This period marks “a definitive break with the spiral of violence and instability that has characterized recent decades. More than ever, this decisive phase commits the Congolese people to a continuous culture of democracy,” he said.

“Despite the multilayered challenges surrounding the electoral process, the Independent National Electoral Commission, our people and their Government are doing everything they can to organize transparent and credible elections in a peaceful climate.”

“The elections are proof of the return to peace that all Congolese have wanted and have now realized. Today, peace and security prevail throughout the national territory. All state institutions are in place and functioning normally.”

President Kabila told the General Assembly that, “Because peace and security have returned to the country, the UN presence must be reassessed.”

MONUSCO’s role, he said, must be “readjusted” and the UN mission “must gradually leave the strict confines of peacekeeping operations to support the country in its development efforts and economic recovery.”

“Today, the Democratic Republic of Congo is at peace with all its neighbors. And now, it’s time for reconstruction and development.”

“Despite a difficult international economic environment, the Democratic Republic of Congo today, after a decade in a downturn, shows a positive growth rate. And this trend will continue,” President Kabila said.

Julien Mukala, who works for the United Nations mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO), was arrested on Sunday night at the border crossing with Rwanda with 1,200 kilograms of cassiterite in his UN-marked vehicle.

The two suspects were charged with the illegal procession, transport, and misappropriation of minerals.

Julien Mukala was also charged with resisting arrest and his accomplice, Dodo Makuza, with bribery. Their attorneys have said they will appeal the sentences.

MONUSCO said in a press release on Monday that it is “fully cooperating with and supporting the national authorities in the investigation of this incident. The Mission has also launched its own investigation into what appears to be a serious breach of its ethics, rules and regulations.”

“Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of MONUSCO, Roger Meece, stressed that the illegal exploitation and smuggling of natural resources from the DRC are serious crimes, the prevention of which MONUSCO is tasked with and committed to support.”

The Congolese government said in a statement on Monday that “the incident puts into question the compliance of some members of the UN Mission with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council governing their presence in the DRC and Congolese law.”

On Wednesday, MONUSCO spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai defended the UN Mission against allegations that some of its members are involved in the same evils they are tasked to prevent.

He was quoted by UN-sponsored Radio Okapi as saying he “challenges anyone to prove that, apart from this one, there have been other incidents in the past 11 years.”

Mr. Mounoubai must either have a short or selective memory, or he simply chose to ignore the facts.

There have been other cases of UN peacekeepers involved in gold smuggling and even accused of providing weapons to rebels in eastern Congo.

In a report that was not made public, the UN’s own Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) concluded in 2007 that at least one peacekeeper had been involved in minerals smuggling in eastern Congo.

In a press release regarding a letter to the United Nations under-secretary-general for UN peacekeeping operations, titled “UN: Hold Peacekeepers Accountable for Congo Smuggling,” Human Rights Watch wrote in 2007:

“Human Rights Watch first brought information about gold smuggling by peacekeepers to the attention of the United Nations in December 2005, and an investigation was begun. The BBC conducted its own investigation, broadcast on May 23, 2007, which quoted a UN official as saying that there was a desire to “bury the result” for political reasons.”

“A report confirming illegal acts by UN peacekeepers is not the end of a process, but surely only the beginning,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “The UN should follow through on the results of its own investigations.”

Instead of issuing ludicrous “challenges”, Mr. Mounoubai and MONUSCO should focus on more “transparency” and allow their vehicles to be inspected at border crossings.

Julien Mukala, working as a driver for the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO), drew the attention of the border police because his UN-marked vehicle could barely move.

The driver was arrested after the border police found 24 bags of cassiterite weighing 1,200 kg in the vehicle.

Officials say the driver tried to bribe his way out of being arrested by offering them half the minerals.

Told of the arrest, members of the provincial security committee, including Governor Julien Paluku, arrived at the border crossing just after Midnight on Monday.
Governor Paluku then requested the head of MONUSCO’s security team in the province be present as the case was being investigated.

