What's Happening Right Now In Congo Exposes The Folly Of Western Aid

longknife

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Sep 21, 2012
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There's so much horrid news coming out of Africa that I couldn't decide which item to share. This is just one of many and, IMHO, well-worth reading.

by Richard Dowden

goma-democratic-republic-of-congo-drc.jpg

Goma, Democratic republic of congo, drc
Africa is covered in epithets, like graffiti. It has been labeled dark, lost, hopeless. But generalizations about Africa are dangerous. The only certainty is its size: it could contain the United States, China and India and still have room to spare. Recently it has been dubbed rising, hopeful, the continent of the future. But Africa cannot be declared successful until its vast, rich heart, the Congo, is peaceful and prosperous.

Read the whole piece @ Congo Exposes Folly Of Western Aid - Business Insider [And, no, it's not Breitbart Lefties!]
 
Rebels renege on agreement to withdraw...
:mad:
Congo rebels indefinitely delay exit from Goma
Nov 30,`12 -- Rebels who are believed to be backed by Rwanda once again postponed their departure from Congo's key eastern city of Goma on Friday, defying an international ultimatum for the second time.
The delay raises the possibility that the M23 rebels don't intend to leave the city they seized last week, giving credence to a U.N. expert report that says neighboring Rwanda is using the rebels as a proxy to annex territory in mineral-rich eastern Congo. An M23 spokesman said Friday morning that for "logistical reasons" the rebels needed 48 more hours to complete their withdrawal, promising that the fighters would leave Goma by Sunday.

Later in the day, the rebels attempted to force their way into Goma's international airport to seize arms belonging to the Congolese military that were being safeguarded there. Although the city fell to the rebels last week, U.N. peacekeepers regained control of the airport and blocked the fighters from entering Friday. "The (U.N.) is blocking us. They are not letting us organize ourselves logistically, and letting us reach our ammunitions at the airport. This could change everything. We will not leave until this is solved," said M23 Gen. Sultani Makenga.

A regional bloc representing the nations bordering Congo had issued a Friday deadline for the M23 fighters to retreat, after the rebels had thumbed their nose at an earlier ultimatum. "We are not blocking them from leaving Goma, that is absolutely not true," said Madnodje Mounoubai, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission. "(They) want access to the arms that belong to the FARDC (the Congolese army) stored at the airport. This is something that we will not allow." Congo, an enormous, sprawling Central African nation, has twice been at war with its much smaller but more affluent neighbor Rwanda.

The M23 rebels are widely believed to be supported by Rwanda, which according to the U.N. report, has provided them with battalions of soldiers, arms and financing. The eight-month-old M23 rebellion is led by fighters from a now-defunct rebel group, who agreed to lay down their arms on March 23, 2009, in return for being allowed to join the Congolese army. The rebellion began in April, when hundreds of soldiers defected from the military, saying the accord had not been respected.

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Increasing violence against Congo refugees...
:mad:
Violence Increasing Against Displaced People in Eastern DRC
December 04, 2012 — The U.N. refugee agency says it is very worried about the security of displaced people and aid workers in camps in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after an attack Saturday at a camp outside Goma. The UNHCR and other aid agencies say increasing violence in the region is preventing the delivery of urgently needed assistance to tens of thousands of internally displaced people.
The U.N. refugee agency says fortunately no one was killed during the attack at the Mugunga III camp, but several cases of rape were reported. It says people in the camp are anxious and upset. UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said the attack occurred a few hours after the World Food Programme had distributed rations to the camp population. He said armed men searched tents and stole money, mobile phones and food that had been handed out earlier by WFP. “Looting was also reported among the population living immediately adjacent to the camp," said Edwards. "It is also being reported that around a dozen IDPs were forced to carry looted materials out of the camp. The few police there were unable to intervene, while MONUSCO [United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC] troops, who also face capacity constraints, were not in a position to maintain a permanent presence at the site.”

Crowded Mugunga III camp

The UNHCR reports at least 30,000 people are currently at the Mugunga III camp. About 75,000 more are staying at other sites, while thousands of others are living at spontaneous sites or with host communities. Edwards said the recent attack highlights the need for greater security at sites for internally displaced people. He said there also needs to be improved humanitarian access so people can get better care. The U.N. Children’s Fund agrees with this assessment. It says a survey of internally displaced families in Goma and along the Sake axis finds they lack the most basic non-food items. UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said most families have no fuel cans, no mosquito nets, no sleeping materials, no cooking utensils, or extra clothes.

