Agaciro development Fund is a serious hurt for Rwandans and Foreign Investors

Agaciro development Fund is a serious hurt for Rwandans and Foreign Investors

As the Rwandan leadership is panicking over the international community halt to aid, the improvised collection of funds to make their regime keep running is becoming worrisome for nationals and foreign businesses working in Rwanda.
The recent statistics of the contributors to the Agaciro Funds shows clearly that the real instigators of the current and worsening financial situation and the primary spoilers of the Rwandan wealth do not bother to put even a penny into that so-called salvation Funds.
Face to the humiliation from the external donors, the military dictatorship imposed the Agaciro Funds to humiliate in their turn foreign companies that were initially rushed into the country and nowadays abandoned by their countries policies to pull out of Rwanda. Those companies are facing a dilemma to contribute as much as they can to please the Kigali regime for their own survival to stay in the country, or to refrain from doing so and find themselves forcefully or maliciously kicked out empty hands. Those who greatly contributed to the Agaciro Funds last month made other small companies vulnerable for more harassment and they wonder how many times they will hold on being the first targets for even bigger shares. The race to please the dictatorship will certainly bear a certain collapse of both the Agaciro and their respective companies, and the dictatorship will not care less.
On the same note, domestically, the pressure to the public figures now become the Agaciro collectors is dangerously increasing the level of corruption hurting hard low level citizens who need to pay for their lives. Banks are ranked to top donors but it is not their money! They have to rip off people's accounts and properties put at speedy auction.
Each minister or state agency director has to coerce the respective branches of supervision to maintain a position. This obviously reaches the powerless bottom of the ladder that has no choice and no voice. The powerful that have been sucking everything from the country are so far exempted to drop anything to the sinking ship. The duration of this nightmare and who will survive remain to be seen.
Lucien Nambaje
Kigali

Rwanda: An Award-Winning Documentary Censored Off By Its Third

 

 An Award-Winning Documentary On Rwanda Censored Off By Its Third

http://therisingcontinent.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/an-award-winning-documentary-on-rwanda-censored-off-by-its-third/

By Marie Madeleine Bicamumpaka

Imagine an author who publishes a book of 240 pages. But once in the public, all booksellers agree to wipe out the content of the last 80 pages, so that any customer who buys it never knows what was in the latter part of the book.

Yvan Patry, Canadian co-director of the documentary "Chronicle of a genocide foretold", died in 1999, after having received several awards for his cinematographic work.  Marie Magdalene Bicamumpaka, describes the story of this documentary, which was censured by those who promoted and continue to advance the 'victor' narrative of the Rwandan tragedy. The original article appeared initially in French on Musabyimana site. The following is my translation of the content. The censured part of the documentary is available at the mentioned site, but only in French. 

Censored part of the documentary "Chronicle of a genocide foretold" (1996)

Watching the censored part of the overall documentary, one understands the motives which got Seth Sendashonga [former RPF minister of interior affairs] murdered, explanation for the death of Father Andre Sibomana, [former editor of Kinyamateka and human rights activist], or imprisonment of Dr. Theoneste Niyitegeka, [unlucky candidate to the 2003 Rwandan presidential elections].

Marie Madeleine Bicamumpaka

This documentary of about forty minutes was presented for the first time during the ceremony commemorating Rwanda's 50 years of independence that took place in Brussels on 1 July 2012.

Many who will read this article and watch the clip will surely be very surprised of not having known about it long before. Indeed, the title "Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold" is familiar to them for many years. It is normal, as this document dates from 1996, hence to view, sort and edit images from an old VHS tape, in order to adapt the content to modern tools of broadcasting, has not been easy.

The director of the original document from which these pictures were taken is a Canadian, Yvan Patry. He died young, at the age of 51, just shortly after the official presentation of his work. Although "Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold" is the main title, in reality it is a compilation of three documentaries made on Rwanda by the same author between 1994 and 1996, namely: Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold, Hand of God and Hand of Devils, Sitting on Volcano.

These films once put together in one document provide a finished product of a remarkable quality of which the series "Chronicle of a Genocide Announced", itself presented in three parts, is in the pillar. Yvan Patry gave titles and particular description to each of these three sub-series.

Part 1: Blood was flowing like a river. It is the genesis of the genocide in two key regions of Rwanda: Kibuye and Bugesera, with the main conclusion that Rwandans will no longer be the same.

Part 2: We Were Cowards. This part looks at how and why the International Community abandoned Rwandans during those tragic days and delivered them to their executioners, when it decided to withdraw troops of UNAMIR from Rwanda.

Part 3: We feel betrayed. In this part, the director presents a different perspective on the nature of the massacres in Rwanda during the period between 1994 and 1996, when this time as he notes, it's the Hutu majority who suffers from crimes against humanity committed by the new Rwandan government at the head of which are Tutsi extremists. He concludes the series acknowledging the need for seeking justice in a country where he thinks the road to reconciliation will be long, well, very long.

From the late nineties, we were able to follow on various TV channels around the world, excerpts from Part 1 and Part 2, which sometimes were broadcast-ed in their entirety. This is especially around April of each year as different media program their projection, as in Rwanda to commemorate Icyunamo [Mourning], recognized internationally.

Therefore, one can only be extremely astonished when they discover that more strict censorship, carefully monitored, has been applied on the same documentary for the last 16 years.

Imagine an author who publishes a book of 240 pages. But once out, all booksellers agree to wipe out the content of the last 80 pages, so that any customer who buys it never knows what was in the latter part of the book. That is the conclusion we came to viewing, sorting and editing Yvan Patry's documentary. Indeed, the film was a success. And it is because of that it won the Chalmers Award for Creativity and Excellence in Canada and the Grand Prize for Best Documentary at Hot Docs in Toronto in 1998.

For all these years, this categorical refusal to let the public be aware of atrocities committed by RPF during this period alone (1994-1996) as it was covered by the author himself, is further evidence that from the outset, the people of Rwanda was deliberately betrayed by the powerful of this world. Until recently, daring to say that RPF, led by General Paul Kagame, had committed crimes on a large scale and that its victims must also be honoured, was considered a crime of great treason for the said "person who stopped  genocide "! It's a fact today that it is partly for this reason that the courageous Ms. Victory Ingabire Umuhoza, chairperson of the opposition political party, FDU-Inkingi, is languishing in Rwandan jails, she and her comrades.

