Tagged: M23 Rebels
Kiyonga consults UN on M23 sanctions
The facilitator of the peace talks between the DR Congo government and the M23 rebels, Dr Crispus Kiyonga, has said steps have been taken to ensure that the UN Security Council sanctions against the rebels do not affect the ongoing negotiations in Kampala.
The UN Security Council committee tasked with monitoring DR Congo recently imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on M23 rebel officials, Jean-Marie Runiga and Lt. Col. Eric Badege.
Dr Kiyonga said he has been consulting with the UN and US government with a view to ensuring that the recent sanctions slammed on M23 do not create negative implications for the talks.
“The sanctions took us by surprise, but both the UN and US have assured me that they support the dialogue and that the sanctions won’t affect it,” the Ugandan Defence minister said during the eighth plenary session of the peace talks. “If there is anybody who is sanctioned but we want him to participate in the dialogue, we will seek exemption.”
UN embargo
The UN Security Council also announced an arms embargo against the Congolese M23 rebels as well as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, who are blamed for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Dr Kiyonga said there is still need for agreement between the region and the international community on imposing sanctions.
“As a region, we support what can bring peace and reconciliation, but there are some people in the international community who emphasise justice first even when parties are willing to undergo dialogue,” Dr Kiyonga said.
“We have agreed to disagree on that point,” he added.
On reports that there has been a violation of cessation of hostilities in Goma, the peace talks facilitator said he had asked the commander of the Joint Verification Mechanism to investigate the allegations.
Four clusters that compose the agenda of the talks include; review of the March 23, 2009 agreement (that ended an earlier rebellion); security issues; social, economic and political matters; as well as the mechanism for implementation – monitoring and evaluation of the Kampala agreement.
Source: GASHEGU MURAMIRA, 14 JANUARY 2013, The New Times , for information about the photo source, please contact: gashegu.muramira[at]newtimes.co.rw
More Persecution of Rwandans Reported in Goma
Goma — There has been a resumption of bigotry and harassment against Rwandans and Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese nationals in the DRC border town of Goma following the withdrawal of the M23 rebels from the town more than 10 days ago, it has emerged.
The rebels pulled out of the strategic town under a regional brokered peace deal after occupying it for about ten days.
Photo: Congolese Revolution Army (CRA) rebel leader Sultani Makenga sits in a truck in Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), November 20, 2012, soon after the rebels captured the city from the government army. REUTERS/James Akena/Files
The withdrawal saw government troops and police reoccupy Goma and surrounding locations.
But now reports have emerged that many people have been arrested, tortured and held incommunicado in illegal detention centres.
Some of those who managed to escape told The New Times that they were tortured over accusations of colluding with the rebels.
Azarias Mahoro, a Rwandan living in Niboye Sector in Kicukiro, Kigali, narrated the ordeal he went through when he was arrested during a routine business trip to Goma.
“I was arrested by police officers on December 6, and detained for four days until I managed to pay a bribe of 100 US dollars to one of my captors, who in turn facilitated my escape,” he recalls.
For all the days he was in detention, Mahoro who deals in agricultural merchandise, says he was repeatedly beaten and asked to confess his role in the operations of the M23 rebels.
“Upon crossing through the small border (Petite Barriere) I was immediately robbed of the money I had and then thrown in a detention facility after they confiscated my identification documents,” he narrates.
Mahoro says that apart from some Rwandans, he also left more than 50 Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese in the detention centre.
Serge Ndayisaba, a Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese who escaped alongside Mahoro, said he was intercepted on his way from Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province.
“After my arrest, I convinced a police officer to lend me a phone so that I can call a relative who would later bail me out,” he said, adding that the relative later brought him some money to bribe a guard who eventually helped him escape.
The duo was received by Rwandan immigration authorities on Monday after they fled without their identification documents.
These latest reports of persecution of Rwandans and Congolese of Rwandan descent are consistent with earlier allegations that that preceded the capture of Goma by M23 rebels.
Four months ago, Rwanda lodged an official complaint with Kinshasa after eleven of their nationals were “dumped” at the border after enduring days of torture.
Several families, especially in Rubavu District, have also reported cases of missing relatives who had crossed over the border to Congo for business purposes.
Resentment towards Rwandans in DRC is thought to have worsened after a group of UN experts controversially accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels, allegations Kigali has strongly denied.
The rebels have previously accused Kinshasa of orchestrating a violent campaign against Congolese of Rwandan descent, and the latest allegations are unlikely to have a positive impact on the ongoing preliminary talks between M23 and the government in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.
