[Blogging will be slow this week, as I am teaching in Bujumbura.]
As
readers will know, a lot has happened in recent days. M23 launched a
major offensive, taking the strategic border town of Bunagana, as well
as Rutshuru, the territorial capital. This advance was an embarrassment
for the Congolese army, as 600 of their soldiers fled to Uganda and
their commander of the military region, General Vainceur Mayala,
reportedly sought refuge with the UN. A UN soldier also died due to an
M23 mortar round, and the blue helmets engaged their attack helicopter
against the mutineers.
Mayala, along with another
senior Congolese officer, is now reported to be on his way out after
over six years as the head of the military region. The Congolese
government, meanwhile, has repeated its accusation of Rwandan
involvement in M23, saying that whole battalions of Rwandan troops took
place this offensive.
Now, the M23 has beat a tactical retreat from the towns it captured, in some places reportedly leaving police
forces loyal to them behind. One of their officers told me that this was
because some Congolese officers were trying to organize a massacre of
the local population there and stick them with the blame; the army
denies this.
In Goma, in the meantime, fear and anger spread as people worried about a possible attack on town. In a few places this resulted in xenophobic outpourings. A group of youths at the Université de Goma
began attacking Tutsi students, throwing stones at them and calling them
names. Police reportedly had to intervene and escort some of the Tutsi
student to the neighboring Rwandan town of Gisenyi. Elsewhere,
motorcycle taxi drivers grouped together to attack Tutsi, as well.
The
M23 has accused Governor Julien Paluku of being behind this; the
victimization of Tutsi has been one of their main justifications for
leaving the army and starting a new rebellion. Governor Paluku's people
have retorted that M23 is cynically paying people to harass Tutsi, so as to have a pretext for their rebellion.
The presence of large numbers of motorcycle taxi driver could be an
indication of some sort of organization behind this, as in some places
up to 80 motorcycles allegedly gathered to harass Tutsi.
Monday, July 9, 2012
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47 comments:
This blog has gone loco! :-)
i feel so sorry for my brothers tutsi and the m23 rebels. this really makes me cry. really cry. thanks Jason for reporting this that is not being reported by other news groups like retuers, afp, bbc. al jazeera. they are all against us. but you jason, you like us. you are so well-informed. you see what others don't see. you are the best. m23 can now go to protect my brothers everywhere they are under attack by these congolese.
Relecture de la manifestation de Goma -
http://www.lepotentiel.com/afficher_article.php?id_article=124619&id_edition=100160
Rich
Rich. could you please tell us what this article says to sustain what Jason has reported here? I am sorry, I don't speak French and Google translate doesn't seem to do the job. Could you please summarize this article? Thanks a bunch.
Juliette
Juliette -
The article is corroborating some of what Jason said but leaned more to saying the anti-tutsi demonstrations is a trap from rwanda.
In fact it says the troubles seemed to have been staged so that it confirms mushikiwabo claim that rwandophone or tutsi are being targeted hence givin kagame the prext to intervene overtly in DRC. The article refers to leaflets seen in Goma calling for anti-tutsi demonstrations.
The article also goes on to ask Congolese not to fall into that trap since the DRC is not a genocidal country and that many communities have enjoyed living in peace with one another...
Rich
Rich. Thanks for you reply. For what I can read from the translation, the article doesn't say that Tutsi were attacked or are under threat in Goma or elsewhere as Jason's blog post implies. Maybe there are other reliable sources online where this was reported.
Jason, could you please point us to other articles about these attacks. That would really be helpful. I fail to see why such an important development would have been missed by the swarm of reporters that have flooded Eastern Congo. I try to follow news from the region very closely and it seems I missed this one. Maybe I should check my sources.
There you go, a report on the anti-Tutsi harassment in Goma by Dominic Johnson, albeit it's in German:
http://blogs.taz.de/kongo-echo/2012/07/09/ausschreitungen-in-goma/
Lars
@Rich welcome back it has been a while, you have been extremely silent lately.