Multiple concerns

“Despite these acute needs, plans for a massive blanket distribution of a basic non-food item kit to an estimated 30,000 families in all the camps have been put on hold due to the risk of systematic looting of the kind that was seen in Mugunga III on Saturday," said Mercado. "We have 12 cases of sexual-assault survivors from Mugunga III camp, including three girls who have been provided with treatment and care by UNICEF’s partner Hope in Action. And Mugunga hospital now has recorded 72 cases of rape.” Mercado said that more than 650 unaccompanied minors have been identified, but so far only 14 children have been reunited with their families. She said at least four cases of measles are confirmed among IDPs and UNICEF is concerned about a rise in the number of cholera cases. She said UNICEF and partners are planning a measles and polio vaccination campaign that will begin in the camps near Goma in the coming days.

Source
 
Hopefully the abortion workers make sure to remind them that suicide is always an option as well....
 
Rice asked why isn't the U.S. doin' more to prevent another African holocaust...
:eusa_eh:
U.N. Ambassador Questioned on U.S. Role in Congo Violence
December 9, 2012 WASHINGTON — Almost two decades after the Clinton administration failed to intervene in the genocide in Rwanda, the United States is coming under harsh criticism for not moving forcefully in another African crisis marked by atrocities and brutal killings, this time in Rwanda’s neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have taken some of the blame, critics of the Obama administration’s Africa policy have focused on the role of Susan E. Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations and a leading contender to succeed Mrs. Clinton, in the administration’s failure to take action against the country they see as a major cause of the Congolese crisis, Rwanda. Specifically, these critics — who include officials of human rights organizations and United Nations diplomats — say the administration has not put enough pressure on Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, to end his support for the rebel movement whose recent capture of the strategic city of Goma in Congo set off a national crisis in a country that has already lost more than three million people in more than a decade of fighting. Rwanda’s support is seen as vital to the rebel group, known as M23.

Support for Mr. Kagame and the Rwandan government has been a matter of American foreign policy since he led the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front to victory over the incumbent government in July 1994, effectively ending the Rwandan genocide. But according to rights organizations and diplomats at the United Nations, Ms. Rice has been at the forefront of trying to shield the Rwandan government, and Mr. Kagame in particular, from international censure, even as several United Nations reports have laid the blame for the violence in Congo at Mr. Kagame’s door. A senior administration official said Saturday that Ms. Rice was not freelancing, and that the American policy toward Rwanda and Congo was to work with all the countries in the area for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

Aides to Ms. Rice acknowledge that she is close to Mr. Kagame and that Mr. Kagame’s government was her client when she worked at Intellibridge, a strategic analysis firm in Washington. Ms. Rice, who served as the State Department’s top African affairs expert in the Clinton administration, worked at the firm with several other former Clinton administration officials, including David J. Rothkopf, who was an acting under secretary in the Commerce Department; Anthony Lake, Mr. Clinton’s national security adviser; and John M. Deutch, who was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Payton Knopf, a spokesman for Ms. Rice, initially declined to comment on whether her work with Rwanda at Intellibridge affected her dealings with the country in her present job as an ambassador. But on Monday, Mr. Knopf said: “Ambassador Rice’s brief consultancy at Intellibridge has had no impact on her work at the United Nations. She implements the agreed policy of the United States at the U.N.”

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Rice asked why isn't the U.S. doin' more to prevent another African holocaust...
:eusa_eh:
U.N. Ambassador Questioned on U.S. Role in Congo Violence
December 9, 2012 WASHINGTON — Almost two decades after the Clinton administration failed to intervene in the genocide in Rwanda, the United States is coming under harsh criticism for not moving forcefully in another African crisis marked by atrocities and brutal killings, this time in Rwanda’s neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have taken some of the blame, critics of the Obama administration’s Africa policy have focused on the role of Susan E. Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations and a leading contender to succeed Mrs. Clinton, in the administration’s failure to take action against the country they see as a major cause of the Congolese crisis, Rwanda. Specifically, these critics — who include officials of human rights organizations and United Nations diplomats — say the administration has not put enough pressure on Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, to end his support for the rebel movement whose recent capture of the strategic city of Goma in Congo set off a national crisis in a country that has already lost more than three million people in more than a decade of fighting. Rwanda’s support is seen as vital to the rebel group, known as M23.

