Standoff betweem MONUSCO and M23 at Goma airport over FARDC weapons & ammo

(PHOTO: "MONUSCO Force Commander (front left) to a meeting on thesecurity situation at Goma airport. Photo MONUSCO")***Though long columns of M23 were seen leaving Sake today, there was noevidence however that the insurgents intended to hand over the city tothe DRC government's control.In the latest development, there was some kind of a standoff betweenMONUSCO and M23 when the latter had the chupatz to attempt to takecontrol of Goma airport and to...

Read More

Ben Affleck: "Congo urgently needs U.S. help" (Washington Post)

(PHOTO: TV screen grab of Ben Affleck testifying in Congress; date unknown)***Ben Affleck penned a gripping pro-Congolese people advocacy op-ed onthe crisis in Goma that was published today by the Washington Post.The op-ed, titled "Congo urgently needsU.S. help" and aimed at the American constituency opens, opens withthe usual heart-wrenching frustration in the face of the universalindifference to the plight of the Congo:"Last week, a heavily armed...

Read More

Dicey near future prospects for Goma residents as M23 seal city northwest and north

(PHOTO: M23 casing the Goma branch of the Central Bank of Congo, onMonday, November 26, prior to their heist of the next day)***Corroborative sources in Goma say that M23 were moving today some oftheir troops north--as demanded last Saturday at Kampala by theDeclaration of the heads of state of the International Conference forthe Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)--and northwest, towards Sake, 25 kmaway, a city they captured shortly after seizing the provincialcapital...

Read More

MONUSCO Spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai: DRC Not Under Arms Embargo

(PHOTO: Madnodje Mounoubai, MONUSCO spokesman)***At the MONUSCO weekly press briefing of Wednesday, November 28,MONUSCO Spokesperson Madnodje Mounoubai bristled at the notion longpeddled by supporters of President Joseph Kabila that the DRC is undera crippling arms embargo.That notion, now widespread in the DRC, was no doubt concocted tojustify the poor performance of the DRC in theaters of operations.(Full disclosure: I've time and again repeated...

Read More

Continuous Outrage as Congolesse essence (New Yorker's Philip Gourevitch)

I retweeted today this powerful exercise in self-reflexive journalismfiled from Goma on November 27 by Philip Gourevitch and posted on theNew Yorker Web site.There are blocks of the piece I disagree with, but overall the reportis a valid condensed vignette of the recent history of the DRC.I also disagree with the piece's underlying essentialism andessentialization of the Congolese--though "outrage as a Congolesecondition of being makes for disturbing...

Read More

1) Die Hard at Goma: M23 Bank Loot: $17m; & 2) Howard Buffet restores water distribution to Goma

(PHOTO 1: Still of Hans Gruber [Alan Rickman], right, in "Die Hard" [1988])(PHOTO 2: Howard Buffet "teaches Burundian farmers")***1) Die Hard at Goma: M23 Bank Loot: $17mFans of officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) in "Die Hard" (1988)certainly remember the memorable moment in the movie when the villainHans Gruber (Alan Rickman) lists his political outrageous andimpossible demands to authorities.But soon enough you discover that Gruber's so-called...

Read More

Wild Wild West: Highway bandits of M23 outfit loot Goma Central Bank branch

(PHOTO: Jean-Marie Runiga,Bishop-Preacher of M23 bandits and looters)***To those--including the IGLR heads of state at Kampala Saturday--whostill believe M23 insurgents are rebels with some kind of cause otherthan thieving, looting, and pillaging, this report filed from Gomatoday by the Guardian's Pete Jones and titled "Congo rebels surroundcentral bank in Goma" should give pause.The report reads in part:"Congo rebels surround central bank in Goma...

