News About Congo

Should Rebels Be Granted Amnesty?

Where is the justice for all the thousands of people affected by rebel?  Women have been raped.  Children forced to serve in rebel armies.  Men have been killed because they were men.  Hundreds of thousand of people were forced to leave their homes.

Amnesty should not be offered to rebel groups.

Kinshasa Agrees to Grant Amnesty to Rebels

Residents of North Kivu province have welcomed a signed agreement between Kinshasa and the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) that paves the way for the rebel group to transform itself into a political party. The agreement signed Monday provides for the Tutsi rebels transformation into a political body and the release of former members of the rebel group captured by government forces. Kinshasa also agreed to pass an amnesty law for the former rebels and integrate them into various state security agencies. Desire Kamanzi is the chairman of the CNDP rebels and a signatory of the agreement with the government.

"What we have come up with mainly are that we talked of amnesty and the government expressed its commitment to give amnesty to everyone who has been engaged in fighting the war starting from 2003 up to today. And we also have an implementation plan of everything that we have come up with including the return of refugees and the internally displaced. We also have a program of integration of CNDP police into the government police, and there are different other things that were discussed," Kamanzi noted.

Uganda's Withdrawal Signals to A New Era in Cooperation

The complete withdrawal of Ugandan and Rwandan troops from Congo is a success in itself.  It is a successful operation even if rebel attacks had occurred again.

Uganda military completes DR Congo withdrawal

Ugandan military has completed its withdrawal from northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where it has been hunting the rebels of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA), the military spokesman said here on Monday.

Capt. Deo Akiki, the former spokesperson of the joint military operation by DRC, southern Sudan and Uganda told Xinhua by telephone that Uganda had pulled out all its troops by Sunday.

 

"As per now, we don't have any more troops in DRC. Our last contingent left DR Congo on Sunday," he said.

Uganda's Chief of Defense Forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakarima, handed over the last station held by Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) on Friday to Congolese army, who is to carry out the operations against the LRA rebels, he said.

"The withdrawal was not premature. We accomplished our task. We have now opened a new chapter of handling the enemy at regional level," Akiki said echoing the army's defense on the outcome of the operation.

"We registered a lot of success during our operations against the LRA in DRC. "We now leave the operations to DRC and MONUC," said the UPDF spokesman, Maj. Felix Kulayigye.

Congo with $24 Trillion in Mineral Wealth BUT still Poor

Congo has the resources to develop itself.  Here's a recipe for development.  Just stop the fighting then add some democracy, knowledge, and transparency.

Blood mobile phones fan DRC’s murderous conflict

According to last month’s edition of African Business magazine, the total mineral wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is estimated to be $24 trillion – equivalent to the GDP of Europe and the United States combined.

The DRC has the world’s largest reserves of cobalt and significant quantities of the world’s diamonds, gold and copper. This makes the DRC potentially the richest country in the world.

But this central African country has been ranked among the poorest and most underdeveloped countries on this planet.

A recent report aired on the BBC talked of a campaign to stop the production of what can be termed as “blood mobile phones”.

The DRC’s coltan has been identified as one of the leading causes of the conflict in the eastern part of the country, and attempts are being made to ensure that mobile phone manufacturers stop using coltan that is sourced there.

Of course, it is highly unlikely that DRC will emerge as a developed country once the fighting stops.

Major Road Work Hires Over a Thousand People

Here's the real news: 1,200 people employed to do major road work.  Also, an additional 60 people employed as police officers.

Please note that the road work is probably being done manually without major machinery.  Also, the condition of the work probably required total reconstruction.  That's why you need so many people because the road appears less than 30 miles. 

Work and employment is a good thing to see in the Congo.

UN supports deployment of police to help stabilize eastern DR Congo

Hundreds of newly trained national police officers are being deployed to the strife-torn eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as part of a stabilization plan backed by the United Nations, the world body’s mission there said today.

About 332 Congolese police officers from the Kapalata training centre in Kisangani are being deployed, with the support of the UN mission (MONUC), police and the UN Office for Projects Support (UNOPS), the mission said.

Sixty of these officers will provide security for major road work between the towns of Sake and Masisi, which employs some 1,200 people living along the road.

Road construction was suspended in late August 2008, due to fighting between the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and the Congolese

UN Pass a Resolution Against Four Rwandan Rebel Leaders

The United States, United Nations, France, and other countries froze assets and imposed a travel ban on four rebel leaders from Rwanda.

 

United States and United Nations Sanctions on Top Leaders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda

 

Today, March 3, the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) designated four leaders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Those designated by the Committee are subject to an asset freeze and travel ban. The individuals designated include: Callixte Mbarushimana, Stansislas Nzeyimana, Pacifique Ntawunguka, and Leopold Mujyambere.