The initial investigation has revealed that the minerals came from a trading company called EBIR, which belongs to Robert Bitega, a resident of Gisenyi, Rwanda.

Mr. Bitega spent five years in prison in Rwanda for trafficking in fake U.S. dollars and was just released recently.

Because MONUSCO’s vehicles are not inspected when crossing the border, this might not be the first time the driver has tried to smuggle minerals out of the country using a United Nations vehicle.

Source: provincenordkivu.org

Lt. Colonel Kibibi Mutware was found guilty of crimes against humanity for ordering his troops to rape, beat and loot the population of Fizi, South Kivu province, on New Year’s Day.

A military court in eastern Congo also sentenced three officers serving under the commander to 20 years and five soldiers to between 10 and 15 years.

The United Nations welcomed the sentences as army soldiers and members of armed groups involved in sexual violence often go unpunished in the strife-torn eastern Congo region.

“Not only did the Congolese authorities react swiftly to the Fizi rapes in January and apprehended a number of the alleged perpetrators, but by all accounts the legal process has been fair and efficient,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström, said in a statement.

“The sentences send a strong signal to all perpetrators in the DRC and beyond that conflict-related sexual violence is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. It also shows that accountability for sexual violence is possible,” stated Ms. Wallström.

Lt. Colonel Kibibi Mutware is a former Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP) rebel who was integrated into the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) as the result of a 2009 peace agreement.

The CNDP has been integrated in the FARDC (at least officially), following a peace accord signed in 2009 and a rapprochement between the Congolese and Rwandan governments.

The report says that “units of the former Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP) in FARDC have gained military control over most of the strategic areas rich in natural resources in the Kivus, presenting a challenge to their integration into FARDC. ”

Excerpts from the report:

Challenges for the integration of armed groups

152. Former CNDP officers within FARDC have deployed their mixed units throughout most territories of North and South Kivu. According to FARDC sources, former CNDP officers have convened meetings in order to bypass approved channels in making decisions on troop deployments. The Group received testimony from a number of FARDC officers that former CNDP officers, even when posted as deputy commanders in FARDC units, are the real decision makers within most FARDC brigades.

153. After rumours of his imminent suspension from FARDC circulated in September, General Bosco Ntaganda remained deputy commander of Amani Leo operations. Although his role has never been officially acknowledged by FARDC, Ntaganda publicly confirmed it in a Reuters interview published on 6 October.

Links to armed groups

163. Another challenge to the CNDP integration process has been the collaboration of certain former CNDP officers with armed groups. MONUSCO debriefings with former combatants repatriated to Rwanda indicate communication and collaboration between certain elements within CNDP and FDLR in 2010 (see paras. 87 and 88).

164. In addition, according to credible testimony from various sources, former CNDP officers have been in contact with Rwandan political dissidents in South Africa, including Patrick Karegeye, the former head of Rwandan intelligence, and Lieutenant General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who survived an assassination attempt in June 2010 in Johannesburg. The Group directly witnessed a conversation between Karegeye and former CNDP FARDC officers in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September. According to United Nations sources and combatants interviewed by the Group, Kayumba may have sent an emissary to meet with FDLR, FPLC and Mai Mai leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in February.

Illegal exploitation of natural resources

173. The Group conducted numerous interviews with former combatants and visited several mining areas in North and South Kivu Provinces. A key finding of the Group from this research is that while FARDC military operations have driven many Congolese and foreign armed groups out of the principal mining areas, these groups nonetheless continue to control hundreds of more remote mining deposits. In addition, the Group has established that armed groups have increased their use of intermediaries to invest and purchase minerals in mines that they can no longer access. The Group has further noted an increase in pillaging and looting attacks by armed groups on mineral traders or transporters. The Group estimates that most minerals find their way onto legal markets through countries in the region. Finally, the Group has documented the financial benefits that armed groups continue to receive from natural resources other than minerals, such as land, timber, fishing, poaching and charcoal.