In the previous thread there were 2 groups pk,blaise and co in one side and muanacongo, congoman and you in the other side. Your group were kind of understanding Kabila regime and giving it some credit for their "willingness" for change and the small advance the country is having.
Now with the current situation, what do you think. How do you rate Kabila performance ? What are perspectives.
And @pk @blaise @muanacongo @Jose and co please send your comment.
A fan of this thread
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFBRE8670BB20120708?pageNumber=4&virtualBrandChannel=0
In this Reuters' article there is a mention of anti-Tutsi mobs roaming the streets and Rwandan students having to be escorted to cross the border. Apart from what is going on with M23, this kind of xenophobic behaviour is very worrying as well.
Rich, please, seriously. Is that all you got? Dominic who? On yet another blog! Again, Jason says "attacked", you keep focusing on "harassed", those were two different words last time I checked my dictionary. I'd hate to accuse anyone of sensationalism, but I think i'd be right this time. Fortunately, serious news organisations set a higher standard of reporting than most blogs do.
Juliette
Here is the text from a Reuters article from 9 July.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/09/us-congo-democratic-rebels-idUSBRE8680SP20120709
A Reuters reporter in Goma said several hundred residents took to the streets on Monday to protest against the rebels and some went to the regional army headquarters to demand arms and training to fight. Local shops and markets closed.
Anti-Tutsi mobs roamed the streets, demanding arms, while police had to escort some Rwandan students across the border.
Oh no, you didn't! Anonymous at 3:18 AM! There is absolutely no mention of "attacks" on Tutsis in that Reuters article! What is going on here? Please find me an article, I just want a serious source on these so-called "attacks"! Please!
Juliette
Juliette, check the Reuters link. Why is it so important for you to make the semantic difference between "attacked" and "harassed"?
Juliette, I agree with you. I think the point is being missed here. It seems someone is trying to make the Congolese into the bad guys, playing right into Kagame's hands. Congolese, like everyone else in the world, have the right to protest while the Tutsi-dominated M23 rebels are killing, pillaging, raping, and forcing hundred of thousands of innocent people into displacement for no real reason than to protect the "Terminator", war crimes suspect Ntaganda. The Congolese did not start this war. They have all right to defend themselves and ask their authorities to do the same. Even as a human rights defender who works in eastern DRC, I feel no pity for these rebels.
Juliette -
What do you expect to hear from me? Maybe I don't understand your point, can you be a bit more explicit?
Rich
Why is it that everything needs to be always black and white? For or against? You can both denounce M23 and xenophobic behaviour at the same time!
It is not because one speaks out against xenophobic behaviour that he/she is siding with M23, Rwanda or people who are using these kind of things as a pretext.
If we start reasoning like that, all fair debate is made impossible. Congolese have the right to protest, but who has the right to "harass" or "attack" someone else for the place where he was born/the language he speaks/the way he looks? That does not equate with protesting. Not all Tutsi are rebels.
Anonymous at 3:34AM. What are you talking about? The links don't even say that Tutsis were "harassed", nor "attacked"! Are these the fruits of your imagination? Semantics? Those two words are not synonyms! Being "harassed" is not being "attacked". Those are two different words, especially in this context. What in the world is going on here!!!
Juliette
I seems clear to me that the protest in Goma are being exaggerated here for some mischievous purpose. All I asked for was a link, one link from a serious news group reporting on these so-called "attacks" on Tutsis. Hey Jason, you're slipping! Hopefully you will have the honesty to admit that you went way too far here.
How are they exagerated? They are reported. Jason mentioned "in a few places" this resulted in "outpourings". He hardly talks about anything massive, just that there were some incidents. I do not see how that is really different from the Reuters article which speaks about "anti-Tutsi mobs".
Again, it is not because these "outpourings" are instrumentalized as a pretext for other kinds of discourse or for other purposes, that they did not really happen, or that they are not worrying.
I am not astonished that some people feel angry against tutsi in Goma, because as I and many others have been saying in this blog is that what the M23 Kagame's backed movement is inflaming in the region is hatred between communities.