Read More

Burundi sources: Renegade Col. & mass murderer Jules Mutebusi about to ignite insurgency in the Ruzizi Plain

(PHOTO: Col. Jules Mutebusi)***According to whistleblowers in the Burundian military and intelligenceservices, renegade Col. Jules Mutebusi is consolidating and expandinga military build-up between Bwegera and Sange, in the Ruzizi Plain,about a mere 60 km southwest of Bukavu, the provincial capital ofSouth Kivu Province.The area abuts the Burundian province of Cibitoke.But those sources couldn't provide me with evidence of actualcoordination between...

Read More

Radio-Trottoir: North Kivu no more part of DRC; it's a franchise granted to Rwanda

(PHOTO: Prez Mwai Kibaki, Joseph Kabila, and Yoweri Museveni; Kampala,Uganda, Saturday, November 24, 2012)***President Joseph Kabila may have squandered Saturday all the respectand political capital he still got left among Kinshasa residents--andarguably among a vast number of Congolese citizens--with news of theKampala Declaration issued by the heads of states of the InternationalConference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).(Among the ICGLR Kampala...

Read More

Kinshasa female demonstrators join the Sisterhood of Bereavers at MONUSCO HQ

(PHOTO 1: Female demonstrators at the gates of MONUSCO HQ, Friday,November 23, 2012)(PHOTO 2: I call these women the "Sisterhood of Bereavers." They donblack mourning clothes and white headbands. They have been squattingMONUSCO HQ since the day after the fall of Goma)***Flanked by riot cops led by Col. Kanyama-- Lukunga Districtcommander--thousands of Kinshasa women from all walks of life marchedFriday, November 23, from the Central Post Office...

Read More

Amid reports of disappearances of scores of Goma residents, a photo of Kabila & Kagame rattles Kinois

(Photo: Prez Paul Kagame, Yoweri Museveni, and Joseph Kabila at pressbriefing in Kampala, Wednesday, November 21, 2012)***Sources in Goma report that there have been at least 50 knowndisappearances of Goma residents ever since M23 seized control of theprovincial capital of North Kivu.The "disappeared" are members of pro-Kabila political parties and civil society."One day you see your neighbor, the next day the person mysteriouslyvanishes!" a Goma...

Read More

Fallout from UN Group of Experts Report: Gen. Gabriel Amisi, FARDC Chief of Land Forces, suspended for running a "criminal network"

(Photo: Gen. Gabriel Amisi Kumba aka Tango-Four, suspended FARDC Chiefof Land Forces)***Readers of this blog were among the first to learn about thedevastating content of the Final Report of the UN Group of Experts onthe DRC, especially the part implicating Gen. Gabriel Amisi Kumba incriminal activities.(See my post of November 8, 2012, titled "UN Group of Experts FinalReport: FARDCChief of Land Forces Gen. Gabriel Amisiheads a 'criminal network''':alexengwete.blogspot.com/2012/11/un-group-of-experts-final-report-fardc.html?m=1.)I...

Read More

FARDC change tactics: M23 suffer major setback at Sake

M23 insurgents and their Rwandan masterminds didn't see this coming: afierce defense by the FARDC for every single inch of the Congolesehomeland.It now seems that the latest change of tactics by the FARDC includesresorting to counter-guerrilla combats with smaller units as well asganging up with local patriotic self-defense militias known as"Mai-Mai."(By the way, in conversations with FARDC officers I've voiced allalong my skepticism regarding for instance the use of tanks in the warin the Kivus.)A vivid illustration of this tactical change occurred--or...

Read More

Hocking a loogie at M23 & Rwanda: My Goma sources safe in Bukavu via Gisenyi, Rwanda

In a daring move that amounts to hocking a loogie at M23 and Rwanda,two of my Goma sources--a physician and his wife, a politicalscientist--left Goma at 6:00 HRS this morning local time (GMT + 2)aboard a Toyota pickup, bribed M23 "border guards" ($500), enteredRwanda, and at Gisenyi, hired a cab for Bukavu!I am glad to report that they are safe and sound at Bukavu, thecapital of the South Kivu Province.They were stranded at Goma Airport when their CAA flight was grounded(see my previous posts).They couldn't immediately leave for Kinshasa from Bukavu,...

