Dec 05 2012
a. The summit
b. Response of Civil Society and Political Parties
c. International response
d. Response of the M23
e. Assessments and forecasts
f. After the expiration of the ultimatum
Nov 25 2012
Summary
a. Renewed hostilities
b. The fall of the city of Goma
Nov 21 2012
By Alex Perry
When I spent a few days with the M23 rebels of eastern Congo in August, they were clear that their April mutiny against the Congolese army and seizure of territory along the Rwandan and Ugandan borders was essentially a form of blackmail. The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its President Joseph Kabila were weak and corrupt, they said, and constantly tried to cheat, steal from or even kill men from the east — who, like most of the M23, were former rebels integrated into the national army after a similar rebellion in the east in 2009. The mutineers were hardly angels themselves, with a string of human-rights violations to their names, including the recruitment of children, use of rape and sometimes execution of civilians. But they maintained they didn’t necessarily want to take the strategic eastern cities of Goma or Bukavu and certainly didn’t want to advance on the capital, Kinshasa; rather they wanted the government to honor the integration deal it agreed to on March 23, 2009, and since it hadn’t — withholding salaries, integrating soldiers at lower ranks, even continuing to kill a few easterners — the rebels were trying to force it to by taking territory.
Nov 20 2012
Congo’s M23 rebels took control of the eastern city of Goma after days of clashes with UN-backed Congolese soldiers, a spokesman for the rebel group said on Tuesday.
Nov 19 2012
Rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda fired mortars and machine guns Monday on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Goma, threatening to capture one of the largest cities in eastern Congo in a development that could drag this giant Central African nation back into war.
The gunfire and explosions erupted in the early afternoon, with shells landing as far away as the international airport and near a United Nations position, causing flights to be rerouted and prompting the United Nations to evacuate most of its employees, according to U.N. officials.
The violence erupted just hours after the M23 rebels said they were halting fighting to negotiate with the government of Congo. But government spokesman Lambert Mende told The Associated Press by phone that negotiations are out of the question, saying Congo will not give in to the “blackmail” of a Rwandan-backed group.
“We refuse to enter into negotiations with M23. Because it’s Rwanda, not the M23, that is responsible,” said Mende. “If Goma falls, it’s going to create a whole other set of problems. We refuse systematically to speak to them (M23). Because if we do, it would be a way to wash away Rwanda’s responsibility.”
Congo and Rwanda have already fought two wars, the most recent of which ended in 2003 after lasting nearly six years. On Monday, both nations accused the other of firing mortars across the narrow border which runs on one side of Goma, a city of 1 million which is the economic heart of Congo’s mineral rich region.
Rwandan military spokesman Gen. Joseph Nzabamwita said that Congolese shells had fallen on the Rwandan side, while Mende said that a mortar fired from Rwanda landed in the Birere neighborhood near the airport in Goma and wounded at least five people.
As tanks rumbled by, civilians including young children could be seen running to safety, seeking shelter in huts and behind ledges along the road where the two sides were battling.
Earlier, M23 rebel spokesman Col. Vianney Kazarama told the AP that his men were on their way back to Kibumba, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north in order to give proposed talks a chance. But on Monday afternoon, Kazarama blamed Congo for renewed hostilities and once again vowed that M23 would take Goma.
“The army provoked us. They have fired on our men … We are going to take Goma tonight,” he said.
On Saturday, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said the rebels are very well-equipped, including with night-vision equipment allowing them to fight at night. The new equipment, including the goggles as well as 120 mm mortars, are being provided by Rwanda, which also sent several battalions of fighters, according to the International Crisis Group.
“The situation in Goma is extremely tense,” said U.N. spokesman Kieran Dwyer in a statement on Sunday. “There is a real threat that the city could fall into the M23’s hands and/or be seriously destabilized as a result of the fighting.”
M23 began when several hundred men believed to be led by Gen. Bosco Ntaganda — who is wanted by the International Criminal Court –defected from the Congo army in April. Congo analyst Jason Stearns, a former member of the United Nations Group of Experts, said on his blog that the group is now believed to be composed of 2,500 to 3,000 men.
The situation mirrors events in 2008, when a now-defunct rebel group known as the National Congress for the Defense of the People, or CNDP, advanced to the edge of Goma as Congolese soldiers dropped their weapons and ran. That group, which was financially and militarily backed by Rwanda, stopped just short of taking the city. The rapid advance forced the Congo government to enter into negotiations with the rebels.