It is sad that the poor tutsi student who is looking to build up himself fall victim for a politics that he has nothing to do about and It is equally sad that a non-tutsi mother in rutshuru lose her son for a conflict that she does not feel part of.
We must embrace a reality here, people have feelings and frustrations. We cannot expect that population which has suffered tutsi domination for years will be enthusiastic to realize that an 100% tutsi rebellion is menacing their city and that they will feel love for the same tutsi and will want to embrace them.
We must also realize that tutsi who feel always menaced and not loved by other communities will feel secure when they are realizing that the body count made under their name is growing day by day. And that they know that blood call blood and that the next in line could be them.
It is the role of the authority to protect tutsi when the population get out of control and that is what happened. No tutsi died in Goma yesterday. How many non tutsies died in Kivu lately?
This situation is extremely worrying as in front of our eyes we are seeing the radicalization of the common population who are rejecting domination from an ethnic group and that is radicalizing.
If we do not stop this cycle what will happen is this, a very well rehearsed scenario:
M23/Rwanda will use tutsi protection to take town and kill civilians from other tribes and impose their domination. Already report of human rights violation and massive kids enrolment by Rwanda/M23 are surfacing from Rwanda/M23 controlled area.
Non-tutsi population, if not feeling protected by DRC Armed force will get into Mayi-mayi movement and will fight for their lives and land as they know that in this war there is no mercy.
And the killing cycle will continue.
Until when ? Until at one moment a group get a lot stronger than the other and go for an extermination campaign. Like what Kagame tutsi army did against hutu when they followed them in DRC forest (well documented in the UN mapping report) and killed them like dogs in industrial scale.
If the west continue to arm Kagame and do not force him to have a true ethnic reconciliation, it is just about time that situation get worse.
In the middle we have our incompetent JK, who could get our army stronger so that it is able to stop this cycle by imposing a strong state that secure everybody. In fact Kabila should have been the person who should stop this cycle, as president of DRC, a 70 Million strong nation, but as he is totally incompetent and prefer stealing with his croonies, I am just removing him from the picture. Nothing to expect from him.
Today fardc is flying special troops trained by US in Goma, these troops were hunting LRA, but these troops will face the same problem than troops trained by belgians. incompetent leadership, they will not be paid, they will be betrayed, they will feel like their hierarchy is trying to kill them and at one point will become the worse combatant ever and will start carring for their own life. all these troops are future may may. Already those who are in Rwindi park, refuse to obey Kinshasa until Kinshasa give them proof of its seriousness and remove all the traitors. Yesterday I heard that Kinshasa didnt respond yet. How surrealistic it is, an Army asking his commandment to stop betraying them and get serious !!!!!!!!
PK
Let me quote Jason: "A group of youths at the Université de Goma began attacking Tutsi students". Only Jason is "reporting" these "attacks". Find me a serious news source where it says that people were "attacking Tutsis", students or else.
Going from being an "anti-Tutsi mob" to "attacking Tutsi", that's the exaggeration.
Being "anti something" doesn't mean you start "attacking it".
The rebels are the ones "attacking the Congolese", that's a fact. Trying to suggest that Congolese have now turned on the Tutsi, whatever ill feelings they may (reasonably) have towards the Tutsi-dominated rebels attacking them, is disingenuous.
Juliette
OMG! Juliette has to go fellas.
Bloody Paul Kagame always making our people suffer...Painful..Painful!
However, I do support the arming of civilians-let all Congolese have guns and form neighborhood militias to resist the Kagame scourge.
Fardac should stop playing conventional war on M23 Bandits as they'll always be supported by Africom pose(Kagame & Museveni)-guerilla tactics is the way forward.
Regardless of its sleepy leadership in Kinshasa, the populace is more politiced than was previously. Unlike previous Kagame's criminal adventures, this one will end nasty.
Watch the space!!
Rutshuru/london
PK -
I try to read your comments carefully then I often struggle to disentangle facts from myths or intoxication. For intsance, where did you get the news from the FARDC in Rwindi? Where did you get the news soldiers are not paid? Can you please share your source?
