Saturday, October 11, 2008

Follow-up on the North Kivu situation.

Here is the latest from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the MONUC high headquarters:

The U.N. urged Congo and Rwanda on Friday to hold talks to avoid a war.

There is also a call for an investigation into supposed Rwandan intervention. That would be, specifically, the claim that Rwandan Army forces have crossed over into Nord-Kivu (again) and are backing the CNDP rebels.

The GovD.R.Congo offers supposed photographic evidence of Rwandan intervention.

There should be no doubt that Rwanda *would* intervene if they thought it was worth it to them, as they have done in major ways twice before. Whether the Congolese "proof" is worth much, however...

41 comments:

Purr said...

Dear me-- I am so behind on the news outside of this country--

Rwanda and Congo-- (Sort of reminds me of Georgis/Russia)

I can not believe General Karake was indicted earlier for war crimes and he is still loose! What is wrong with this picture???

Purr said...

GOMA, DRC - October 6 - In the most volatile parts of North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), violence has reached its highest levels in years while assistance is hardly reaching those most in need, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes since full-scale war resumed at the end of August and are living in fear, without the means to meet their most basic needs.

The international community has failed to address the ongoing conflict in the region as a priority. Even though one of the largest peacekeeping forces in the world is currently deployed in DRC, the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MONUC) is clearly failing to fulfil its mandate to protect the civilian population in North Kivu.

Most United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations are also failing to provide an adequate response as an already disastrous humanitarian situation further deteriorates. Despite the presence of a large number of humanitarian organizations in Goma, the province's capital, few are active in the areas most affected by the war.

And the UN wants them to talk it out!! this article talked about all the people being displaced-- again!

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@All

This Follow-up refers back to The Weekly N&C for October 6th 2008 here.

Purr said...

These poor doctors are doing more humanitarian work than those others-

I see there was an outbreak of diarrhoea killing and leaving many sick people in the IDP's, North Kivu....
(now I know what IDP means- heheheh)

I had to go back a few days and read some of the older news

Purr said...

I see Ituri, my first introduction to this place is:

BUNIA/KIGALI, 10 October 2008 (IRIN) - Serious fighting has broken out in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province and in the neighbouring district of Ituri, with thousands of civilians displaced, and others cut off, amid claims that foreign troops had deployed in parts of the east.

Ituri

The fighting in Ituri, mainly around the main town of Bunia, has left vulnerable communities without aid, including in Bogoro, 25km south of Bunia.

"As long as there is still fighting, [and] as long as the militia are still along the roads, no one will set foot, we cannot help those near Bogoro," Jean-Charles Dupin, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Orientale Province, said.

Rwanda continues to deny any involvement? What is this thinking?

I just saw your post-- will have to go the follow-up- I was on the internet reading- I need to go look at a map-to see these areas-

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@Susan

"I just saw your post-- will have to go the follow-up..."

No problem, all the information (and some of what you linked to here) is covered in greater detail there.

Take your time, please.

Purr said...

slow down Nelly here-- I am now learning about Nord Kivu--- catching up on the Second Congo War here--

grrr- I would have to read about recruiting of children for the military!

Now I am going to read yours-- I am all over the place with these external links--

Purr said...

LDG-- Your article is GREAT!!!!!!!!!!! I still need to read a couple more of the links-- but so far, I read about Operation Turquoise and the ICTR link-- I see trials are still in progress--

You did a fabulous job putting all the pieces together from times past to present day! I am so amazed!! going back to read more-- sorry for the lapses of time but this is serious reading!

Purr said...

BTW-- You need to throw maps in for me! (grin-- lazy me wants you to do all the work)

L.Douglas Garrett said...

Thank you. I'm glad it is what you were looking for.

Please do take the time to get through that, because several parts of it are more complex than I would have liked the presentation to be (but that is how this sort of topic goes).

Maps: Maps of the regions mentioned are available on the wiki-p links to each of the Kivus.

I don't display graphics in The Weekly N&C as it is written with the intent of having links embedded to get those. Perhaps I should reconsider for future issues ((ponders)).

Purr said...

Do you feel the French delayed their intervention? Operation Turquoise? I am back on that link-- reading slowly

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@Susan

re: "Do you feel...?"

You ask for opinion, here's opinion:
Based on what I know, they intentionally allowed things to happen, and only intervened to protect the perpetrators (who they supported) from revenge.

But then I am rather cynical about their motivations, and who knows, the ICC case brought by Rwanda against the French may not be sustained. If that happened, that would prove my opinion mistaken, legally speaking. ((shrug))

T.I.A.

Purr said...

were the French the only military action in that genocide massacre?

Purr said...

I got that feeling too--

Purr said...

I see some blunders the French made-- or maybe-- looking the other way-

L.Douglas Garrett said...

The French had the only non-local force in the region capable of any intervention.

The UNAMIR peacekeepers inside Rwanda were nearly insignificant in numbers and capabilities, they were crippled by orders from the UN to do nothing, and they were the first target as the Genocide got rolling.

Other countries, outside the region, considered late intervention by paratroops, but decided to stand aside when the French offered to intervene. Fair Note: Most countries were still woefully uninformed as to what was happening in Rwanda.

This is all good background, but tangential to the current situation.