To raise awareness on these barbaric crimes at the attention of the public by disseminating these images, I felt it as a duty. Before his death, Yvan Patry had already made other documentaries and reportages on Africa, Latin America and Asia. He said he did that to shake the general indifference, testify, share and act. But how to testify and shake everybody's indifference, if distributors/ broadcasters censor a part of an important document like this! The first of those who should be shaken are the very ones who decide that nobody needs to know, preferring to make everyone ignorant, fleeing their responsibilities as well! As if they all ignored that in reality, as Voltaire said: "It is the nature of violent censorship to give credibility views it attacks."

By taking the time to watch this film reduced to 45 minutes, we pay tribute to his director, Yvan Patry. At the same time, we honour the first category of witnesses who, knowing well they were in danger of being killed, have nevertheless dared. This refers especially here to Father André Sibomana and Mr. Seth Sendashonga, caught up in the killing machine, operating in different ways with such efficiency and cruelty, both within and beyond the borders of our mother-country, in full sight of all, for over two decades already.

At the time this story is highlighted, Rwandan president General Paul Kagame and his regime are pressed against the wall for his persistent interferences in DRC, causing regional instability and all their humanitarian consequences. But we also know that Rwanda under Kagame's leadership has enormously benefitted from support from countries which have particular interests in the region, reasons for their unconditional assistance in covering up his numerous crimes committed since his forces took power in Rwanda in July 1994.