Juliette -
I kind of get your point and this is quite reminiscent of L D Kabila messages back in 1998. Sorry the link is in french again! http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=TBsfmV6fLh8&feature=related
It must be difficult to handle such situation when someone is banking on victimisation to get his/her point across or have what they want. It is like a woman who is trying to trick a man to get him charged with rape allegations.
I heard the Governor of N-Kivu has summoned representative of taxi drivers and community leaders to ask them to refrain from targeting any one based on their ethnicity.
Rich
I personally don't understand why people are surprised that there was attacks(hopefully nobody died) against the Tutsi population in Goma : it's human nature!!!! The mob doesn't think, fear is irrational.
It happened before, it will happen again. The average citizen,under educated most of the time, will attack anyone they perceive as a treat.
Even Americans arrested most of the the Japanese population during ww2.
most recently, Russians were involved in a brawl in Poland. Even peaceful Zambians were mad and imposed an embargo to katanga because they killed one driver last week.
I'm not trying to minimize what happened to those individuals, what I'm trying to say is that when people take justice on their own hands things got out of control.
Like Pk said, the government should have take dispositions to secure everybody and condemn anybody who excite those xenophobic demonstration.
At the end of the day, all the stereotypes attached to us(heart of the darkness) will not serve our cause and just play the enemy's game.
And for those who irresponsibly took their arms to start those rebellions while putting their families in safe places, it should be say that their reckless actions deserved the people they are pretended to protect.
@ Mel
sorry I was on the fly and upset about the Fardc.
Mr Gaetan is planing to start something in September. He wasn't really specific but his initiatives are promising as far as I can tell. Maybe he will try to do what you guys doing for your troops. Idk if you know how those organizations work.
here his contact:
standforthecongo@gmail.com
Ty for your support to those congolese in need. May God bless you.
Juliette: You are right, Dominic Johnson's text is from his Blog. However, (and I should say that I don't agree with everything he wrote and writes and that I criticised DJ very often in the past), his Blog is published on the webpage of a big German newspaper, the TAZ for which he writes for more than a decade on eastern Congo, Rwanda etc. As I said, on several occasions I had great difficulties with what he said/reported etc., but it struck me that Johnson, with good connections to Goma information - networks, and Stearns (who very often has a different view compared to Johnson) both reported similar events happening in Goma.
This seems to suggest to me that the information of harassment of Tutsi (yes it is as of yet unclear whether this means brutal physical violence or psychological maltreatment, which always also borders on physical violence) is likely to have a truthful core.
In any case, I have to agree with what people said beforehand in this thread: observers of this developing situation should mention and denounce both - xenophobic maltreatment and the war efforts of M23!
Lars
Rich,
These information I got in talking with soldiers themsleves and I did not get it from one or two... and the people I talked to are high ranking officers and simple soldiers. It is from these people that I get that sense of frustration. Those people might have lied to me, it is true. I admit.
And even let's agree that my sources are wrong, ok. And in this case our soldiers have done "a strategic retreat". And decided to fall back without fighting just time after they were actively preparing for battle and they did that because they have received the order from Kinshasa to do so.
What does it change to the underlying fact that the army and the country is structurally weak. That people are dying because they have nobody to protect them, that from a containment strategy of 600 peoples we are in panick mode in seeing how to defend Goma?
JK as the chief of the army and President of the DRC is responsible of this shame. Either intentionally or by incompetence, I will let you decide. Someone said that he has led us for the last 10 years from defeat to humiliation.
But the colatateral damage of this incompetency is all this chaos that his sprouting in the backdrop of this failed leadership. No one is gaining.
If you have access to JK inner circle, or close circle. Then start question his choice and tell him to play his role or leave us alone.
But again I realize that I am repeating myself and you also, we know each other position, let's move on.
When I am sharing these news is for allowing you and fellows brother to understand how serious the situation is and to think of starting to do whatever they can to change. We are not distributing points. I am sure we share the same ultimate goal, my only point is that let's face reality. When we know the full extent of shortcomings we can really address them in all their dimensions. Like blaise say, we cannot continue to be surprised by information that we all know and take it as an excuse.