Dr Venuste Karambizi, a lecturer of International Relations at Kigali Independent University (ULK), said these reports constitute a potential setback in the ongoing diplomatic efforts to find a lasting solution to crisis that has unsettled the region and the wider international community.
He said the revelations call into question Kinshasa’s commitment to a negotiated settlement of the crisis.
“You cannot claim to be committed to peace while at the same time you are arresting and torturing anyone you think is sympathetic to the person you are talking with. If the DRC government is fully committed to negotiations, then it should cease these barbaric actions against innocent civilians,” he said.
Source: SAM K. NKURUNZIZA, 13 DECEMBER 2012, The New Times
Tense start of Congo dialogue in Kampala
KAMPALA – The peace talks between the DR Congo government and the M23 rebels began acrimoniously on Sunday, with the government side accusing the rebels of using the media’s presence to accuse the Kinshasa government.
The M23 delegation arriving for talks at Speke Resort Munyonyo on Sunday. (file photo)
The Congolese foreign affairs minister Raymond Tshibanda, took exception with the rebel team leader, François Ruchogoza’s litany of accusations against the government of President Joseph Kabila.
This standoff threatened to derail the preliminary talks, which are facilitated under the auspices of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), with Uganda holding the current rotational membership.
The talks follow the declaration on November 24 by the Heads of State and Government of the ICGLR on the security situation in eastern DRC.
The talks are organised in a bid to end fighting in the eastern Congo province of North Kivu.
The hostility between the two sides began soon after the chief facilitator, defence minister Dr. Crispus Kiyonga, had remarked that the dialogue gives hope to Congolese, and is a great opportunity to find a sustainable political solution to the conflict.
“I believe that the two delegations will dedicate themselves in the interest of the people in order to reach an agreement as soon as possible,” added Kiyonga.
He urged the two sides to use the opportunity to end the conflict, which has caused suffering of the population and is affecting development in Congo and the Great Lakes region.
In his opening remarks, minister Tshibanda said: “We come with determination to contribute to solving the crisis, which has disturbed north Kivu for about eight months now and provide the basis for a better future for this province. There is nothing to this dialogue other than a single outcome, which is to end the rebellion, peace building and a return to normalcy in North Kivu.”
However, when it came to the turn for M23 rebel side to speak, Ruchogoza said the current situation in east DRC is because the Congolese central government has ignored the problems facing the region as well as a lack of visionary leadership.
He also said the region is a sanctuary of elements of FNL, FDLR and ADF-NALU, which are a threat to stability in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
However, the Congolese government is not bothered about these foreign groups. Ruchogoza also said Congo has some of the world’s worst indicators in health, education and governance.
“M23 is a consequence of all these claims. Social exclusion by government against the people of eastern DRC has achieved this.”
But Tshibanda retorted: “Any exercise of this nature has rules. We were requested to make opening statements, but M23 took advantage of this chance to use the media and intoxicate national and international opinion. We cannot construct ourselves on the basis of misunderstanding.”
“Before we continue our deliberations, the delegation of DRC would like to make a statement so that we can defend the truth regarding M23. I don’t think it is acceptable that people who only have Kalashnikovs as a mode of legitimacy come here and attack people who were elected by Congolese,” Tshibanda said.
The M23 rebellion began in April this year when nearly 300 soldiers, most of them former members of the National Congress for the Defence of the People, turned against the Congolese government.
The rebels cited poor conditions in the army and the government’s unwillingness to implement the 23 March 2009 peace accord.
The M23 delegation includes Abandi Munyarugerero Rene and John Serge Kambasu, the principal negotiator.
Read also:
Congo, Uganda border crossing reopened as talks between rebels and Congo government begin
Source: By Raymond Baguma, Publish Date: Dec 10, 2012, newvision.co.ug
Rwanda and One UN Launch a Joint Program for Sustainable Return and Reintegration of Rwandan Returnees
Displaced people (file photo): At least 70,000 Rwandans are expected to return before the UN invokes the Cessation Clause on Rwandan refugees next June.
The government of Rwanda and One UN yesterday launched a joint program to sustainably return and reintegrate Rwandan returnees. The move follows the implementation of the cessation clause, which comes into effect on June 30, 2013.
According to the minister of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs, Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi, returnees are a special group that needs specific opportunities and programs to facilitate them catch up with the attained progress after several years they have spent in exile without right to any
“The idea for this program goes back t 2009, from the recognition that despite all efforts by the government, the needs for returnees were still not fully supplied,” he said in Kigali.