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/08/22/uk-congo-democratic-east-idUKBRE87L06N20120822 Insight - Ethnic, economic interests entangle Rwanda in Congo By Jonny Hogg   KIWANJA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:06am BST KIWANJA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Four years after dozens of his neighbours in the remote eastern Congolese village of Kiwanja were butchered by rebels, Olivier has a sense of a recurring nightmare. Insurgents once again stalk the village's abandoned streets and fearful residents crowd for safety at the shut gates of the nearby U.N. peacekeepers' base as gunfire shatters the silence and government troops retreat in chaos. As with a previous 2004-2009 rebellion, Congo's leaders, U.N. experts and regional analysts point to small but militarily powerful neighbour Rwanda as the driving force behind this latest insurgency to test Kinshasa's tenuous hold over the east. After wars in the 1990s, Rwanda withdrew troops from Congo in 2002. But Congo watchers say Rwanda's security apparatus has continued to project its military, political and economic interests across the border, using armed groups as proxies. Kiwanja resident Olivier, who withheld his surname fearing reprisals, believes many of the same fighters that carried out the 2008 massacre that killed 150 people in his village have returned as part of the new rebellion. "For me, it's the same movement, just changed its name," said 20-year-old Olivier, referring to the M23 rebels who have seized territory north of Goma in eastern North Kivu province in recent months, forcing over 270,000 people from their homes. The United Nations linked Rwanda to the rebels behind the last revolt, which finally ended in 2009 when Rwanda arrested the Congolese Tutsi rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, who denies his forces were behind the massacre in Olivier's village. For a time, Rwanda and Congo cooperated and Nkunda's former fighters, the CNDP, were integrated into the Congolese army. But that deal has fallen apart, and the new rebels say they have taken up arms again because the Congo government reneged on it. Meanwhile, Congolese who have known relentless war and rebellion for the past 18 years, see more killing ahead. Jean Mwendo, one of thousands living with no shelter on muddy roads on the outskirts of Goma after fleeing fighting, said he had to leave his parents behind because they were too weak to leave. "Before it was the CNDP who made war. Now it's M23. We think it's the same... It's Rwanda who cause all the war in the east." DENIAL DOUBTED Rwanda strongly denies backing the M23. A small country that has long been held up by Western governments and businessmen as a model of reform, Rwanda jealously guards its reputation. But Western countries have made clear they do not believe its denials. Several, including the United States, Britain and Sweden, have frozen aid over accusations that Rwanda is waging proxy war across the border. "Rwanda has maintained covert capacity to shape events in the east (of Congo). They never let go," said Ben Shepherd, a British ex-diplomat who has followed the region for 10 years. "There is a complex stew of economic, nationalistic and ethnic drivers as to why they are doing it," he added. Rwanda, whose army first entered Congo in 1996 and fought in two wars there, says it is being made a scapegoat for the Congo government's and wider world's failures to bring peace to the vast, mineral-rich former Belgian colony at the heart of Africa. "We are kind of really getting tired of getting caught up in a conflict that's not ours," said Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda's foreign minister. When U.N. experts drafted a report, leaked in June, citing evidence that senior Rwandan military officials had been backing the M23 rebellion, the Rwandan government issued a detailed, point-by-point rebuttal that condemned the report as one-sided. Independent Great Lakes expert Jason Stearns believes the festering eastern Congo conflict is eroding one of Rwanda's biggest assets: its status as model of post-conflict development lauded by world leaders and business executives. "The biggest damage that's happening to Rwanda right now is the damage to its reputation," he said. Congo's geography of vast, impenetrable rainforest has long steered its eastern trade away from its own distant capital Kinshasa and towards Rwanda's much closer capital Kigali. Congo's borderlands are separated from Kinshasa by more than 1,500 km (900 miles). There are no year-round roads and a decrepit aviation sector. By contrast, traders in Goma, lakeside capital of Congo's North Kivu province, can cross the Rwandan border and drive just a few hours on gleaming highways to its capital Kigali, where a modern airport boast flights to far-flung hubs like Dubai. David Katumba, vice president of the Federation of Congolese Enterprises lamented that Congolese businessmen keep millions of dollars in Rwanda's banks: "With our weakness, it's given them (Rwanda) an opportunity to do what they want with us." OUTCOME OF GENOCIDE More than 5 million people died in Congo through violence, hunger and disease as a result of two wars and a series of rebellions since the late 1990s, according to a 2008 study by the International Rescue Committee. All those conflicts were broadly linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that saw Hutu soldiers and militia kill around 800,000 mostly ethnic Tutsis in 100 days. After the genocide, many of the Hutu militia fighters fled to camps in Congo. Rwanda, now led by President Paul Kagame's Tutsi-dominated government, says the Hutu fighters sheltering in Congo remain a threat, and it has a right to focus on security, especially as the Congolese state has failed to pacify the border area. A sizable population of speakers of the Rwandan language live across the border in Congo. Militias have sprung up from this group, often headed by Tutsis such as Nkunda's CNDP, officially to protect themselves from Hutus and other hostile ethnic groups but frequently taking sides in uprisings against Kinshasa, often with Rwandan support. Nevertheless, Congolese officials and U.N. experts say Rwanda's past interventions have been motivated as much by economic interests as by security. Rwanda now has one of the best armies in Africa, and has not suffered an attack from Hutu rebels in Congo for about a decade. The United Nations says the Hutu rebel FDLR force hiding in eastern Congo, believed to number as many as 15,000 a decade ago, has been reduced to less than 3,000 fighters. Previous U.N. reports have documented lucrative smuggling rackets ferrying coltan, tin, gold and tungsten ferried across to Rwanda. At the height of Congo's last war in 1999, profits from eastern Congo's mineral fields contributed some $320 million to Rwanda's defence budget, U.N. experts said. Congo's Information Minister Lambert Mende says the pattern of war for mineral wealth has resumed, and the latest rebel campaign is an extension of a Kigali-backed "war of pillage". "The (Rwandan) mafia profit to the maximum from the disorder, not paying anything to the Congolese state," he said. Noel Twagiramungu, a Rwandan human rights activist who fled his country in 2004 when civil society groups came under pressure, also said money was at the root of the intervention. "I think we can say that Rwandan involvement in Congo minerals is a state-controlled enterprise," he said. Emmanuel Ndimubanzi, head of the North Kivu's provincial government's mining division, said new local and international legislation targeting conflict minerals has slowed legal trade to almost zero, but smuggling routes remain. WEAK CONGO Those who accuse Rwanda of pulling the strings point to the M23's rapid expansion as a sign it must be helped from abroad. The M23 rebels numbered just a few hundred in April and were surrounded by government forces. Since then, their ranks have swelled to some 1,500. The advancing fighters wear crisp camouflage uniforms and brandish gleaming new guns and grenades which they say they captured from fleeing government troops. Rebel deserters have given detailed accounts of recruitment drives in Rwanda to supply fighters for M23. Young men identified themselves as Rwandans and said they were told they were joining the Rwandan army, but instead found themselves sent across the border to fight as Congolese rebels. Rwanda and M23 deny those accounts. Ultimately, the success of rebellions in eastern Congo has at least as much to do with Congo's weakness as Rwanda's strength. Congo's President Joseph Kabila has ruled out dialogue with the rebels, saying they must be crushed, but he lacks the capable military forces that could carry out the threat. Several weeks of rebel advances have laid bare the weakness of the Congolese government army, despite millions of dollars in foreign aid. The front is now just 30 km (19 miles) from Goma. M23 takes its name from a March 23, 2009 deal that ended the 2004-09 revolt by Nkunda's CNDP. The new insurgents accuse Congo's government of failing to honour that 2009 peace pact, which would have guaranteed them salaries as Congolese troops. U.N. investigators say a key figure in the M23 uprising is Bosco Ntaganda, who took over the CNDP when Nkunda was arrested, and then served as an officer in Congo's army for several years when the CNDP was incorporated in it under the 2009 peace deal. Ntaganda is now sought by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. His fighters began flocking to the M23 after the Congolese government raised the prospect of arresting him and breaking up what it described as CNDP criminal networks. Shepherd says Rwandan President Paul Kagame is caught between wanting to maintain inflows of foreign aid to fund his development plans and sustaining the loyalty of his powerful military, which sees opportunities in Congo's eastern riches. "Keeping their loyalty may explain Kagame's willingness to risk so much in (Congo)," the former diplomat wrote in an analysis for independent think tank Chatham House in London. Tutsi rebel chiefs like Nkunda and Ntaganda forged deep bonds through military careers in the ranks of Rwanda's armed forces on both sides of the border in the 1990s, before they later became rebels in Congo. "You can't see the Rwandan element in Congo without domestic politics in Rwanda. The military establishment in Rwanda is extremely influential and important. They often have an attitude towards eastern Congo of wanting to control everything that goes on, especially on their border," Stearns said. The M23 rebels have made tentative efforts to link up with other armed groups in the east, where Kabila won heavily in a 2006 election but where his popularity has plummeted since, further hurt by a troubled re-election last year criticised as flawed by local and foreign observers. The rebels are also keen to tap into broader frustrations over incomplete decentralisation plans, sentiments shared both in the east and in the southern copper rich mining province of Katanga, which has a history of secessionist bids. Kinshasa's press is full of editorials accusing Rwanda of seeking the break-up of Congo. Kabila faces a dilemma similar to 2009, and must choose between a domestically unpopular deal with the rebels and trying to defeat them with a government army which has simply collapsed in the face of rebel advances. Witnesses often talk of encountering drunken government troops in full retreat. Regional efforts to tackle the crisis have for now led to a pause in fighting but provided no lasting solution. A summit in Uganda's capital Kampala earlier this month discussed a "neutral force" that would eliminate Congo's eastern rebels, but failed to secure clear agreement. It was not established who would be part of such a force, raising raw memories of the late 1990s, when armies of nine neighbouring nations were sucked into fighting in Congo. The longer the M23 revolt lasts, the more difficult Rwanda may find it to end its damaging entanglement in eastern Congo. "Can Rwanda draw a line between what is Rwandan affairs and what is Congolese affairs? I don't think so," said rights activist Twagiramungu. Back in Kiwanja, Olivier wishes only for an end to the recurring nightmare. The rebels bring a "reign of terror", he says. "Everyone goes to bed and dreams that when they wake up, they will be gone." (Writing and additional reporting by David Lewis; Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic in Kampala and Joe Bavier in Abidjan; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Peter Graff) World

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Rethinking the International Response to the Congo Conflict

Rethinking the International Response to the Congo Conflict

Posted: 23/08/2012 13:14

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  Congo ,   United Nations ,   Rwanda , Icc , m23-Rebels , UK News

As violence continues after the latest rebellion in eastern Congo - which over the last three months has killed hundreds of civilians and displaced around 400,000 - it is necessary to reassess the international response to these events.

The UN Group of Experts report in June, which accused Rwanda of supporting the mutiny of M23 rebels from the Congolese army, sparked international condemnation of the Rwandan government. Driven by the evidence in the report as well as fierce criticism by human rights groups and media commentators, the governments of the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden delayed or withdrew aid packages to Rwanda. While there is little doubt that Rwanda - not for the first time - has interfered dangerously in Congolese affairs, we need to cast a critical eye over both the UN report and the use of foreign aid as a tool for changing Rwanda's regional policy.