Support for Mr. Kagame and the Rwandan government has been a matter of American foreign policy since he led the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front to victory over the incumbent government in July 1994, effectively ending the Rwandan genocide. But according to rights organizations and diplomats at the United Nations, Ms. Rice has been at the forefront of trying to shield the Rwandan government, and Mr. Kagame in particular, from international censure, even as several United Nations reports have laid the blame for the violence in Congo at Mr. Kagame’s door. A senior administration official said Saturday that Ms. Rice was not freelancing, and that the American policy toward Rwanda and Congo was to work with all the countries in the area for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

Aides to Ms. Rice acknowledge that she is close to Mr. Kagame and that Mr. Kagame’s government was her client when she worked at Intellibridge, a strategic analysis firm in Washington. Ms. Rice, who served as the State Department’s top African affairs expert in the Clinton administration, worked at the firm with several other former Clinton administration officials, including David J. Rothkopf, who was an acting under secretary in the Commerce Department; Anthony Lake, Mr. Clinton’s national security adviser; and John M. Deutch, who was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Payton Knopf, a spokesman for Ms. Rice, initially declined to comment on whether her work with Rwanda at Intellibridge affected her dealings with the country in her present job as an ambassador. But on Monday, Mr. Knopf said: “Ambassador Rice’s brief consultancy at Intellibridge has had no impact on her work at the United Nations. She implements the agreed policy of the United States at the U.N.”

MORE


Not news to some of us: The constant civil unrest in most of Africa are instigated by "developed" nations. Few weeks ago, an Africa analyst on CCTV Africa (on Houston Antenna TV 55.6) said the unrest and violence at African mining sites are all caused by companies from developed nations and the UN.
 
Congo refugee numbers increasing...

DR Congo fighting 'sees refugee numbers rise'
14 December 2012 - Violence flared again in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in November
Humanitarian workers have warned of a sharp rise in refugees in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo as a result of recent fighting. The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told the BBC that there were now more than 800,000 displaced people in the province of North Kivu. That marks a sharp rise from the 500,000 estimated in the province before the latest violence.

Last month it saw fighting between government forces and the M23 rebels. MSF said the refugees lacked shelter and other essential items, and had in some cases fled from one displacement camp to another over years of fighting. M23 rebels, made up of deserters from the Congolese army, had threatened to overthrow the government after taking the eastern city of Goma in a rebellion in November.

The region has been plagued by violence for years. The fighting between the M23 rebel group and government troops has now died down, with both sides in neighbouring Uganda for peace talks. But correspondents say there is no guarantee that the conflict will finally end, allowing people to return to their homes.

Source
 
Peacekeepers goin' back into the Congo...
:eusa_eh:
UN authorizes intervention force for Congo
Mar 28,`13 -- The U.N. Security Council authorized a new "intervention brigade" for Congo on Thursday with an unprecedented mandate to take military action against rebel groups to help bring peace to the country's conflict-wracked east.
The resolution, which the council adopted unanimously, gives the brigade a mandate to carry out offensive operations alone or with Congolese army troops to neutralize and disarm armed groups. The intervention brigade is unprecedented in U.N. peacekeeping because of its offensive mandate. The resolution however states clearly that it would be established for one year "on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent" to the principles of U.N. peacekeeping. Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current council president, told a news conference before the vote that the resolution will reconfigure the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, "recognizing the necessity of decisively countering the destructive" violence that has left eastern Congo in turmoil since the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

The resolution, sponsored by France, the United States and Togo, would give the brigade a mandate to operate "in a robust, highly mobile and versatile manner" to ensure that armed group can't seriously threaten government authority or the security of civilians. The brigade will be part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, within its troop ceiling of 19,815. The United Nations currently has more than 17,700 U.N. peacekeepers and more than 1,400 international police in Congo. The resolution extends MONUSCO's mandate until March 31, 2014. The "intervention brigade" headquarters will be in the key eastern city of Goma. U.N. officials say it will probably include between 2,000 and 3,000 troops.

Mineral-rich eastern Congo has been engulfed in fighting since the 1994 Rwanda genocide, in which at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered by Hutu militias before a Tutsi-led rebel army took power in Rwanda. More than 1 million Rwandan Hutus fled across the border into Congo, and Rwanda has invaded Congo several times to take action against Hutu militias there. The exploitation of Congo's mineral resources continues to exacerbate conflict and instability on the ground. In late February, 11 central Africa leaders and the United Nations signed an agreement to try to establish peace in eastern Congo. The resolution demands that Congo and the 10 other African nations implement the peace accord "in good faith" and expresses the council's intention "to take appropriate measures as necessary" against any party that doesn't comply with its commitments.

Under the peace deal, the signatories pledged not to interfere in the internal affairs of neighboring countries or provide any support to armed groups. The Congolese government pledged to reform its army and police, consolidate its authority in the volatile east and promote reconciliation, tolerance and democratization. The signatories include Rwanda and Uganda, which were accused in a U.N. report last year of helping aid the M23 rebel group, which swept through eastern Congo in 2012 and captured Goma in November but pulled out under international pressure. Both countries denied the allegations. Rwanda's U.N. Ambassador Eugene Gasana told the council after the vote that his government supports the peace deal and is committed to peace in the region.

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