“The number of Rwandan refugees returning is expected to peak with an estimated 30,000 individuals in 2013, and a further 20,000 in 2014,” said Neimah Warsame, UNHCR country representative.
In response to the recommendation of December 31, 2011 to declare the cessation clause for Rwandan refugees, Rwanda’s government with One UN have adopted a multidisciplinary approach which aims to support returnees in all relevant aspects of their lives, including access to land, justice, health services, education and appropriate housing facilities, as well as agricultural and livelihood support.
In September 2011, the estimated number of Rwandan refugees in Africa stood at 100,115 and the number outside Africa at 9,065. This joint program seeks to meet the reintegration needs of some 60,000 returnees who may return in the next two years.
“The return and reintegration process is ongoing and on behalf of the UN, I am personally committed to support this important program because it provides a durable and satisfying solution to the problem of the Rwandan refugees,” said Mr Lamin Manney UN resident coordinator in Rwanda.
The joint program for sustainable return and reintegration of Rwandan returnees’ overall objectives are to ensure the peaceful, safe and sustainable reintegration of all returnees into their communities, promote access to basic amenities such as health and education as well as livelihood support.
“Attention will be given to peace building, gender equality, women and children’s rights. Other vital considerations, such as access to land and justice will also be addressed,” said Minister Gatsinzi.
The program will also help to facilitate effective and peaceful cohabitation between returnees and local population in their communities.
Source: JEAN-CHRISTOPHE NSANZIMANA, for The Rwanda Focus, 20 NOVEMBER 2012
The Fall of Goma
ANALYSIS
by BY MICHAEL DEIBERT,
21 NOVEMBER 2012
When the provincial capital of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fell to rebel forces yesterday, the rapidity of the rebel advance was shocking, but the fait accompli failure of both Congo’s armed forces and the country’s United Nations mission was not.
As 2012 dawned, the international community and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo – known by its acronym, MONUSCO (formerly MONUC) – were hailing the peace and stability that a 2009 deal with the Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) rebel group had supposedly brought to the eastern part of this vast country.
Formed by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, the CNDP’s ostensible goal was the protection of Congo’s Tustsi ethnic group and the defeat of the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), the main Hutu-led military opposition to the Tutsi-led government of President Paul Kagame in Rwanda.
The FDLR, though a severely degraded force from what it once was, has its roots in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide when several hundred thousand Tutsis and Hutu moderates were slaughtered by extremist Hutu supremacist elements.
Succoured by Rwanda, Nkunda nevertheless proved himself to be a headstrong and unreliable negotiating partner with the regional powers and with the government of Congo’s president, Joseph Kabila, who Nkunda openly talked about toppling.
Kabila’s father, Laurent Kabila, had seized power with Rwandan help in 1997 only to then go to war with his former patrons and die by an assassin’s bullet a little over three years later.
As a result of his recalcitrance, Nkunda was jettisoned and replaced at the negotiating table by another CNDP leader, Bosco Ntaganda. He had been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in January 2006 on three counts of war crimes allegedly committed while he was helping to command another rebel group in Congo’s Ituri region, a time during which he earned the sobriquet “the Terminator.”
The deal struck between the Kabila government and Ntaganda’s CNDP in March 2009 saw the rebels become a registered political party and their forces integrated within the official armed forces, the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC). Bosco Ntaganda became an important powerbroker in the province of North Kivu, the Rwanda and Uganda-border region of which Goma is the capital.
Far from a road to Damascus moment, the agreement was rather a modus vivendi by cunning, ruthless political operators.
Kabila, reelected in a highly controversial 2011 ballot, has fashioned a government that is in many ways a younger, more sophisticated version of his father’s. Relying on a narrow circle of trusted individuals and a network of international alliances, Kabila’s power is built on patronage rather than a political base.
This model was dealt a serious blow when one of Kabila’s most trusted advisors, Augustin Katumba Mwanke, a man who often handled Kabila’s most delicate financial and political transactions, was killed in a plane crash this past February.
Across the border, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, for so long a darling of western donors and development workers, has for many years presided over a tight-lidded dictatorship where government critics meet either death (opposition politician Andre Kagwa Rwisereka, killed in Rwanda in July 2011), exile (former general Kayumba Nyamwasa, wounded in a shooting in South Africa in June 2010) or both (Inyenyeri News editor Charles Ingabire, shot dead by an unknown gunman in Kampala last December).