Read More

MONUSCO Military Spokesman Lt.-Col. Félix Basse mounts a spirited defense of FARDC performance

(Photo 1: "A dead Congolese army soldier lies in the road north of Goma")(Photo 2: Indian peacekeepers of InBatt2 open fire on M23 attackingtheir base at Kiwanja, July 25, 2012)***At a particularly testy weekly press briefing Wednesday at MONUSCOheadquarters in Kinshasa, MONUSCO military spokesman Lt.-Col. FélixBasse mounted a spirited defense of the FARDC and peacekeepers'performance prior to the fall of Goma.He said in part:"MONUSCO didn't let...

Read More

M23's coercive rallies & Lumpenproletariat; & calls for "state of war" with Rwanda

Early in the morning of Wednesday Goma residents were forced to attendan M23 rally.Goma residents I spoke to afterward were mad at the internationalpress coverage of the rally, especially reports claiming that they'dattended the gathering out of their own free will or that they weresupportive of the insurgents."Maybe those reporters are too young to remember that we also did'freely' attend Mobutu's coercive rallies," one of my correspondentssaid.The French news channel France24 also produced one M23's so-called"spokesman" who claimed to be from...

Read More

Why rioters in Bunia, Kinshasa & Kisangani target Kabila & MONUSCO

(PHOTO 1: Triumphant M23 troops on a joy ride through downtown Goma)(PHOTO 2: Smoke billows from Kabila's PPRD party headquarters torchedtoday by student rioters in Kisangani)***Sources in Goma called me to let me know that M23 military spokesman,Vianney Karazama, has just ended a long anti-Kabila rant on DRCgovernment-owned radio station.(Maybe fleeing government troops were busy attempting to lootbusinesses to even think about something called...

Read More

Backlash of Goma Fall: Riots in Kisangani & Student unrest in Kinshasa

The fall of Goma sparked major riots in Kisangani, the provincialcapital of Orientale.University students, who spearheaded the riots, led the crowd ofrioters to the provincial headquarters of Joseph Kabila's party, thePPRD--a block away from Kisangani Central Prison--which they thentorched.Kisangani Rioters also targeted MONUSCO sites for attacks.Both Kabila and MONUSCO are accused of being enmeshed with Rwandans.In Kinshasa meanwhile politicians are pressuring Kabila to declare a"state of war" with Rwanda.The beginning of a student unrest by the...

Read More

M23 now seizing Goma

Forget my previous post!M23 are now seizimg Goma.Two residents of the Goma neighborhood of Imbi just told me they haveseen FARDC fleeing ahead of the advancing M23 troops."It's not a retreat," one of them told me. "It's a rou...

Read More

FARDC still in control of Goma & Rwandan-Congolese artillery exchange

I said in yesterday's post that a medical source in Goma thought thatM23 had entered the city as the firing that started at around 15:00HRS (GMT + 2) continued unabated well into the evening.Later on, I twitted a Radio Okapi report that conveyed the statementof Julien Paluku, the governor of North Kivu Province, to the effectthat "the enemy that had infiltrated the city had been repelled."But all night long newswires kept reporting that some FARDC units hadskipped town, which didn't bode well for the prospects of the city.Then this morning Radio...

Read More

A physician: "It seems that M23 have entered" Goma

Mortar shelling from Rwanda on the perimeter of Goma airport eruptedthis afternoon, hours after M23 issued a fake 24-hour ultimatum to theCongolese government to negotiate with them and minutes after theyclaimed to be retreating to their positions at Kibumba, 30 km north ofthe North Kivu provincial capital.LuAnne of the Virunga National Park filed post from Goma on the Park'sblog at 20:08 (GMT + 1) that reads:"At around 3:00 this afternoon, tank andmortar fire could be heard in the city ofGoma as fighting erupted again following a complete breakdown...