The United States also domestically designated these individuals pursuant to Executive Order 13413, which targets certain persons contributing to conflict in the DRC. As a result, these men’s assets under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them.

The FDLR (an armed group of ex-Rwandese Armed Forces, Interahamwe, and other Hutu extremists including those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide) has continued to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC, significantly contributing to the instability and insecurity of the Great Lakes region. We support the governments of the DRC and Rwanda in their efforts to end the FDLR threat; we urge the FDLR to respect humanitarian law, protect civilians and undergo peaceful disarmament and demobilization; and we encourage rank-and-file FDLR members to voluntarily disarm and repatriate to Rwanda.

We encourage all UN Member States to continue to identify and bring to the attention of the DRC Sanctions Committee individuals and entities who meet the designation criteria in paragraph 4 of UN Security Council resolution 1857 (2008).

 

"I Might as Well Die"

You must Watch the video of the UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hilde F. Johnson recent visit to eastern Congo.  The video report was actually very good.

I must confess that I disliked the "Mom and Apple Pie" statement, "calls for release of all child soldiers.."  To travel halfway around the world, I expect more concrete actions than the generic "Mom and Apple Pie" statement.  Gee, you did not need to go to Congo to make that statement. 

Life in a camp is tough.  One resident, a mother of four children, say "I might as well die."

Deputy Executive Director calls for release of all child soldiers in DR Congo

The Cats are Gone, now the Mice are Back

It is time for the Congolese army to keep the peace. 

The Rwandan army joined the Congolese army to ouster rebels groups.  Now the Rwandan troops have withdrawn and returned home.  The rebels are coming back. 

Rebels 'retake Congo positions'

Hutu rebels have retaken positions they lost in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeepers say.

The UN says it has reports that FDLR rebels captured several villages and a former military training school, days after Rwandan troops began to withdraw.

However, Congolese officials said the rebels made "hit-and-run" raids, denying it was a major regrouping.

Rwandan troops began withdrawing last Wednesday - five weeks after they crossed the border to attack the FDLR.

In January, the government in Kinshasa allowed thousands of Rwandan soldiers to enter eastern DR Congo to fight the remnants of the Rwandan Hutu militia.

Months of Fighting Leave 600,000 People Displaced

The humanitarian crisis in Congo will continue for years to come.  It took months to displace these people from their home.  But it will take years to get every home and back to normal.

UN chief pledges more help for DRC refugees

"In working with the international community and the United Nations, a plan of action is being worked out with the prime minister's office to increase humanitarian access to people in need," Ban said, according to his spokesperson.

Ban, who had been in DRC since Saturday, pledged "to bring further assistance to those displaced people" and help them return home, his spokesperson, Yves Sorokobi, said.

The remarks came as the UN chief toured a camp housing about 15 000 displaced people near the town of Kibati.

The UN mission in DRC, known by its acronym, Monuc, says about 600 000 people have been displaced as a result of months of fighting in eastern DRC.

Sexual Violence Needs to STOP

Everyone wants to end the sexual violence in eastern Congo.  But very few have a shown real commitment to end it. 

UN's Secretary General Ban reiterated the UN's commitment.  Somehow, we must end the sexual violence.  But how?

In the meantime, we must continue to support and provide psychological and medical healing to the sexual violence victims.

Rape with impunity a part of every day life in the Congo

On his visit to Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated the UN’s commitment to ending sexual violence throughout the country. At Heal Africa, a holistic center set up to provide psychological and medical healing to rape victims –some as young as two years of age, he spoke about the every day ills women in the country suffer.

In Congo, It's the Africans solving African problems with the US' Help

The US pressured the Congolese government into working with its other allies (Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan) in the Great Lakes.  Africans solving African problems with the US' help. 

DR Congo outsources its military

The Democratic Republic of Congo - a country with the trappings of sovereignty but not much modern government or control outside the main cities - is waking up to its limitations.

DR Congo has invited in foreign armies to help deal with its lawless regions. It is a joint military operation that is highly unusual in Africa.

The militaries of three foreign countries - Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan - are now operating in or around the edges of DR Congo.

But unlike in previous times, the foreign armies have not invaded against the will of the authorities in the capital Kinshasa.

They were invited in by the Congolese government to deal with rebel movements that Kinshasa admits it - and the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world, in DR Congo - cannot handle.

To be accurate, the word "invited" is not quite right.

Kinshasa was persuaded by United States pressure to accept the foreigners.

The US is allied to Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan - all of which, in various ways, are opposed to the US bogeyman in the region, the Islamist regime based in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. (South Sudan is de facto quasi-independent from Khartoum after winning control of the south after a long war.)