[Along with other neighbours who have seen fit to intervene in Congo over the years, Rwanda has been happy to help itself to large amounts of the country’s extensive mineral wealth, as documented in a 2001 United Nations report]
As a number of people (myself included) warned at the time, the peace deal as implemented was a marriage of convenience destined for a nasty divorce. Unfortunately, the international community itself gave an additional seal of approval when, against the advice of their own Office of Legal Affairs, UN forces backed Congo’s army as the latter launched Operation Kimia II (“Quiet” in Swahili) in March 2009 against the FDLR.
Despite the common knowledge that Ntaganda – a wanted accused war criminal – was acting as de facto deputy commander for Congolese forces during Kimia II, MONUC’s command hid behind transparently false Congolese government assurances that Ntaganda was not involved.
According to one investigation, between January and September 2009 more than 1,400 civilians were slain in the provinces of North and South Kivu, at least 701 by the FDLR and the rest by Congolese and Rwandan government-allied forces. Over the same time period in the same provinces, over 7,500 women and girls were raped and over 900,000 people forced to flee their homes.
Despite these excesses, the UN signed a Joint Operational Directive with Congo’s army as it launched yet another operation against the FDLR, this one dubbed Amani Leo (“Peace Today”), during January 2010.
Immaculée Birhaheka of the Promotion et Appui Aux Initiatives Feminines (Promotion and Support for Women’s Initiatives) pleaded that “the name of the military operation has changed, but the situation remains the same: Women are still being killed, maimed, abused like animals.”
They would have been wise not to look to the UN for help. Though the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo is the largest in the world at nearly 17,000 military personnel, it is still cartoonishly small for a country the size of Western Europe.
Nor has the mission shown any great appetite for adhering to its mandate, which charges it with working “to ensure the protection of civilians, including humanitarian personnel, under imminent threat of physical violence.”
In May 2002, when dissident soldiers mutinied against their commanders in the central city of Kisangani, MONUC troops did almost nothing as those commanders (including Laurent Nkunda) oversaw the killing of at least 80 civilians and a ghastly bout of rape.
Two years later, in the city of Bukavu, Nkunda was again present as a series of ethnically-based attacks in and around the city saw looting, raping and murder take place as MONUC did little to aid common citizens. In November 2008, CNDP forces led by Bosco Ntaganda killed at least 150 people in the town of Kiwanja despite the fact that 100 UN peacekeepers were stationed less than a mile away.
Once part of the official apparatus in North Kivu, as pressure grew (as it inevitably would) on Ntaganda to break the parallel chains of command within the FARDC-integrated CNDP units, and with chorus of calls demanding his arrest, the warlord finally decided that the pressure was too much.
By early April of this year, former CNDP members began to desert their posts in North Kivu and fighting broke out around the province. By May, the deserters had named their group the Mouvement du 23 mars, or M23, a reference to the date of the 2009 peace accords between the CNDP and the Kabila government. They operated, as they always had, with strong Rwandan backing.
In July, saying that the Obama administration had “decided it can no longer provide foreign military financing appropriated in the current fiscal year to Rwanda,” the United States announced – for the first time since 1994 – that it was suspending military aid to the Kagame regime, citing “evidence that Rwanda is implicated in the provision of support to Congolese rebel groups, including M23.”
That same month, the Netherlands announced that it was suspending five million euros ($6.2 million) in aid to Rwanda, a decision it said was directly linked Kigali’s support of M23. The following day, the British government also announced the freezing of £16 million of aid.
[The recent decision of the UK’s international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, to restore aid to Rwanda on his last day on the job resulted in a storm of controversy and a pledge by his successor that she would gather evidence in terms of Rwanda’s linkage with M23 before deciding on any new aid.]
But today, with almost-certain Rwandan (and Ugandan) backing and with, by all accounts, barely token opposition from UN forces stationed there, the M23 seized Goma. And tonight, as the United Nations and the international community stand by, the people of Congo are once again at the mercy of those who have tormented them in the past.
The approach of the international community thus far, both in exercising its mandate to protect civilian lives in Congo and in holding the outside supporters of Congo’s rebel groups to task, has thus far proved woefully insufficient.
As word of Goma’s fall spread throughout Congo, reaction was immediate. Buildings belonging to Kabila’s political party – with many Congolese accusing the president of caving in to the Rwandans – were burned in the cities of Kisangani and Bunia, and UN buildings were pelted by stones in the latter town.