That loyal supporters of Rwandan President Paul Kagame's government, such as the US and the UK, have responded so strongly to the UN report highlights the power of the Group of Experts to influence international diplomacy. The report, however, is far from the watertight analysis that some diplomats and commentators have assumed. The dearth of comprehensive information on political and military affairs in central Africa means that many foreign actors rely too heavily on this particular UN group and often fail to sufficiently scrutinise its findings.

In the case of the June report, donors have responded to what is explicitly an interim analysis by the Group of Experts. UN protocol dictates that such findings are released mid-year, leaving time for responses from the relevant regional governments and peer review by commentators, before the final, revised report is submitted at the year's end. In this instance, the donors have shifted their policies on Rwanda - which denies any involvement in Congo - before the UN's evidence has been adequately assessed.

While the Rwandan government's detailed response to the report, released two weeks ago, contains many questionable claims, it also raises some compelling points that warrant attention. To take one example, the Group of Experts erroneously claimed that Rwanda trained some M23 fighters at the Kanombe army barracks in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, when those barracks comprise only a military hospital and a cemetery. This error suggests that the Group of Experts conducted rapid evidence-gathering in a confined region of eastern Congo and spent little time researching within Rwanda. This geographical limitation has implications for other key aspects of the report.

The recent case of the alleged Congolese rebel leader, Callixte Mbarushimana, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) criticised the methodologies employed by a range of international observer groups in eastern Congo, including the UN Group of Experts. A key reason that the ICC found Mbarushimana not guilty was that the evidence gathered by the Group of Experts, Human Rights Watch and others, upon which the ICC prosecution built its case, did not withstand the forensic scrutiny of the courtroom. This highlights the need for slow, careful assessment of the methods and conclusions of all observer groups working in this region. The latest Group of Experts report reads like a final legal judgment - and has been treated as such in many quarters - rather than a separate piece of evidence that requires critical evaluation.

Not only have international donors reacted too hastily, without sufficiently assessing the UN findings, but their decision to use aid as a bargaining chip with the Rwandan government is also highly problematic. Even if we agree that Rwanda's intervention in Congo exacerbates a volatile situation, decreasing aid to Rwanda will not solve the problem of endemic violence and deprivation in Congo. Furthermore, it risks damaging a still fragile social and economic situation in Rwanda.

One major problem with the UN report and the international reaction to it is the insistence that Rwanda is primarily responsible for current instability in eastern Congo. This view neglects the role played by Congolese President Joseph Kabila in generating the M23 mutiny. One key motivator for the rebellion was that Kabila reneged on deals with these same rebels in 2009, before they were integrated into the Congolese army, that they would not be scattered away from their homelands in North and South Kivu - which Kabila threatened to do earlier this year - and that they would be paid adequate salaries. Kabila's bad faith on these counts has undermined the 2009 peace agreement between Congo, Rwanda and a range of rebel groups, which improved the security situation in eastern Congo.

More broadly, the singular focus on Rwanda ignores Kabila's failure to control his armed forces, which are responsible for as many attacks on Congolese civilians as the litany of rebel groups operating in the eastern provinces, as well as his tendency to use inflammatory ethnic rhetoric against supposed 'Rwandans' living in Congo, as seen during the 2006 and 2011 presidential campaigns. Simply removing Rwandan influence from eastern Congo will not address these fundamental causes of conflict and Kabila's role in fomenting tensions for his own political gain.

Finally, withdrawing aid from Rwanda could have dire consequences for a country still addressing the complex legacies of the 1994 genocide. Donor contributions represent around 48% of the Rwandan national budget, the vast majority of which is spent on education, health and poverty alleviation. Most observers agree that Rwanda has recorded extraordinary successes in these domains since the genocide because of its effective use of international aid and its low levels of corruption. These major socio-economic achievements have been the bedrock of the peace and stability that Rwanda has enjoyed over the last 18 years. The positive impact of aid in Rwanda poses a major dilemma for donors, who have few levers of influence over Kagame's government other than the delay or withdrawal of budgetary support. The danger, however, in using aid in this way is that ultimately it will be the Rwandan population that suffers from any reduction in social and economic services. Withholding aid will do little to address systemic problems in Congo and will undermine substantial gains in Rwanda. This risks causing major instability within Rwanda and the region as a whole.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-phil-clark/rethinking-the-internatio_b_1824289.html

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The political shocks without shock absorbers accelerated the death of Meles Zenawi

 