174. In early September, President Kabila publicly denounced the “kind of mafia” he said had become involved in mining, and called upon them to set aside either their mining interests or their uniforms. In a subsequent public statement, the Minister of Mines referred to “the manifest involvement of certain local, provincial, and national authorities, both civilian and military, in the illegal exploitation and illicit trade of mineral substances” (see annex 19). The need to rid the mineral trade of such criminal networks is the official justification for the Government’s temporary freeze on mining activities in the three eastern provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu and Maniema as from 11 September 2010.

175. The Group’s research strongly supports the analysis of the President and the Minister of Mines, and some aspects of the complex, illegal involvement of these networks in the exploitation of natural resources are documented in this section. The Group considers that the cases, locations and individuals included illustrate the militarization of natural resources and its negative impact on security, human rights and the stabilization of the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

176. The involvement of FARDC in mining and the mineral trade is illegal for several reasons. Article 27 of the Mining Code prohibits public servants, including members of the armed forces, from involvement in mining (see annex 20). In addition, President Kabila, who is the FARDC supreme commander, and several senior FARDC officers have ordered the military to keep out of mining (see S/2010/252, annex II), and articles 63 to 65 and 113 of the military penal code of the Democratic Republic of the Congo prohibit looting and the violation of orders in the presence of the enemy or during wartime or under exceptional circumstances (see annex 21). Yet while some military prosecutors have sought to apply this law, in practice they face serious obstacles, including limited logistical resources and obstruction by superior officers.

177. The conflict between the economic interests of criminal networks within FARDC and the security mandate of the army has led to three critical negative consequences:

(a) Failure on the part of FARDC to prioritize the protection of civilians; (b) Competing chains of command and insubordination within FARDC; (c) Distraction from the pursuit of military operations against armed groups, leading to cohabitation and in some cases active collusion with those same groups.

Read full report

 MONUSCO primary mission being the protection of civilians, many are wondering how such acts, and on such a scale, could have been committed not far from a MONUSCO base without its peacekeepers intervening to stop them.

The new head of MONUSCO, Roger Meece, addressing reporters in New York via video conference from Goma on Wednesday, said that two patrols of peacekeepers were never told by the population that the rapes were being committed, even though these attacks are said to have lasted over three days.

MONUSCO claims it was only aware that there were rebels in the area and that “this was not unusual, and seemed to resemble nothing that could suggest a possible launch of attacks.” One wonders what MONUSCO thinks when they learn that there are rebels who just invaded an area. Do they think that these rebels are there to play football? Does protecting civilians mean letting them roam around and see what happens? MONUSCO is authorized to use force to protect the population, even if it’s a pre-emptive action. Why did MONUSCO do nothing when it was alerted at the presence of rebels in the area?

The New York Times reports in today’s edition that humanitarians and other members of the UN staff operating in the region received email alerts on July 30, the day the attacks began, warning them of the presence of rebels in the region. The New York Times quotes a United Nations employee who says that these warnings would have been forwarded to the peacekeepers who should then have done everything in their power to protect the population.

With regards to Congolese authorities, who bear the primary responsibility for protecting civilians in the country, they have so far been “missing in action”. A deafening silence prevails on these events. You’d think that the authorities would be scrambling for action, or a response, after they learned that more than 150 women were raped in the span of a few days. But no, they seem to be taking their time; it’s inaction, silence,… The public will probably be treated in a few days with another press release announcing the launch of an “investigation”, as we have become used to for years (investigations which are never completed and whose results are never made public).

For years, the Congolese authorities have been scrabbling on the problem of armed groups. Nobody knows today what the “solution du jour” will be tomorrow and how many more times we will wake up only to learn (sometimes after weeks) that our children, our sisters and brothers, have been brutalized by these armed groups.

The Palmares reported a few days ago on the atrocities of the FDLR in the region and the insufficient number of Congolese soldiers in the area. While rampant corruption remains the norm amongst our leaders, the soldiers supposed to protect the population are not paid for months, do not receive adequate training, and therefore the military seems unable to settle once and for all the problem of the FDLR and other militia groups operating in the East.