The fall of Goma may prove a defining moment, for both the Congolese government and for the gulf between the actions and the words of the international community in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Michael Deibert is author of the forthcoming African Arguments bookThe Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair.
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Source: African Arguments
DRC Soldiers Shell Rwandan Territory
Three people were yesterday reportedly wounded after soldiers of the Democratic Republic of Congo fired heavy weapons rounds into Rwandan territory
Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (file photo).
The shells that landed in Gisenyi followed renewed fighting between Democratic Republic of Congo army and M23 rebels in the eastern part of DRC last week.
Hundreds of people have so far been displaced and DRC soldiers reportedly fled Goma in large numbers as M23 rebels advanced to the gates of the regional capital.
According to a source in Gisenyi, the shells also destroyed a petrol station. Efforts to get a comment from the Rwanda Defence Forces were futile after a source in the Military promised to get back to the reporter after consultations.
Meanwhile, Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday rejected a 24-hour ultimatum from M23 rebels to open talks or face an onslaught.
Congo’s government spokesman Lambert Mende said, “We do not want to deal with them or answer their ultimatums or proposals. It is an ultimatum from a fictitious group that has no real value to us,” Mende said.
The demands set forth by the M23 rebel group calls for the immediate demilitarization of the city and the airport in Goma. It also calls for the opening of the frontier at the town of Bunagana within the next 48 hours.
The rebels also want the government to make a declaration on state TV and radio within the next 24 hours announcing the start of negotiations with the M23 rebel group.
Source: Stratfor.com
Traffic Influx As Uganda Closes Border With DRC
There is an over flow of traffic at the Rwanda-Uganda border at Cyanika following a decision by the Ugandan government to close Bunagana border post with DR Congo.
The abrupt closure has seen Ugandan traders lose hundreds of millions of revenue through trade with eastern DRC
The closure was triggered by reports by the DRC government that the M23 rebels were levying taxes on trucks from Uganda.
Immigration authorities say that the number of vehicles crossing over has increased three-fold the usual routine.
Photo: A view of the border post at Cyanika where there is an overflow of traffic due to the closure of Uganda-DRC border. The New Times / Sam Nkurunziza. (The New Times)
“There is a general increase in traffic flow for the past few days since Uganda’s border with DRC was closed down,” an immigration official said but declined to be mentioned because he is not authorised to speak to the press.
He said most vehicles crossing the border included trucks to DR Congo carrying merchandise.
“Most passengers especially traders have resorted to using this route because it’s the quickest way to reach their destination,” he said.
From Uganda, one can go through Cyanika via Musanze and then reach DRC through Rubavu district to Goma, the provincial capital of Kivu in eastern DRC.
The abrupt closure has seen Ugandan traders lose hundreds of millions of revenue through trade with eastern DRC.
Uganda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of Regional Cooperation, Asuman Kiyingi, Wednesday explained that Uganda closed its border with the DRC on Tuesday, in the spirit of finding a lasting solution to the conflict in the eastern part of the country.
Kiyingi said in a press statement that the closure followed a request by DRC President Joseph Kabila to President Yoweri Museveni last month that M23 rebels were taking advantage of the open border point at Bunagana to collect revenue from cargo vehicles and other goods.
Kabila’s message was delivered to President Museveni through the DRC President’s Special Envoy Raymond Tshibanda N’tunga Mulongo, who is also the Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“Upon receiving the request, President Museveni informed the Special Envoy that Uganda would consider closure of the border post upon receiving a formal and written request from President Kabila, indicating that the Government of the DRC would take responsibility for any negative impact on the humanitarian situation as result of closing the border,” Kiyingi added.
According to Kiyingi, the DRC government made a formal request on October 30 to President Museveni reassuring him that, the closure of the border post will not affect the lives of the civilian population in Bunagana, in spite of the conflict.
“Further to that, the movement of the people, goods and supplies of basic needs to the population will continue without restriction to Rutshuru territory as well as between the latter and the city of Goma,” the Minister added.
Uganda, Kiyingi explained, took a decision to close Bunagana border post in order to positively respond to the concerns of the DRC Government in the spirit of good neighborliness between the two sister States.
He reiterated Uganda’s commitment as the chair of International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to the process of finding a durable solution to the conflict in Eastern DRC, in line with the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region.
The M23 movement rebelled after the government failed to comply with a peace agreement signed in March 2009.
Source: SAM K NKURUNZIZA AND GASHEGU MURAMIRA, 15 NOVEMBER 2012, the New Times, allAfrica.com
U.S. Govt. says: “Kabila Has the Primary Responsibility of Returning Peace in Eastern DRC!”