http://www.inyenyerinews.org/amakuru-2/the-untold-stories-the-political-shocks-without-shock-absorbers-accelerated-the-death-of-meles-zenawi/ The Untold Stories: The political shocks without shock absorbers accelerated the death of Meles Zenawi August 22, 2012 By Rwema IT Webmaster 2 Comments One of the new breeds of African leader's comrade Meles Zenawi has died at the age of 57. The legacy of the late Ethiopian Prime Minister will be split between criticism over his human rights record and recognition for being an ally of the West against what they call terrorism. While the cause of his death remains a mystery for many people within Ethiopia and outside, what is certain though is that he had not groomed a clear successor in line to take power. Whether the current Deputy Prime Minister who constitutionally is second in line, will be respected by the army and other close allies of the late Prime Minister remains a puzzle that political analysts and theorists within the political academia cannot answer with precision at this moment in time. As I have mentioned above when then- US President Bill Clinton toured Africa in March 1998, he hailed the Ethiopian leader, along with Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda as new kind of African leaders who the West could do business with. Like President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Meles Zenawi despite being both staunch allies of the West, their style of autocratic governance has garnered scorn from human rights groups. When Meles Zenawi came to power in 1991, he argued that the success of any government depends on the policies of integrating the masses in decision making "The … provisional government unwaveringly believes that it can solve all the present problems together with the broad masses of Ethiopia. However, we can do this only if all the people come out in unison to implement our planned undertakings. Above all, let us contribute our share in our respective areas for the prevalence of absolute and complete calm, in towns and rural areas" A change of guards without fundamental change: After helping to oust Mengistu Haile Mariam's Communist military junta, which was responsible for hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian deaths. Meles became prime minister in 1995 with a lot of expectations from all the corners of political spectrum with the hope that he will fundamentally change the political ugliness that had characterized his predecessor Mengistu Haile Mariam. Although  Meles Zenawi is highly praised for economic transformation of Ethiopia, bringing it  out of a hugely difficult period following Mengistu's rule , he is equally blamed  for  failing  the people of Ethiopia  with his  ruling party   by focusing on building his own authority in recent years instead of building up government institutions. According to Lefkow of   human rights watch: "I think on the human rights side his legacy will be much more questionable. The country remains under a very tightly controlled one-party rule and this will be the challenge for the new leadership, to take advantage of the opportunity that his death presents in terms of bringing Ethiopia into a more human rights-friendly, reform-minded style of leadership,"The Ethiopian leader was faced with external and internal political pressure, though he won accolades for economic progress; human rights groups have long denounced Meles' government for its use of arbitrary detention, torture, and surveillance of opposition members inside Ethiopia. The ONLF, an opposition group that mostly consists of ethnic Somalis, has openly clashed with the government, including in 2007 when Ethiopia sent troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabab militants. At the end of 2006, Somalia's UN-backed government asked Ethiopia to send troops into Somalia to try to put down an Islamist insurgency. Ethiopian troops moved into the country and captured Mogadishu, but the Somali population rebelled against what it saw as an occupation and Ethiopian forces withdrew in 2009.Ethiopia again sent troops to Somalia in early 2012 as part of an increased international effort to pressure al-Shabab. Uganda, Burundi and Kenya all have thousands of troops in a coalition under the African Union, though Ethiopia's forces are not part of the coalition. Earlier in Meles' tenure, from 1998-2000, Ethiopia fought a border war with its former ally and comrade Isaias Afewerki the President  of   Eritrea, a conflict that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.New breeds of African leaders become Darling Dictators of the Day It is a shame that these so called new breeds of Africa are praised by the West not on merit that they deserve but on the assumption that they can be used as a press button for their political and economic interests.  Uncompromising attitude on democracy this is what all these news breeds of African leaders have in common, they don't tolerate  any dissent,  Kagame in Rwanda has not only politically persecuted his political opponents but has also murdered them within Rwanda and outside. Indeed, like so many rebel generals who have made the switch to civilian leadership, Kagame places a high premium on loyalty and discipline, likes to operate in secrecy, is comfortable using violence and threats of violence against his enemies, and tends to equate criticism with treason. Camouflaging as a saint, he doesn't appear motivated by wealth or luxury, either for himself or his relations, never the less; he is regarded as one of the richest people in Rwanda owning through proxies most of the business empires in Rwanda and some luxury Jets abroad. It is unfortunate that many admirers of these African dictators what they don't realize is the fragility of the economic progress they make in their respective countries. There is no doubt that both Meles Zenawi and Paul Kagame are credited for radiating a quality of intense seriousness that is both impressive and intimidating with the most dynamic and effective leadership in Africa today, and also ruthless, repressive and intolerant of criticism. As I mentioned in my previous article, despite all the shortcomings in what the West stand for, democracy and human rights, the fans of both Kagame and Meles Zenawi , who include Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and the CEOs of Google and Starbucks, the tinderbox nature of post-genocide Rwanda and the representation  of the West by Meles Zenawi  in the conflicts in Somalia , justify their strong hand and poor human rights record.  For example the fact that Rwanda is ranked 183 out of 195 countries suppressing freedom of the press, outweighed by the fact that the per-capita GDP has tripled. Also, the West lives with the guilty knowledge that it was Kagame and his rebel army who stopped the genocide, while we dithered and blundered, and Kagame has been skilful and relentless at using this guilt to his advantage. Therefore there is no doubt that Meles Zenawi has died a natural cause, but the timing and speed has been the work of much pressure and stress exerted by both external and internal factors. It is also unfortunate that some of these human rights abusers leave the political stage without being accountable to what they did. Whether Kagame will live to answer some questions regarding disappearance of his colleagues, decapitated, or killed Rwandans we don't know, but what we do know is that human beings have the same fate, whether you think or people call you a strong person, you will never be stronger than death. Jacqueline Umurungi Brussels.

Rwanda: What the dictator and war Criminal Paul Kagame needs to do to address the negative impacts of foreign aid cuts ?

Rwanda: What  the dictator and war Criminal Paul Kagame needs to do to address the negative impacts of foreign aid cuts ?

It is good news that foreign aid was cut by the major funders of Rwanda dictatorial  regime led by the  war criminal and dictator Paul Kagame.

Rwanda foreign  aid benefits a small majority of Rwandan people mainly Tutsi and Hutu elites who  are  supporting  Kagame's regime.

Foreign aid for Rwanda has been used by Kagame  to open new Embassies abroad, paying salaries for military personal fighting in Congo, construction of  new hotels and business centres in the capital, building a new airport  and purchasing new civil and military  aircrafts.

Rwanda's aid cuts were overdue even without being caused caused by Kagames' support to ongoing fighting in DR Congo.

While many public workers in the UK have lost their jobs due to economic downturn,  Kagame pay higher salaries to military and civil servants than any developing county in Africa. Kagame pays himself  more than 15,000 euros per month  excluding benefits he get  as a Head of State.

Imposing Rwandan people to pay contributions to  the new created fund is to ask them to help Tutsi  elites to keep their higher salaries paid from foreign aid . 

Foreign aid should resume or  new foreign aid should be provided to Kagame on the following conditions:

• Kagame  must allow the freedom of expression and assembly in the country

• Kagame must  allow the freedom of political parties

• Kagame must allow exiled political parties to be registered and operate  freely in the country

• Kagame must allow  Hutus to  express opinions about  Hutu killed by Kagame during the genocide and during Kagame's war

• Kagame must allow Hutus to mourn the death of their  relatives killed  in Rwanda and in DR Congo during Kagame's war and invasion of  DR Congo.

• Kagame must ensure the implementation of property rights in relation to housing and land

• Kagame mut review the payments for expropriation of lands and  houses to  Hutus  who have been paid less than  the real value of their  properties by the government and Tutsis entrepreneurs 

• Kagame must ensure the Tutsi vacate the properties that  belong to exiled  Hutus

• Kagame must ensure that political prisoners are released from prison and are allowed to  exercise their political rights.

What Kagame needs to do to respond to the foreign aid cuts is the following:

• Reduce the number of Embassies abroad and the number  of staff working in  foreign  Embassies

• Reduce international travels which are mainly aimed at killing of and gathering intelligence about Rwandan refugees and political opponents

• Reduce  the costs of national and foreign intelligence

• Cancel  the sports awards and events sponsored by Kagame

• Abolish  scholarships that he pay for  some Tutsi  students to study abroad

• Stop fighting in  DR Congo

• Cancel  larger infrastructure  projects such as construction of new hotels, airports and  business centres in the capital

• Reduce military spending in relation to salaries and purchasing new military equipment and ammunitions

• Reduce the size of Rwandan army

• Reduce the numbers of State own quangos

• Use foreign aid to fight against poverty  in rural areas.