The peace deal brokered on March 23, 2009, called for CNDP fighters to be integrated into the national army.
Tellingly, the new rebel group’s name comes from the date of those peace accords, which the M23 says were never fully implemented by the government. M23 fighters include former members of the CNDP.
The M23 rebels told the Congo government to make a declaration on state TV and radio announcing the start of negotiations, but did not state what they hope to achieve in talks. In a statement released on Monday, the M23 also called for the immediate demilitarization of the city and the airport in Goma, and for the opening of the border at the town of Bunagana within the next 48 hours.
The U.N. Group of Experts says M23 is backed by neighboring Rwanda, which the Rwandan government of President Paul Kagame denies.
Observers say it is in Rwanda’s interest to exert influence over areas of eastern Congo bordering Rwanda, where Hutus fled after perpetrating the 1994 genocide inside Rwanda against the country’s Tutsi minority. Exerting influence would enable Rwanda to maintain a buffer zone and to exploit the trade and trafficking of minerals in eastern Congo, say experts including those from the International Crisis Group.
Over the weekend, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Kagame to ask him to intervene and stop the M23 offensive, according to a statement issued at U.N headquarters in New York.
(AP)
Nov 15 2012
SUMMARY
a. The ordeal of those displaced by the war
b. The M23 backed by Ugandan and Rwandan armed forces
c. The debate on the so-called Masisi elected Deputies
d. Armed groups
e. The civilian population lives with the greatest unease
Nov 15 2012
KINSHASA/GENEVA (14 November 2012) – A United Nations investigation into the human rights situation in southern Masisi in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has revealed that at least 264 civilians, including 83 children, were arbitrarily executed by armed groups in more than 75 attacks on villages between April and September this year.
The report published on Wednesday details the result of six investigative missions and more than 160 interviews with victims and witnesses by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (UNJHRO)*. Investigators found that the victims were often those least able to flee the attacks, largely children and the elderly. Due to security constraints, the investigators were not in a position to confirm many more human rights violations that were reported to them, meaning the actual number of victims could be considerably higher. The figures noted in the report reflect cases documented in only some parts of Masisi over a relatively limited period of time and are thus far from presenting a comprehensive overview of the human rights situation throughout the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Investigators found that the Raia Mutomboki armed group, with allied Mayi Mayi groups, was responsible for most of the killings, which were often perpetrated with extreme violence. Many victims were hacked to death with machetes while others were burnt alive in their homes. The opposing Nyatura group was found to be responsible for other human rights violations, including killings, sometimes carried out in collaboration with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The civilians killed by the Raia Mutomboki group were mostly ethnic Hutu, while those killed by the Nyatura were mainly of Tembo ethnicity.
Other human rights violations outlined in the report include mass forced displacement and large-scale looting and destruction of private property. Investigators also confirmed four cases of sexual violence involving the rape of 12 women.
“The systematic human rights violations committed by these armed groups, including the slaughter of so many children, are the most serious we have seen in recent times in the DRC,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said. “The Congolese authorities must take immediate measures to protect civilian populations and to combat the persistent impunity which only serves to embolden the killers.”
“The UN is ready to offer support to the recently opened Congolese judicial investigation which must lead to the prosecution of those responsible for these acts and ensure justice for the victims,” she added.
The ethnic dimension of the attacks is of particular concern in eastern DRC where tensions over the past 15 years, while fundamentally rooted in competition over land and natural resources have resulted in cycles of violence committed along ethnic lines. Both Raia Mutomboki and Nyatura have launched targeted and systematic attacks against civilians, often based on the real or presumed ethnicity of the victims, for supposed political or economic gain.
In April 2012, army desertions and the subsequent creation of the M23 armed group led the Congolese army to focus on efforts to contain this new rebellion. Important progress in tracking down the FDLR made early in 2012 by the Congolese army has been reversed since their redeployment to M23-threatened areas. Many armed groups have taken advantage of the security vacuum left by the redeployment of army units to expand their own areas of influence, often carrying out violent attacks against civilians and exacerbating interethnic tension, already heightened by the M23.
