afro america network report on the CONGO

[kweku,afro olmec]

The coalition forces of Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC), and
UN Mission of Congo (MONUC) have failed to dismantle Rwandan rebels,
says UN Experts Report.

David O’Brian
Baltimore, November 25, 2009

AfroAmerica Network just finished to review a copy of the UN Group of
Experts report leaked to the media, and to us. The conclusion of the
Report is damning for everybody and especially discredits the claims by
the coalition of the Congolese Defense Forces (FARDC), Rwandan Defense
Forces (RDF) and MONUC of having broken the military and political
structure of the rwandan rebels, including Democratic Liberation Forces
(FDLR) and the Rally For Unity and Democracy (RUD-Urunana). Instead, the
report asserts, these two rebels groups, not long ago competitors, have
created alliances among themselves and with the Congolese ethnic groups
including Hunde, Nande, and Congolese Hutu in North-Kivu and Tutsis
Bagogwe and Banyamulenge in Masisi and South-Kivu. Besides, the report
affirms that the two groups, especially a RUD Colonel named Winceslas
Nizeyimana, has been recruiting hundreds of combatants across the border
in Uganda from the refugee camps of Nakivale and Cyaka. CNDP, led by the
accused war criminal General Bosco Ntaganda has increased in numbers,
strength, and wealth and committed most of the worst abuses, including
massive rapes, mass slaughters of civilians, looting and illegal levy of
taxes, following its integration within the congolese army, the FARDC.

As most human rights group have pointed out, the UN Experts’ report
concurs that instead of reaching sought out solutions, the military
operations known as Umoja Wetu, Kimia I and KImiaII against the rwandan
rebels, have complicated the problem, and created one of the most
appalling human catastrophe the humanity has experienced: thousands of
women and girls raped, thousands of civilians killed, hundreds of
thousand of refugees and displaced, countless villages looted and burned
to ground. All countries are accused of supporting or helping the
Rwandan rebels: China, Angola, South Africa, Russia, Tanzania, North
Korea, Sudan, France, Germany, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, North America,
Great Britain, Switzerland, and most importantly the Democratic Republic
of the Congo itself.
Among the Congolese accused of supporting FDLR and RUD-Urunana are:
Congo-Kinshasa’s Minister of Decentralization, Mbusa Nyamwisi, who was
previously Foreign Minister, and the businessman Kasereka Maghulu, also
known as Kavatsi, who has apparently been helping RUD-URUNANA to obtain
food supplies, arms, ammunition and cash in return for minerals and
timber. The commanders of the FARDC 10th military region, General
Pacifique Masunzu, a Banyamulenge (South Kivu Banyamulenge Tutsi) who
broke with the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) back
in 2003 and who clearly remains implacably opposed to the Rwandan
government, and his deputy Colonel Baudouin Nakabaka, a former Mai-Mai
fighter accused responsible of providing logistical support to Rwandan
rebels.

One interesting accusation is directed to Roman Catholic networks. The
UN Group particularly names two Spanish charities linked with the Roman
Catholic church, the Fundació S’Olivar and Inshuti, and funded by the
government of the Islas Baleares Province. The Spanish charities,
Fundació S’Olivar and Inshuti are accused of providing financial support
to the FDLR, funding allegedly used to recruit combatants from refugee
camps and young Congolese Hutus. Fundació S’Olivar is run by the 2000
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Juan Carrero, a prominent figure in Spain and
renown conscience objector. Inshuti used to be run by Joan Casoliva.
Both men are cited in the report as being FDLR sympathizers and for
seeking the prosecution of RPF officials in the Spanish courts. Inshuti
is accused of collaborating with a Belgian brother of a charity called
Constant Goetschalckxhas.

The UN Experts especially targets the FDLR political leaders in the
following sections (93 - 95):

93. To further corroborate the modus operandi of the FDLR chain of
command, the Group worked in collaboration with an FDLR ex-combatant who
in turn obtained information in the presence of the Group from a radio
operator active in DRC. This conversation, which was heard and
transcribed by the Group, related to military instructions issued in
March 2009 by the FDLR high command to attack civilian populations and
hospitals ....

....

For more visit:

UN Expert Report: Failure in Congo

or Rwandan Refugees in Kasiki and go to the Blog page

David O’Brian
AfroAmerica Network Editor
Baltimore, Nov 25, 2009
© Copyright AfroAmerica Network, 2009