Silence of the U.S. Media: 1.8 Million Congolese Women Raped

by Adam Miller | University of Michigan

F Posted in: News and Politics, Voices P Posted on: August 17, 2012

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 Adam Miller

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a country comparable in size to the United States east of the Mississippi and a country of great beauty, nearly untouched rainforests, exotic animal species, and a good number of valuable minerals and other natural resources.
And yet Congo is today one of the poorest, most violent, most chaotic places on Earth—without medicine, electricity, law, or order. Heartbreakingly, mass rape is rampant, pandemic, and a tactic of both government forces and militias that control large portions of the nation as a result of a prior brutal civil war and its continuing repercussions.
As an Afro-American and African Studies minor at the University of Michigan, I turn to international news outlets—particularly Al Jazeera and the BBC—for the latest happenings in African countries such as the DRC, as the United States media has proven time and again that, where national interest is not at stake, neither is aid nor coverage.
Having been to Rwanda earlier this summer and to the border with the Congo, I had the opportunity to speak with several individuals for whom this situation is a daily reality and fear. As such, I take it upon myself to attempt to explain a highly complex, highly volatile issue and explain it to my peers, the readers of NextGen Journal, as these issues cannot be solved until there is international pressure. And surely international pressure will not happen if the international community is not informed with the ‘goings-on’ of third-world African nations.
First, then, it is critical to note the legacy of colonialism of the DRC. Congo has been the victim of more than a century of colonial domination and exploitation—first by the Belgians and then by other African nations, including Rwanda, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. In fact, said countries’ idea of peace might be more accurately spelled ‘piece:’ a piece of the pie, or of the DRC’s many minerals like coltan, which is used in cell phones. It is also important to realize that most of the violence in Congo is local—it isn’t really coordinated on a large scale by the state. It is essentially the product of conflict among fragmented local militias, each trying to push their own agendas at the village or district level, and this expands rapidly.
According to Al Jazeera, the conflict ultimately began in neighboring Rwanda with the 1994 genocide. The country essentially became a killing field, with troops from six African nations and approximately five million people dead, killed by war and starvation. Eastern DR Congo has been plagued by fighting since 1994, when more than a million ethnic Hutus crossed the border into DR Congo following the genocide in Rwanda, in which some 800,000 people—mostly Tutsi—died. And Rwanda has twice invaded its much larger neighbor, saying it was trying to take action against Hutu rebels based in DR Congo.
Furthermore, the situation in Congo keeps deteriorating even though its current civil war has officially been over for years and the United Nations’ second-largest peacekeeping mission is based there. The international community has largely failed to help Congo achieve peace because of misinformation and, stemming from that, a fundamental misunderstanding of the causes of the violence there. This civil war has been the deadliest conflict since World War II, and the single largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Babies and elderly grandmothers have been raped, as a weapon of war. It is estimated that some two million people have fled their homes—and about 200,000 since April of this year.
Most recently is what is known as the East Democratic Republic of Congo mutiny, fighting that has gone on in North Kivu (an eastern province) since the formal end of the Second Congo War in 2002-2003. In April of this year, soldiers mutinied against the government of the DRC and formed a rebel group known as the March 23 Movement (M23), which is made up of former members of the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). In fact, former CNDP commander Bosco Ntaganda, “The Terminator,” is accused of leading the mutiny. These rebels have taken up arms call themselves “M23” after a failed peace agreement signed with DR Congo’s government three years ago, many of whom are ethnic Tutsi—like the vast majority of Rwanda’s leadership.
Just last year, more than 15,000 rapes were committed in the DRC, where peacekeepers are unable to fully protect civilians, a senior United Nations official has said. In addition, of the 5,427 sexual attacks this year, about 70% have been perpetrated by “men in uniform,” according to Abubakar Dungus, a UNFPA spokesman. It is not entirely clear if he meant soldiers or rebels—and in all likelihood, he meant both.
Perhaps most shocking (and not reported) are last year’s findings by the American Journal of Public Health that as many as 1.8 million Congolese women have been raped, in total.  And factors such as education, income, and area of residence (rural or urban) neither protected nor put women at greater risk.
How does that go under the radar of the international eye? Where is the outcry? Does the world only react where there is oil at stake? These are questions that must be raised, and I hope you will help me raise them.
This is an extraordinarily complex issue, and I look forward to reactions to the piece. Below is a simplified timeline of events in Congo, hopefully to give the situation some shape and perspective.

• April-June 1994: Genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda
• June 1994: Paul Kagame’s Tutsi rebels take power in Rwanda, Hutu fighters flee into Zaire (DR Congo)
• Rwanda’s army enters eastern Zaire to pursue Hutu fighters
• 1997: Laurent Kabila’s AFDL, backed by Rwanda, takes power in Kinshasa
• 1998: Rwanda accuses Kabila of not acting against Hutu rebels and tries to topple him, sparking five years of conflict
• 2003: War officially ends but Hutu and Tutsi militias continue to clash in eastern DR Congo
• 2008: Tutsi-led CNDP rebels march on North Kivu capital, Goma – 250,000 people flee
• 2009: Rwanda and DR Congo agree to a peace deal and CNDP integrated into Congolese army
• 2012: Mutiny led by former CNDP leader Bosco “Terminator” Ntaganda

Adam Miller Adam Miller is a member of the class of 2015 at the University of Michigan where he is pursuing degrees in Political Science and Modern Middle Eastern and North African Studies. He is also working toward a minor in Afro-American and African Studies. His primary academic interests surround Asymmetrical Conflict and third-world Economic Development. Originally from Grand Rapids, MI, Adam is an avid sailor, kayaker, and Humanitarian. In addition to his position as 'News and Politics' Staff Writer for NGJ, he also writes for the Michigan Journal of International Affairs. Follow him on Twitter @adammack_miller 

 

http://www.nextgenjournal.com/2012/08/what-mainstream-us-media-fails-to-report-1-8-million-congolese-women-raped/

 

Will the ICC Prosecute a Man who stopped Genocide in Rwanda?

