by AfroAmerica Network
on September 4, 2013
General Paul Kagame: a Tyrant or a Reformer?
“When I asked Kagame about the beatings, he leaned toward me in his seat. We were about three feet apart, then two. I could see the individual gray hairs in his goatee. He didn’t interrupt as I detailed my evidence, with names and dates. He didn’t deny physically abusing his staff, as I thought he might, though he gave me a watered-down version of the 2009 event that Himbara described, saying that he hadn’t swatted anyone with a stick but shoved one of the men so hard that he fell to the floor,”
That is what Jeffrey Gettleman, the East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, said in his article published on September 4, 2013 (see the article here). He was reporting on his recent trip to Rwanda and his meeting with the Rwandan most powerful man, General Paul Kagame.
In the interview, the New York Times journalist described the two faces of General Paul Kagame, viewed by some in the West as [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on September 3, 2013
Congolese Women and Children Fleeing to Rwanda in July 2013
The UN Special Envoy, former Irish President Mary Robinson, visited Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since Sunday September 1, 2013.
On Monday September 2, 2013, she was in Goma in Eastern DRC, where she was received by Julien Paluku Kahonghya, the Governor of North Kivu. She invited the M23 to stop violence and disarm.
“It is clear that the M23 has to stop violence and disarm, as the UN Security Council has asked.. Really, we are very concerned, very committed, and very determined to work with the DRC government, and with everyone, for lasting peace. We now must found a way. We have tried with a military approach, which has been successful to some extent. Now, a window for a political solution has been opened,” Ms Mary Robinson said.
During their meeting, the Governor of North Kivu, Julien Paluku, asked Mary Robinson to clarify what she meant by “political solution”. Mr. Julien Paluku asked the UN Special the following: [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 29, 2013
SA Air Forces and Army Troops Training Before Deployment to the DRC
The United Nations (UN) Security Council met today, Thursday August 29, 2013, on the situation in Eastern DRC. The purpose was to examine the possibility of additional sanctions against the leaders of the Rwandan government backed M23 Congolese rebels.
According to sources at the United Nations, earlier versions of the draft proposed by France and the United States have been rejected, due to the opposition by the Rwandan government representatives at the UN Security Council.
The Rwandan delegation was especially against the proposal to add sanctions on the following M23 rebels leaders: [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 29, 2013
Rwandan Special Forces in Eastern DRC
Sources in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), inform Afroamerica Network that Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) special forces embedded with M23 rebels have killed a Tanzanian peacekeeper of the UN Intervention Bridage. The killing happened on Wednesday, August 28, 2013, while the M23 rebels were attempting to overtake the positions occupied by Congolese army, FARDC, around the town of Goma.
According to the sources, the RDF special forces have been particularly targeting the Tanzanian forces with the UN Intervention Brigade since these forces deployed to Eastern DRC in June 2013. According to AfroAmerica Network sources within M23 rebels, [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 23, 2013
FARDC Commander Colonel Mamadou Ndala Moustafa on the Battlefront Near Goma
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Information Minister and Government spokesperson, Lambert Mende, has accused the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) of firing a dozen of mortar shells into Goma and killing four people from one family and wounding dozens.
“These deadly attacks deliberately targeted civilians residing in the city of Goma. We must conclude that this constitutes war crimes as defined by the International Law. The DRC government calls on the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to qualify them as such: war crimes and crimes against humanity. … We are waiting for Rwandan Government to explain these grave acts of aggression,” Mr Lambert said.
The accusations by the DRC government minister support claims from the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) officials that the Rwandan backed M23 Congolese rebels have fired rockets into Rwanda on Thursday August 22, 2013 (see our article: Rwandan Military Accuses FARDC of Bombing Rwanda As M23 Rebels Resume Combats. On Friday, August 23, 2013, the UN officials in New York confirmed that M23 rebels bombed Rwandan territory and also destroyed telecommunications infrastructure used by MONUSCO in the city of Goma, Eastern DRC, including a phone tower.
These new developments follow renewed fightings between the M23 rebels and the DRC [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 22, 2013
M23 Rebels in Rwanda in March 2013
Rwandan Defense Forces(RDF) Spokesperson, Brigadier General Joseph Nzabamwita has accused the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) of deliberately firing a rocket into Rwanda, on Thursday, August 22, 2013. The RDF spokesperson voiced the accusations less than 12 hours after the Rwandan backed M23 Congolese rebels resumed fightings. On Wednesday night, the M23 rebels attacked the FARDC positions in Kibati, a few miles from the provincial capital of North Kivu, Goma and close to the border between the DRC and Rwanda. [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 19, 2013
Rwandans Expelled From Tanzania in August 2013
Sources within Tanzanian army inform AfroAmerica Network that a high ranking officer within the Tanzanian army, known as Tanzanian People’s Defense Forces (TPDF), has disappeared and is believed to have defected to Rwanda. He is suspected to have defected with highly sensitive military intelligence.
The high ranking officer, with the rank of Lt Colonel, only known under the name of [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 18, 2013
M23 Commander Colonel Mboneza
Sources within M23 Congolese rebels and PARECO-Union des Congolais Patriotes pour la Paix (UPCP) inform AfroAmerica Network that FARDC deserter Colonel [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 14, 2013
Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders Addressing the Media in DRC in August 2013.
“We need all countries, all the 11, to participate positively to the implementation of the Addis-Abeba Agreement [Framework for Peace, Securiy and Development]. And, let us be clear, we need to see Ugandan and Rwandan governments’ willingness to participate to the solution, and not to be part of the problem,” Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders told journalists on August 13, 2013 at the end of his three-day visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
During his three-day visit that focused on the security in Eastern DRC and saw him launch high visibility projects in which the Belgian government has invested, he met Congolese President Joseph Kabila, the Prime Minister Augustine Matata Ponyo and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Raymond Tshibanda.
The Congolese Government Has done Its Part
Didier Reynders insisted that the Congolese government has done its part and that, now it is up to the International Community to do its own, by [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 6, 2013
Dr Willibrod Slaa, Secretary General of CHADEMA, addressing the Media in Dar-es-Salaam on August 4, 2013
“President Jakaya Kikwete should mediate between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the FDLR rebels instead of calling the president of Rwanda to meet with the rebels, a call at the source of negative feelings and that has jeopardized the relations between the two countries… He [President Jakaya Kikwete] should have invited both the rebels and the Rwandan President Paul Kagame to sit at the negotiation table. It is hard to tell people who have been killing each other to engage into direct negotiations [without a mediator]. Instead, President Jakaya Kikwete should have offered to mediate and call for reconciliation,” said Dr Willibrod Slaa, Secretary General of the Party for Democracy and Development (CHADEMA), the main Tanzanian opposition party, on Sunday August 4, 2013, in Dar-es-Salaam. He was reacting to the Monthly Address to the Nation by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete (see our article Relations Between Rwanda and Tanzania Have Soured, President Jakaya Kikwete Says of August 3, 2013).
“President Kikwete should meet President Kagame in order to avoid [click to continue…]
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