In response, the Congolese army has deployed – with MONUSCO support – several units to the affected areas over the period July – September 2012 and the North Kivu provincial government has promoted initiatives to favor dialogue and ethnic reconciliation. MONUSCO also sent several protection teams to Southern Masisi in order to evaluate the needs of the population and recommend action which has included the deployment of temporary military bases in Remeka, Katoyi and Ngungu, and 15 helicopter-supported foot patrols in the most volatile areas.
“The UN Stabilization Mission in Congo has observed a significant increase in human rights violations across the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu in 2012 due in large part to the activities of armed groups, including the FDLR who remain amongst the perpetrators of the most serious human rights violations in the region, in addition to the M23, Nyatura and Raia Mutomboki,” said Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), Roger Meece. “The risk of intensification of this ethnically charged conflict is real, and gives rise to serious concerns for peace and for the security of civilians in the region.”
Recommendations made in the report include a call for Congolese security forces to urgently take additional measures, with the support of the international community, to restore security in southern Masisi and to ensure the protection of civilians. Congolese authorities are also urged to take into account the human rights violations detailed in this report and to implement a systematic verification of the human rights records of individuals and their commanders during any future integration of armed groups into the national army.
* The UN Joint Human Rights Office, which was established in February 2008, comprises the Human Rights Division of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Check the full report: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/ZR/UNJHRO_HRVMasisi_en.pdf
For more information and media requests, please contact:
In Kinshasa:
Madnodje Mounoubai: +243 81 890 7605 / mounoubai@un.org
Barbara Matasconi: +243 81 210 8275 / matasconi@un.org
In Geneva:
Rupert Colville: +41 79 506 1088 / rcolville@ohchr.org
Cécile Pouilly: +41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org
For use of the information media; not an official record
HR12/308E
Oct 31 2012
Dear friends,
The war in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo is not finishing.
For seven months now, the population on the North Kivu is once again on the run, caught up on extreme poverty and each day faces with death.
Without ignoring the responsibility of the Congolese ruling class and some local economic worker in this crises, it is indispensable to draw from the conclusions of the final report, presented by a group of United Nations experts, that has confirmed the direct involvement of Rwanda and Uganda on the recent re-start of the war, sparked off by the rebel movement March 23 (M23) whose military branch has been renamed the Congo Revolutionary force (ARC).
The dissuading attempts sent to the Rwandan government by the international community have been up till now timid and uncertain. This has not been able to discourage Rwanda’s offensive politics towards the Democratic Republic of Congo started since 1996.
It is time that the European Union as a whole, with its members take common decisions capable of putting sufficient pressure on the Rwandan Regime and consequently forcing it to cease immediately and without conditions, from these deathly attacks on the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Besides, it is the right moment that the European Union and her member states should severely sanction the international economic powers that continue to nourish this aggressive war so as to continue to loot Congo’s natural resources.
In the name of Justice and of Peace, we ask you to sign the Open Letter, which you will find below, written to Madam Catherine Ashton, who is the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Collectif des Femmes Congolaises pour la Paix et la Justice,
Groupe Epiphanie,
Réseau Paix pour le Congo,
Dynamique de la Diaspora Congolaise en Emilia-Romagna. Continue reading
Sep 26 2012
Relief Web – Agence Presse France – 25th September 2012
BRUSSELS, Sept 25, 2012 (AFP) – 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, an EU spokesman said Tuesday.
“The EU is not interrupting ongoing projects, which are there to help the poor,” said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
“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.”
The decision follows a report by experts of the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee alleging Rwandan support for M23 rebels, who launched an uprising in April. The DR Congo government also accuses its neighbour of involvement.
Rwanda however has denied the charge and in turn accuses Kinshasa of backing a group of Hutu rebels who also operate in eastern DR Congo.
The M23 is led by Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, and was formed by former fighters in an ethnic Tutsi rebel group integrated into the Congolese military in a 2009 peace deal.
Nearly half a million civilians have been displaced by the new conflict and there is growing pressure for progress to be made at a UN summit on the crisis to be held in New York on September 27.
Mann said Ashton had told Rwanda in talks this month “that we expect Rwanda to act constructively — in words and actions — for a lasting peace solution in the eastern DRC.”
EU President Herman Van Rompuy will represent the 27-nation bloc at talks on the crisis in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
ccr/bmm/wat
© 1994-2012 Agence France-Presse
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