 

http://www.inyenyerinews.org/amakuru-2/the-untold-stories-kagame-a-wounded-buffalo-will-the-icc-prosecute-a-man-who-stopped-genocide-in-rwanda/ Kagame a wounded Buffalo: Will the ICC Prosecute a Man who stopped Genocide in Rwanda? August 19, 2012 By Rwema IT Webmaster Leave a Comment The international criminal lawyer Christopher Black on behalf of the Rwandese and Congolese coalition presented a petition to the International criminal court based in the Hague requesting   Fatou Bensouda, the new Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, to investigate and indict Rwandan President Paul Kagame.   President Paul Kagame, is accused of  violations various arms embargo and sanctions within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he is also accused of  helping the M23 so-called rebellion in Congo in violation of Security Council sanctions which has been responsible for gross human rights violations  in the DRC. As far as I know the Kgame  legal camp will not tell the truth the President that it is possible to charge him,  they will tell the President that since Rwanda is not a signatory  to the ICC,  the the ICC  has no jurisdiction on him and other co-accused.  I know these guys who are legal advisors in the President's office will not be brave enough to tell their Boss the naked truth.  I had this morning on the BBC Gahuzamiryango on the famous programme Imvo n'invano   saying that President Kagame on his tweeter page he was quoted saying that all these allegations will not have any consequences. Mr President your legal advisors should tell you what happened to your former counterparts in the World. The likes of Milosevic, Khadafy, Bashir, just to mention a few The legal argument that will be told to the President will be that, since Rwanda is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the ICC cannot extend its jurisdiction to the once a strong man of Rwanda. Unfortunately Congo is, they could therefore charge Kagame and his officers with crimes committed inside the Congo, which would give them jurisdiction over him and his officers.  Because the statute says that if any country or group commits crimes within a territory which is signatory to the statute, then even if they're not signatory themselves, they would be under the jurisdiction of the ICC. Therefore if his legal team cannot tell the president the truth who Will? Please Mr. President don't read  the only papers of Andrew Mwenda (The independent), The Rwanda New times, read also these online information although many of them have been blocked in Rwanda on your orders, to be honest, these guys don't hate you, they rather tell you the truth which your so called close allies will never dare to tell you. It should be submitted that recently the US Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp told the Rwandan press that what he said in the Guardian News Paper in UK, was true and he even went further and said that he has more information on the allegations of the Rwandan regime supporting the M23 Militia group in the Congo which is trying to overthrow the Kabila regime. The International Criminal Court (ICC) was formed during one of the bloodiest decades in human history, after the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides. The establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court in 2002 represented a major breakthrough in international justice. The Court is the only one of its kind that can investigate and prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes when national authorities are unable or unwilling to do so. In June 2011, the ICC issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity in Libya, after the Libya situation had been referred to the ICC by the U.N. Security Council several months earlier.  Meanwhile, the Court has issued three arrest warrants against President Bashir of Sudan for charges including genocide.  The ICC sentenced the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga to 14 years in jail for recruiting and using child soldiers in his rebel army in 2002 and 2003.  The readers of this article should be reminded that the co-accused of Thomas Lubanga is Bosco Ntaganda who is shielded by the Kagame regime not for any other reason, but for the protection of Kagame and his forces on the complicity in the crimes of both Ntaganda and Thomas Lubanga respectively. Indeed the Lubanga case is closely related to the current fighting in DR Congo, where forces loyal to Gen Bosco Ntaganda are threatening many lives in the Kivu region of the DRC. As I have mentioned above Gen Ntaganda is accused of the same crimes as his erstwhile ally Lubanga and his M23 group which resumed its rebellion shortly after Lubanga was convicted, amid mounting calls for Gen Ntaganda to be arrested.   However, with the  fate of the former Liberian leader Charles Taylor still fresh in the minds of Kagame ,  where the former leader was sentenced  to 50 years for helping the former Sierra Leone  war  Lord Fody Sankoh  despite the fact that  Charles Taylor  never stepped his foot in  Sierra Leone will remind the Rwanda strong man that ,  the same  typhoon  weather  could blow against him any time. Will the International Community act this time? It should be noted that, the international community is well aware of the crimes of the man they strongly believe to have stopped genocide, and to certain extent regarded as a reformer who has transformed the tiny central African nation which was at the verge of turning into butcher ground. Paul Kagame has used the excuse of pursuing "genocidaires" to justify his regular invasions of the Congo. The casualties in these operations, supported by the silence of the international community have run into the millions. Many people believe that Kagame has far outstripped Idi Amin as a mass killer (Amin's killings are estimated at 100,000-300,000, whereas Kagame's surely run well over 8 million civilians in Congo and unknown number in Rwanda). But Kagame is servicing establishment U.S. and Western interests, and for the past 20 years has therefore received a free pass to rob and kill. It is very hard to tell whether this new pressure of the political opponents of Kagame will bear any fruit or it's the same song and the same dancers who will be ignored by the international community. But make no mistake, the holding of the aid or total withdraw of these dollars will force the Kigali regime to change tactics and in fact the waters seem are unnavigable at the moment, the heat of the friction of the forces of uncertainty is giving the regime sleepless nights, with some  carders within the  RPF camp proposing different options to top up the monies that were suspended, RPF carders  have been moving around spreading the gospel of  kwihesha agaciro(Dignity) but really can you have the same dignity with  owners of  business empires of RPF  and its operators?   But certainly the missing hard currency in Rwanda has caused political diarrhea in the RPF political establishment and is biting hard. Jacqueline Umrungi Brussels.

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UN Group of Experts Finds New Evidences of Rwandan Invasion of DRC

http://www.afroamerica.net/AfricaGL/2012/08/16/un-group-of-experts-find-new-evidences-of-rwandan-invasion-of-drc/

UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo has found fresh evidences of Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) invasion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Meanwhile, Rwandan operatives within ICGLR sub-committee continue to assert that the problem in the DRC and the region is caused by the Rwandan rebels from three groups: Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), Rally for Unity and Democracy (RUD-Urunana) and General Kayumba and Colonel Karegeya's troops.