The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson has said that President Joseph Kabila of Congo has the primary responsibility of protecting the citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo regardless of their ethnicity.
Carson said this during a press conference call with journalists from the New York Foreign Press Center where he discussed several issues on DR. Congo conflict, Mali, Senegal, Sudan and Somalia. Journalists from Rwanda took part from Kigali at the US embassy.
He was responding to a question from Kigali on what the US doing in bringing DRC to address the issues making M23 rebel Group fight its government in Eastern part of the country.
“Our desire is to see peace in DRC, just like it in the neighbouring countries and we want to see what people enjoy in these other countries being enjoyed by the people of Congo.”
President Kabila has the responsibility of protecting all the Congolese citizens irrespective of ethnicity. He also has the responsibility of protecting the women in Eastern Congo from the violence committed against them,” said Carson.
He also said the only way Kabila could do this is to eliminate all rebel activities in his countries including M23 and FDLR Interahamwe militias fighting Rwanda based in the Jungles of Congo.
A U.N. group of experts have released different reports in past months accusing Rwandan defense officials of backing the M23 rebel group.
Rwanda has continuously denied those allegations, saying that the problem is externalized and yet the issues are within Congo. Rwanda also says that solving the crisis in Eastern Congo will be impossible if the international community continues to define the issue erroneously.
In a meeting convened last week alongside the UN General Assembly in New York, President Kagame said that regional initiatives are key to finding a lasting solution to the Congo problem.
He called for the international community support for regional initiatives saying that “they are the best option we have”.
Mushikiwabo Says EU Aid Story Designed to Mislead
Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo has rubbished a story by AFP yesterday, that claimed the European Union is suspending new aid to Rwanda following allegations that the country is backing rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Michael Mann, the spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, was quoted yesterday by AFP as saying,
“The EU is not interrupting ongoing projects, which are there to help the poor. But (it) is delaying decisions on additional budget support in the pipeline pending clarification of Rwanda’s role and its constructive engagement in search of solutions.”
According to AFP, the decision follows a report by experts of the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee alleging Rwandan support for M23 rebels, led by renegade Bosco Ntaganda, who launched an uprising in April.
Mushikiwabo used her twitter account to say the AFP story on EU suspending “new aid” to Rwanda is either old news or is designed to mislead. “No such decision has been taken,” she added.
Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo
Mann also allegedly said Ashton had told Kigali in talks recently, “that we expect Rwanda to act constructively – in words and actions – for a lasting peace solution in the eastern DRC.”
Early this month, the UK unfroze about £8m ($12.74m) in blocked aid to Rwanda. Andrew Mitchell, UK’s then international development secretary, praised Rwanda for ‘constructively working towards resolving a crisis in the Great Lakes region, where 220,000 people have been displaced since April’.
“Given this progress, and recognizing that the government of Rwanda has continued to demonstrate its strong commitment to reducing poverty and improving its financial management, Britain will partially restore its general budget support to Rwanda,” Mitchell said in a statement to parliament then.
Source: The Rwandan Focus, 26.09.2012
UN: Situation in DRC might be the most complex humanitarian crises in the world…
Fleeing conflict (file photo): Since April, the deterioration of the security situation due to fighting between the national army and rebels has led to the displacement of thousands. Source: Amnesty International, UNHCR, P. Taggart
On Monday the United Nations Bureau for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed that it is deeply concerned by the consequences of recent fighting on thousands of families in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).
OCHA said the fighting has affected the capacity of humanitarian organizations to deliver aid to the victims.
The events of the last two weeks have displaced an unknown number of people and disrupted their economic activities and also led to the committing of other crimes such as sexual violence, recruitment of child soldiers as well as inter-community violence.
“The recent fighting has aggravated one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world,” the statement added.
“I appeal to all parties taking part in the conflict to take precautions in order to avert any injuries and loss of lives of the civilian population, as well as attacks on non-military targets,” said Fidele Sarassoro, the humanitarian coordinator for DR Congo.
Read article: allafrica.com: “Rwanda: UN Agency Says Situation in Eastern DR Congo Is Worrying”
Source: BY XINHUA, 24 JULY 2012, for the New Times
Good to know:
Vidéo: Mr. Fidèle Sarassoro, UN Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, visited Brussels recently to attend a number of EU meetings. We took the opportunity to ask him how he evaluates the humanitarian situation in the country and about the challenges that face humanitarian actors working in the field
Amakuru 