While the authorities want to expel MONUSCO from Congo by the end of next year, they are still unable to protect the population against these barbaric and despicable attacks against civilians by armed groups. It is clear that their “efforts” to eradicate this scourge have so far remained utterly insufficient.

 From Saturday night to Sunday, FDLR rebels made an incursion into the village of Butua, some 12 km from the center of Walikale, and looted and kidnapped civilians, local sources said.

The assailants, said to have been joined by elements from a Mai Mai militia, were armed with machetes, spears, and guns. They attacked as the residents of the village were sleeping. The rebels went house to house in butua and looted everything on their way. They took livestock and other objects of value from the population.

A human rights activist in Walikale, who asked not to be identified, said that about twenty people, including women, were kidnapped and taken into the forest. The same source said that similar attacks were reported in the villages of Karumya, Kason, Tobo and Kisa, around Bafuna, in the region of Wanyanga.

Fearing attacks from the FDLR, residents from the villages of Nyasa, Bulambo, and Kampala, are spending the night in the forest, the same sources said.

The administrator of Walikale has confirmed these reports and said he expects the FDLR rebels to carry out more attacks.

Civil Society organizations in Walikale deplored the low number of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) soldiers in the area of Wanyanga. They called for an increase of FARDC units in these villages.

Other reports have emerged of rapes by FDLR rebels in the region. The United Nations confirmed on Monday a report by a local humanitarian organization that around 200 women have sought treatment after being raped by FDLR rebels.

The attacks are said to have been carried out around July 30. The United Nations Organisation Stabilization Mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) has a military base in Kibua, some 30 kilometres east of the scene of the attack.

The UN suggested on Monday it did not intervene, or was unaware of the attacks at the time, because the rebels “blocked the road and prevented villagers from reaching the nearest communication point at the time the crimes were committed.”

Three United Nations peacekeepers from India were killed by Mai Mai militiamen said to be allied with FDLR rebels in an attack on a UN base in Kirumba, North Kivu, on Wednesday last week.

The rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda is made up of ethnic Rwandan Hutu militiamen who were involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. They crossed the border into eastern Congo along with millions of Hutu refugees who fled the country after the genocide fearing reprisals.

They have since committed numerous atrocities against the Congolese population in North and South Kivu provinces, and are a main source of the insecurity that has plagued the region for more than a decade, leading to millions of Congolese deaths.

Excerpts from Le Palmares article

The resolution asks the Secretary-General to conduct a strategic review of the situation in the DRC and MONUC’s progress toward achieving its mandate and to determine, in close cooperation with the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and MONUC, the modalities of a reconfiguration of MONUC’s mandate.

Resolution 1906 “demands that all armed groups, in particular the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), immediately cease all forms of violence and human rights abuse against the civilian population in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular gender-based violence, including rape and other forms of sexual abuse.”

The Security Council asked the Congolese government to “ensure the full implementation of its “zero-tolerance policy” with respect to discipline and human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence, committed by elements of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC)” and urged that “all reports of such violations be thoroughly investigated, with the support of MONUC, and that all those responsible be brought to justice through a robust and independent process.”

The resolution also asked “the Secretary-General to continue to fully investigate the allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by civilian and military personnel of MONUC, and to take the appropriate measures set out in the Secretary-General’s bulletin on special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.”

• Cease immediately all attacks on civilians.

• Take all necessary measures, including making public statements, to ensure that FDLR     forces do not commit human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war.

• Carry out investigations into war crimes committed by FDLR forces and take appropriate disciplinary measures against any member of the FDLR, regardless of rank, found responsible.

• Stop blocking the return of Rwandan refugees to Rwanda. Support the establishment of safe humanitarian corridors to allow refugees to return home.

Maybe, you are asking yourself if this is a joke. No, it’s not. Human Rights Watch has actually called on the FDLR, a terrorist organization known for its atrocities in eastern Congo for more than a decade, to “investigate” its members for war crimes.