Purr said...

my goodness-- so much to read-- I am clicking on the links and now I am reading about Paul Kagame-- I guess the French prosecutor is out to get him-- so that led me into his background as I was scratching my head going-- and who the heck is this guy? duh-- Current President of Rwanda--

shame and shame on me!!!

Purr said...

and the dang acronyms-- UNAMIR-- Got that one now! Had to go look that one up-- the mandate came to an end in 1996-

Purr said...

I am on the Congo Wars-- Kabila's name came up-- is this the guy where there was all this fighting going on awhile back about cheating at the polls? general elections?

Yes it is-- to answer myself--

Purr said...

I just read your thread again for this one-- and this is making sense to me-- question: Is Kabila a part of this fighting now?

L.Douglas Garrett said...

President Joseph Kabila Kabange(the younger; his father L-D. Kabila was the Congo Wars rebel leader) of the D.R. Congo is the leader of the government, and as such C-in-C of the FARDC (national army) and so yes, "his" army is in the fighting now.

Purr said...

Never mind-- duh again-- He definitely is--

But President Kabila does not want to talk to us. He is calling on the population of Kivu to help him destroy us. We do not think he really wants peace," alleged the spokesman. (Monuc Spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux)

(Rwanda: Monuc Confirms DRC Army-FDLR Alliance







The New Times (Kigali)

10 October 2008
Posted to the web 11 October 2008

Purr said...

you were posting and I was reading about Kabila

L.Douglas Garrett said...

Not a problem. I know you have lots more to read, too.

Good luck and Good work so far, Susan. I need to go rest, but will check back later to help as I can.
((departs shortly))

Purr said...

phew--- I had to get these acronmys in place-- here goes my game of words--

Monuc--(I had to translate from the french-- Mission for the organizaton of the United Nations for a Democratic Republic), part of DPKO,(dept of peace keeping organization, confirmed reports the gov't army, FARDC, armed forces for the democratic republic of Congo, is fighting rebels of FDLR, army for the liberation of Rwanda...

NCDP= National Congress for the Defence of People

Purr said...

Oh dear-- how time flies-- it is almost 1:30-- (laughing) at least I can't be late since I am at home!!

I have had soooooooooo much fun-- I am barely half way through your weekly article-- I have paper and notes jotted all over the place out here!!! I am making an outline to have some form of organization to follow these events and of course, having a background helps understand-- and those dang acronyms...

go get some rest, my friend!!!

thank you so much-- and no, I will not take all these extended breaks again-- this is fun! Once I get in here, it is hard to leave!!

oyasumi nasai-

too bad you can't have dinner with us!

Purr said...

I know where Goma is now-- right at the tip of Nord Kivu- up there! (grin)

Purr said...

oops-- I left out in Monuc-- Democratic Republic (of Congo)-- sorry...

Purr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Purr said...

Dang-- I deleted my comment and I had it right--

I just found a website-- Enough-- a good informative one--

http://www.enoughproject.org/reports/congo_fdlr

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@Susan
re: yours of Oct 11th at 1:10p.m.

Be very careful:

FARDC = DRCongo National Army
FDLR = Hutu 'bad guys' of the Rwandan Genocide, now in Congo.

They are working together now, and MONUC 'protects' them.

As your EnoughProject link states, the reason for existence of the rebellion against the DRCongo government by CNDP renegades... and interventions by the Rwandan Army... is to fight the FDLR.

Purr said...

The luxurious home of Rwanda's former President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose assassination helped trigger the 1994 genocide, is to be made into a museum.

It is a reminder of what happened-

Here is a heartbreaking video

100 days of genocide

Purr said...

The class distinction between the Tutsis and the Hutus began in 1916 when the Belgian colonists came into the picture- they considered the Tutsis superior-- (reading on the history)

Purr said...

Do you think Paul Kagame was behind the direct orders for the shooting down of the plane President Habyarimana was on?

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@Susan

re: "Do you think Paul Kagame was..."

No. If it were mine to judge, I would say the likely perpetrators were the ultra-militant Hutu factions against the peace settlement between the GovRwanda and the RDF. It was (and is) in the Hutu faction-leaders interest to continue to assert President Kagame had a role, to divert attention from their own evil.

Here's part of why I think so.

Offically, no one knows who did it.

Purr said...

well I sure missed that one-- I thought I had visited all the sites- heheheh

Anonymous said...

LDG-

Very interesting stuff. I have finally gotten around to bookmarking your site, so I'll try and leave comments more often, I do check in and read tho...this situation is very intriguing. Hmm.....gotta read some more about it.

L.Douglas Garrett said...

@Adam Housley

As always, great to see you!

There are bookshelves of information out there on the recent history of the region, but thankfully a lot of it is available to internet researchers. I'll be making the time to come back to this region's issues in another topic thread (or maybe another The Weekly) to cover an adjacent conflict zone that impacts this story as well.

Thank you for making the time, and feel free to leave questions. If I can't point you in the right direction, there are a couple of lurkers here who sure can.

Purr said...

Adam--

you are way cool!

Purr said...

so-- in a nutshell-- is this all about the Tutsi and the Hutus?

I think I need to get clear on the

FARDC = DRCongo National Army
FDLR = Hutu 'bad guys' of the Rwandan Genocide, now in Congo.

I am not done on this thread here yet because I have yet to organize my thoughts on the distinction. Still confused here-

Purr said...

today---

Augustin Ngirabatware