
Fred Ikle's book "How Nations Negotiate" (1968) in a post in June.
(See: alexengwete.blogspot.com/2012/06/rules-of-accommodation-congo-vs.html?m=1)
The proof of this contention can be found in the preposterous
anthropological theory of regional conflict-resolution expounded by
President Kagame in his remarks to the 67th General Assembly on
September 25, hours after meeting with Secretary Clinton.
President Kagame claimed that:
"deep analysis of specific political and cultural contexts of any
given conflict is key to lasting solutions.
"Too often, the inclination is to parachute into a situation with
ready-made answers based on superficial examination of the conflict's
dynamics, doing considerably more harm than good, despite the
intentions.
"There is no one-size-fits-all remedy; these issues are complex and
should be approached as such for the best possible outcome."
Little wonder then that President Kagame--after his solipsistic "deep
analysis" à la Clifford Geertz's "thick description"--is frantically
pushing for a regional solution and is defiantly rejecting any
"parachuting" of the international community into his design in
eastern Congo.
President Kagame is betting that at the regional level, he'd get away
with mayhem, mass murder, and plunder.
As for the regional solution to the conflict in eastern Congo, the
military Joint Verification Mechanism (JVM) dreamed up by the
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) was
launched in Goma on September 14.
The couple of dozens of military officers making up the JVM are led by
Brig. Gen. James Aloys Mwakibolwa of Tanzania People's Defense Force
(TPDF).
The madness or the joke of the JVM mission is that at this stage it
purports to evaluate the strength and armament of negative forces
operating in eastern DRC.
Now, how would they go about gathering such vast intelligence, with drones?
And M23 have warned they'd shoot on sight at anyone venturing into
their micro-state.
Besides, where would this neutral force get funding for such a
formidable military operation?
The UN is already voicing serious doubts about this neutral force,
though it is diplomatically paying lip service to the ICGLR
initiative.
Said U.N. peacekeeping chief Hervé Ladsous at the close of the meeting
of Ban Ki-moon with Kabila and Kagame:
"It is something that generates interest, but we are short of a real
concept of operations - who
would be in, who would do what, who would pay - and this is why more
work needs to be done."
Adding:
"We are already working (with ICGLR) to flesh out the concept because
at the end of the day it will be submitted to the Security Council and
the Security Council will want very precise explanations as to what it
is all about."
Meanwhile on the ground in the DRC, and particularly in the provincial
capital of Goma, there's mounting rejection of this so-called neutral
force, as denizens see the crooked hand of President Kagame behind it.
Goma-based blogger Charly Kasereka (actudukivu.blogspot.com) reported
that the International Day of Peace (September 21) was particularly
violent in Goma.
Charly Kasereka writes that youths of civil society from across North
Kivu Province, carrying white banners reading "No to Neutral Force,"
were violently tackled by riot cops who fired live bullets at the
crowd, wounding one demonstrator in the leg.
***
PHOTO CREDITS: Charly Kasereka & French freelancer Charlotte Cosset
(france24.com)
Via: actudukivu.blogspot.com
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