Fresh Graves and Burial Sites of RDF Soldiers Killed in DRC
According to sources from the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), the UN Group of Experts acted on a tip from Rwandan Government insiders and satellite images provided by unnamed services. The satellite images show fresh graves and burial sites of tens of troops in the Rwandan military cemetery of Kanombe. The insiders alleged that the digging of the graves and the burial happened during nights to avoid undue attention. These tens of dead soldiers are assumed to be killed during operations to reinforce M23 rebels in the DRC. Confronted with the images and the proofs, the Rwandan Government denied as usual and said that the soldiers were killed during a UN mission in Darfour. But when the UN Experts checked the records, they found that only one Rwandan soldier, known as Lieutenant Vincent Mirenge, was recently killed.
Asked about the tens of fresh graves since July 15th, 2012, when only one Rwandan soldier is known to have been killed in Darfour, Rwandan government officials and Rwandan Defense Forces agents said that they actually waited to bury all the soldiers killed earlier in Darfour at the same time. Hence they gave the names of Sergeant-Major Jackson Muhanguzi and Sergeant Jean Claude Tubanambazi.

UN Experts asked whether the soldiers were buried in the tens of fresh graves. Also, when the UN Experts checked the records, they found that Sergeant Jean Claude Tubanambazi was a peace keeper in South-Sudan who was killed in early June 2012 and was buried immediately in an official ceremony, whereas Sergeant-Major Jackson Muhanguzi was killed in early July and was also buried in a known grave, not included in the ones identified by UN Experts and in the satellite photos.

Rwanda Government Shifts Blame to UN Experts

Since proofs and testimonies emerged pointing to Rwandan involvement in the invasion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and to its supports to the M23 rebels, Rwandan Government has tried to blame the UN Experts for fabricating the proofs. Rwandan government officials especially targeted the head of UN Experts, Steve Hege, of having written, before he was hired as a UN Expert, a memo detailing the unwillingness of the Rwandan Government to bring peace in the region. Steve Hege, a US Citizen, is widely recognized as one of the few expert authorities on the Great Lakes Region. He is viewed as an independent thinker who has the grasp of the political and security issues facing the Great Lakes Region of Africa. According to sources within the Rwandan Government, the Rwandan Government is planning to arrest and try him of "revisionism and negationism". Rwandan security forces would eventually detain him during his visit to Rwanda, Burundi or Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Two years ago, Rwandan government detained and imprisoned another expert on the region, Professor Peter Erlinder (see our articles here) and Here and more here. Professor Erlinder was released under pressure from the US State Department.

What irritates Rwandan Government the most, is the statement from Steve Hege arguing that Rwandan Government thwarted the initiative of ROme/Kisangani/Kasiki between the DRC Government and the National Democratic Congress (a coalition of Rwandan rebels operating in the DRC), under the mediation of Sant'Egidio Community, SIK-Norway and Eglise du Christ of Congo (ECC).
On the initiative, Steve Hege wrote: "The failure of a recent go-and-see visit of [Rwandan rebels] officers to Kigali, due to reported intimidations, raises significant doubts regarding the Rwandan promote repatriations. In mid 2008, over 150 members of a longstanding splinter faction FDLR-RUD, had voluntarily been disarmed by MONUC. Following lengthy negotiations in Kisangani, a trip was organized for some of its leadership to visit Kigali along with MONUC staff and embassy representatives. The same week the RDF had entered the Congo, the [Rwandan rebels] officers were brought to genocide memorials and refused entry to observe a Gacaca hearing although they noted from a distance that the accused were not allowed to defend themselves. Upon returning to the Congo, the entire group of ex-combatants and their dependents fled from the MONUC camp. Had the Rwandan government truly wanted their operations to facilitate voluntary repatriations, they would have seized the opportunity to ensure this delegation shared a positive impression of the current situation in Rwanda with other combatants.

DRC Government's Lack of Direction and Leadership
As the UN Experts are compiling new evidences and reports, Rwandan experts working within ICGLR cub-committee are trying to build a new case. According to sources close to the ICGLR committee, Rwandan experts are arguing that M23 is only a symptom and that the real problem is the rwandan rebels based on the DRC territory. Rwandan experts have provided the list of three rebel groups: FDLR, RUD-Urunana and General Kayumba-Colonel Karegeya's troops.

As usual, the DRC Government appears to have no clear direction on the conflict that is decimating the Congolese civilians. After grudgingly acknowledging and condemning the invasion by Rwandan and Ugandan defense forces, the DRC President Joseph Kabila went on to have closed door meetings with the Rwandan dictatoro General Paul Kagame in Addis-Abeba. After the meetings they had an official photo taken, all in smile and embraces. Then Joseph Kabila travelled to the capital of Uganda, the other aggressor, to have another meeting with General Paul Kagame, under the mediation of none other than … Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda. At the end of the meeting, the three heads of states agreed to create a sub-committee, led by Uganda and Rwanda to work on the conflict resolution. For many observers, the actions of Joseph Kabila appeared troubling, and may be due to either desperation, or intense pressure from powerful forces, or the lack of leadership.
What happened after the ICGLR sponsored Kampala Summit?

DRC Government has mobilized the youth to join the army for a prolonged struggle against the "Rwandan and Ugandan invaders.DRC opposition leaders led by Mwenze Kongolo, a former Justice and Security Minister under Joseph Kabila's father and from the same clan, and Vital Kamerhe, a former Speaker of the parliament, leveled serious criticisms against Joseph Kabila pointing to his lack of leadership on resolving the conflict and almost accused him of catering to Rwandan government's interests.Rwanda Defense Forces have been forcefully recruiting and training the youth and sending them to the DRC through the jungles and volcanos separating Rwandan and the DRC.M23: now de facto led by General Laurant Nkunda, who has moved to Gisenyi and has been meeting commanders and troups in the towns of Ruftshuru, Jomba, and Kitchanga, Runyoni, and Ntamugenge.M23 has also seen rifts within when some Tutsi parents started asking about the news of their sons forcefully recruited. This halted the advance on Masisi.General Lafontaine's UPCP has been consolidating and getting ready to play a prominent military role when General Lafontaine becomes the overall military commander of the combined M23-UPCP-Mbusa Nyamwisi's forces.Mbusa Nyamwisi's forces: after seizing Kasindi with the help of Ugandan Defense Forces and looting a large quantity of the weapons, communication equipment, and ammunitions from FARDC arsenal, they withdraw to the areas surrounding Kasindi and control most of the Beni and Bunia surroundings. Mbusa Nyamwisi's whereabouts change and he has been advised by Ugandan Government to avoid Uganda's capital as much as possible so as not to give diplomatic ammunitions to UN Experts and the DRC government.

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