So far that is what I have decided to do, to denounce and share information that I have. But as you know information change from the point you collect it. And in future I will be more specific in citing my source so anyone can make his opinion on the level of confidence they will have to put on these and when they are my thoughts I will say so.
PK
@Ano. at July 10, 2012 2:51 AM
I regret if I have ever left an impression that I support any Congolese politician. I support Congo. But I am sadly glad that the latest events have borne out the thrust of my argument on this blog, which is:
(1) Given DRC’s 52-year particular history, the legality and stability however tenuous of institutions, more even than their legitimacy, is the first and most crucial step towards “une republique” (as Congolese peculiarly view it as a set of institutions including army, public service or justice system that transcend and unite all communities) and a real democracy. Thus any wannabe Coup experimenters now think twice. That is why the Rwandan M23 militia, unable to find a legal or popular base for their schemes, realise just how impossible it is to either proclaim the Kivus as a Rwandan province, or a Tutsi-Hima-Virunga republic. So they remain vague and let the gun talk instead.
(2) The violence that Kagame troops carry out in the Kivus now is absurd, useless and will achieve nothing substantive for any community, especially the Tutsi people in the Kivus. To be blunt, Kagame can make a spectacular military point but the violence only strains further relations amongst communities that are condemned to live together and poisons the future.
The real question is can the IC, who have worked so hard and spent $blns for the nascent peace in the Kivus, allow an individual to annihilate all this? JK and Kagame should be pushed to hold short and direct talks about the control of their common borders by an int’l body like MONUSCO (if Kagame does not mind) . People in the Kivus are suffering and dying in vain.
muanacongo
@ munacongo, your last point on JK and Kagame holding talks, that is what they have been doing for these last years. And you can see where these talks have led us, with an infiltrated army and lost of sovereignty on the kivus.
Kabila cannot be let alone negotiate with Kagame, he will again cook something against Congolese' interest.
We as a population, we must be involved through public debate in parliament, even though this parliament has no legitimacy.
Jk is a traitor i dont trust him to negotiate anything in congolese population behalf.
@juliette
Thank you for pushing for clarification. As this situation evolves it is critical we tath we strive for accuracy -- not overstate, not understate. Much is at stake.
BBC viz from Goma and Rutshuru
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18778228
Glenys
http://www.pole-institute.org/site%20web/echos/echo173.htm
More on what happened in Goma yesterday. (And I know Dominic Johnson is also linked to Pole)
UN news agency briefing on North Kivu crisis
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95836/Briefing-Crisis-in-North-Kivu
and to put some faces on the misery of South Kivu :
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/07/20127653748592304.html
@Rich look at those other report from also describing how congolese army is not paid:
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/07/20127653748592304.html
I will advise to spend some time in Aljazeera videos on congo, you can get a good timeline, from when Congolese army was advancing to now when it is total chaos.
"Kabila to be toppled within 60 days"
We need all the intelligence, so we can understand the enemy's mindset.
This website is run by Uganda security services-I think 40% is true.
http://redpepper.co.ug/welcome/?p=40779
Rutshuru/London
thanks Rutshuru/London, this document should not be taken lightly AFDL, RCD and CNDP started exactly like this. What does DRC gov do ?
Trying to put the pieces together. Here's another odd one bit:
The Congolese govt's acting spokesperson told Reuters "We've seen a sudden and major increase in the fire power and forces of the mutineers... These facts corroborate the support from the neighbouring country."
Al-Jazeera reports that only 2 of 2500 soldiers stayed at the Rumangabo Military base when the M23 rebels approached. The rest left town in the morning.
It appears the FARDC soliders were ordered to leave since there are no accusations of "abandoning their posts".
Hmmmm
Glenys
what happened to Mende?curious he just vanished.
Soldiers are superstitious ppl, they said as soon Amissi Tango four appear, they started losing. I think soldiers remember those who worked for the rdf and don't trust them.