Read More

Losing the Plot

(PHOTO 1: FARDC troops retreating from the frontline)(PHOTO 2: 60,000 IDPs fled this camp north of Goma Saturday ahead ofadvancing M23 insurgents)***Contacted by phone early this morning, one of the passengers of theKinshasa-bound CAA flight grounded at Goma airport yesterday morningtold me that the North-Kivu manager of the airline told him they couldleave the city tomorrow Tuesday.Asked about the security situation in Goma, he told me there was...

Read More

Goma: Commercial aircraft temporarily grounded as airport within striking distance

(PHOTO: Residents of Kibumba fleeing toward Goma, 30 km south of hamlet)***The airport of Goma is perilously within striking distance of M23fire. That's why airport and provincial authorities have temporarilygrounded and interdicted incoming commercial aircraft from landing atGoma airport.For example, a Kinshasa-bound CAA flight that had already taken offfrom Goma airport was ordered to turn back within minutes of take-off.It is alleged that it was...

Read More

Kinshasa Radio-Trottoir: Thieving military paymasters intended to bump Prez in October

(PHOTO: Cops on the beat in Kinshasa)***A persistent rumor on Kinshasa Radio-Trottoir, or Sidewalk Radio, the grapevine of the Congolese capital, has it that a group of rogue thieving military paymasters planned to bump President Joseph Kabila some time between mid-October--at the close of the Francophony Summit--and early November.But the assassination attempt and the coup were somewhat foiled.Radio-Trottoir alleges that there is a wave of discontent...

Posted in | No comments

Radio-Trottoir: If Gen. David Petraeus were Kenyan or African...

(Gen. David Petraeus aka King David)***The resignation of Gen. David Petraeus (ret.) as Director of theCentral Intelligence Agency over an extramarital affair on Friday,just one day after the Kenyan government had introduced the so-called"Marriage Bill 2012"--a law that would downplay extraconjugalrelations and legalize polygamy--is emblematic of the unabridgeablecultural gap between Africa and the West.Kinois women and men I spoke to about Gen....

Read More

UN Group of Experts Final Report: FARDC Chief of Land Forces Gen. Gabriel Amisi heads a "criminal network"

(PHOTO: Gen. Gabriel Amisi aka Tango-Four, FARDC Chief of Land Forces)***A diplomatic source has just made me read, without taking notes, thechilling "leaked" 44-page (including the title page) "Letter" of theUN Group of Experts introducing to the Chairman of the UN SecurityCommittee on the Congo the Final Report on the DRC.The letter is dated October 12, 2012.The diplomat told me that the Report (including its annexes), nowbeing presented at the...

Read More

Kinshasa Obamagram: Election Night Result Party

(The Obamas on stage at the Chicago McCormick Center, Wednesday, November 7)***In the night of Tuesday 6 to Wednesday 7, I was a guest at an electiomnight result party where I basked in my newly-found repute ofall-knowing pundit on American politics and prognosticator"extraordinaire" of the Obama win.Little did my audience know that two facts I garnered from theAmerican press helped me forecast Obama's reelection with suchcavalier certainty in the...

Read More

Jean Bamanisa elected Orientale Gov; Belgian dad played role in assuaging misery of Kisangani US Consul Michael Hoyt held hostage in1964

(PHOTO: Jean Bamanisa Saidi, 48, Governor-elect of Orientale Province)***The second round of the gubernatorial election at the OrientaleProvincial Assembly in Kisangani was very close on Wednesday, October31: 48 votes for Jean Bamanisa, 45 for his rival, Jean Tokole Ilongo,with one assemblyman calling in sick, and 2 votes voided.On that same day, another gubernatorial election was held in Bas-CongoProvince,where Jacques Mbadu beat Deo Nkusu 17 vs....

Read More