Be assured, after the FDLR complies, they will report their findings, arrest those responsible, and make them available to the Congolese authorities, or the Rwandan authorities, or maybe send them to a more neutral venue like the International Criminal Court.

Breaking News: the FDLR respond to Human Rights Watch

Dear Human Rights Watch,

After reading your recommendations, we, the leadership of the FDLR, have decided to cease immediately all attacks on civilians.

We have carried out an investigation into our actions in eastern Congo. We have concluded that we are indeed a terrorist organization, culpable of vicious crimes, and we will turn ourselves to the International Criminal Court.

We will no longer stop Rwandan refugees to return to Rwanda. Of course, if Rwandan refugees returned home, this would cut into our main recruiting base, but be assured, we will comply anyway, because you have kindly asked us to do so.

We will even go further than you have asked us, we will also name all those among us who were involved in the Rwandan genocide and turn them to the Rwandan authorities.

Sincerely,

Ignace Murwanyashiaka, Straton Musoni, FDLR leadership

Back to reality

The FDLR is one of the most brutal rebel force that Africa has ever known. They have been branded as terrorists by the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States.

In its report, Human Rights Watch writes, “On November 17, 2009, the FDLR president, Ignace

Murwanashyaka, and his deputy, Straton Musoni, were arrested by authorities in Germany

for their role in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by FDLR forces

under their command in eastern Congo between January 2008 and July 2009. They were also

charged with belonging to a terrorist group.”

Human Rights Watch also writes in the report that, as recently as August 10, the group had a “meeting” with Ignace Murwanashyaka. The group also reveals that it had other “various individual and group meetings with FDLR commanders and low-ranking combatants.”

Yes, Human Rights Watch admits it has held meetings with the leaders of a known terrorist group.

No wonder Human Rights Watch think they can change the FDLR rebels into saints with recommendations. After all, they have looked into their eyes and seen their souls.

It is, of course, pure lunacy to think that the FDLR rebels can investigate themselves, stop attacking civilians, and become model citizens of the Great Lakes region, just because Human Rights Watch says so. This is the most naïve recommendation, and there are many, included in this report. This is like asking Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to investigate Al Qaeda members and punish them for committing terrorist acts.

This time, Human Rights Watch was careful to include in its report a detailed description of the atrocities committed by the FDLR. Its previous reports had focused on the alleged atrocities of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), barely mentioning the FDLR.

This approach has led the Congolese Government to issue strong responses to the group’s claims. The Congolese Government has said that Human Rights Watch has an “hidden agenda” in eastern Congo. With the revelations that the group has been meeting with the terrorists of the FDLR, few would blame the government for making such statements.

With the arrest of FDLR leaders by German Authorities, and the report by UN-mandated experts detailing the atrocities of the FDLR and their international support network, Human Rights Watch can simply no longer afford to issue one –sided reports on the situation in eastern Congo without further losing its credibility.

“We have very good relations with MONUC. When will MONUC go? I do not know, but we have very good relations. There have been some differences here and there, but for now, we have very good relations with MONUC”, he said.

He added that “MONUC’s mandate will be renewed for another 6 months in December. The desire of the Congolese government is to receive a disengagement plan for MONUC by June 30, 2010, because we believe, and it’s a fact, that since the beginning of this year, there has been a marked improvement in the security situation in the East.”

President Kabila said he hoped to receive the pullout plan by the end of the year. “Based on this plan, we will eventually discuss with MONUC the practicalities of its gradual disengagement”, he said.

MONUC’s current mandate expires in December. It is expected that the U.N. Security Council will extend the peacekeeping mission for only 6 months this time instead of a full year as usual.

The Democratic Republic of Congo will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence on June 30, 2010. Some analysts have suggested the government wants to show it no longer relies on the 20,000- strong U.N. peacekeeping force to maintain security in the country.

MONUC was established by the U.N. Security Council in 1999. The largest for any current U.N. peacekeeping operation, its annual budget has grown to more than 1 billion U.S. dollars.