@Rich,
Tweet from Aljazeera reporter Peter Greste @PeterGreste in goma :
#DRCongo army is so broke that local groups r collecting donations to pay soldiers fighting rebels in the east. Working on the story now
4 Jul 2012 7:19 @peterGpreste
Seems like PK info quiet accurate.....
Anon 1:22 -
I am fully aware of FARDC's ongoing problems and these have been around for a while. However, I wanted to find out more if there are reliable sources confirming that soldiers deployed to the front-line where not given what was needed (including wages) to do their job. I said this based on other reports where commanders were given cash and ammos to go and take on mutineers.
My understanding of the bunagana case (because this is where the crisis took a turn for the worse) is that it was more a major tactical plight than anything else but then developed into a complete melt down of FARDC forward positions in the axis Bunagana, Ruthuru and to some extent Rumangabo with all the consequences that can have on the moral.
I have heard various and sometimes conflicting reports myself on this very issue. In the Congolese context, every bit of news need to be taken with a pinch of salt even if they come from FARDC themselves.
Rich
According to Peter Greste reporting live from Rumangabo, FARDC soldiers were not ordered to leave the base. The morale amongst the government troops was very low. "We only found two government soldiers here. There is no running water and the conditions are absolutely appalling," Greste said on Monday.
Watch both videos on this page for more info. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/07/2012791115559794.html
What is kabila goal on all of this?
And frankly Rich, from every where you get the info it says the same thing and it has been saying the same thing for ages. And you also admit that you are aware of this, so the same every question, if everybody knows why not addressing issues? Why do you continue running around the bush.
The M23 will present its political wing today in Bunaga, and it seems that Mbusa Nyamwisi, ex RCD-KML, ex Kabila Foreign Minister, ex presidential candidate, is amongst "the leader". At least Kinshas press and independent journalist have been reporting on his presence in Kigali. Eventualy we will know today or very soon.
Same Afdl/RCD/CNDP tactics. Why you Congoleses are you always caught by the same, stupid and well known Rwandese strategy?
I won't stop supporting you, because as human being I can not see all these video of people spending their life running and dying for nothing. But hey guys, you need to help us. It becomes clear that the problem is Kinshasa and with your democracy ala Kabila, very soon you won't have a country and instead of building a state you will be burying yours.
Never seen so much mediocrity from a government, this is beyond insane.
I am sorry but I strongly desagree with the article...I think Jason has been in the region for quite some time but doesn't understand at all the dynamic of social conflicts !! When he talks about organization, I don't know what he is talking about...people in Eastern Congo are tired, they don't need to be told or organized by anyone that those who are attacking them... if there is any organization, its the Rwanda government who has organized and armed an ethnic group(the M23)so that it can attack the other ethnic groups in DRC.
@ano 10:03 Kagame and its tutsi thugs are killing congolese in Congo and keeping token congolese in peace in Rwanda. It is part of the nice picture that Kagame fabricated, there is peace back home. And the fact that nobody report harassement does not mean there is none. It would be interesting to dig a little bit there and see if there was REALLY no attack against congolese in Rwanda.
And please let it go with the genocid things, its overated!!!!
I wonder if any town in rwanda is attack by fardc this nice picture will persist.people of goma didnt invent the term witch hunt.we should put things in perspective.all we can hope is for whoever is in charge to protect the innocent s.
Blaise
A must read :
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/africa/two-most-loyal-soldiers-dr-congo
The 2 most loyal soldiers of DRC.
What happened to the 7000 soldiers ,did KABILA realy deploy 7000 soldiers to that region or not ? What happened to the so called Belgian and American trained special forces, I think the Belgians and Americans just fooling KABILA with some kind of army training in order to obtain more mining concessions from him,or they're just doing some fake training to further weaken the army. What happened to the helicopter gun chips. If only some hundreds of the former Cndp defected and 600 fled to Uganda,where are the thousands more soldiers ,the thanks.....there are more questions to be answered .and we are awaiting the response ore reaction from the government. I KABILA wants to commit suicide once and for all he shall go ahead and negotiate another infiltration accord with Kagame's boys.
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