ICG ties with Kagame’s backers, found linked to RPF criminals.
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An examination of key measures of violence reveals a troublesome correlation between the number of ICG Press releases in favor of violence in Democratic Republic of The Congo and Rwanda and homicides, war crimes, mass-rape and genocide committed by Paul Kagame and his RPF army (RDF) and Kagame proxy armies in Congo. Instead of denouncing RPF crimes, instead of insistsing on the dialogue between Rwandans and restoration for democratic institutions in Rwanda, the International Crisis Group calls on violence and mass-murder of those that refuse it and wants to leave in peace in their country of origin. As aid to RPF and Kagame’s government increases in the name of eradicating AIDS, there is a corresponding increase in the number of assassinations, disappearances, mass-rape, war crimes and genocide in both Rwanda and DRC.
The correlation between ICG statements and or press releases, the fueling of wars in the region by a declaration of war by Paul Kagame using the TCG puppet or backers tell us that the world should insists on the neutrality of NGOS if they are. If necessary, the NGO’s representatives should be brought to justice for such plotting against peace and nations. Looking at the wars crimes statistics make clear that ICG plots violence and its statements cause violence and in many cases ICG’s role is to make sure that violence is not stopped.
The ICG writings, statements and propaganda in favor of Kagame’s jihad do raise a question about whether the flow of such support to the Kagame, RPF and Kagame military junta has helped fuel Kagame violence and hinders efforts to restore peace and justice in Rwanda. Recent assassinations inside Rwanda of journalists and political opponents.
Prior to the Kagame’s jihad in Congo , ICG directed nearly all propaganda to worship and praise Kagame’s action in Congo within Kimya I and II. Kagame’s terror campaign launched against Hutu women and children since 1993 up to 2003, the last date known to be the last press release of ICG during the genocide in Congo against Hutus disrupt the main Kagame backing sources.
To bring back peace in the African Great Region will require making the security Council US and EU community and NGOs players responsible for their actions to the international community, since ICG ties with the RPF criminals doesn’t help to resolve the issue of violence in that region rather to fuel the flames inside and outside Rwanda and in Democratic Rep. of Congo in particular.
Dec 1996 The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Congo (ADFL) controlled most of eastern Congo. It is made up of four political forces with a history of opposition to Mobutu’s government as well as the Banyamulenge. It was reported that the Banyamulenge were outnumbered six-to-one by other Congoan ethnic groups in the alliance. Besides being opposed by Congoan government forces, the rebel alliance is also opposed by Congoan militias, the Bangilima and Mai-Mai who have long been opposed to the presence of all Banyarwanda in Congo.
The Rwandan Patriotic Army, which took over Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, and the Ugandan army were reportedly backing the rebels. (Reuters, 12/3/96).
Accurate chronology of reminding mass-slaughters of Hutus in DRC Dec 17, 1996 Mobutu flew home to Congo after undergoing treatment for cancer in France. He appointed a new armed forces chief and reshuffled his cabinet in order to launch a counter-offensive against the rebels.
Jan 20, 1997 The government launched an offensive against Kabila’s forces even as they advanced on mineral-rich Shaba region.
Mar 7, 1997 Hundreds of soldiers seized opposition strongholds in Kinshasa after dispersing opposition militias trying to gather for a march against Mobutu. The Secretary-General of UDPS, Adrien Phongo, was beaten and arrested.
Mar 15, 1997 Kisangani, Congo’s third largest city, falls to rebel troops.
Mar 23, 1997 Human rights organizations report that Hutu refugees are being massacred in the East by Kabila’s forces. Kabila troops are dominated by Tutsis from Rwanda and he is receiving military and other support from Angola, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Apr 2, 1997 Etienne Tshisekedi is named Prime Minister after Kengo wa Dondo is forced out of office. Tshisekedi names his own government and offers to negotiate with Kabila. The offer is refused and Mobutu sacks Tshisekedi after a week.
Apr 5, 1997 The town of Mbuji-Mayi in Kasai Province falls to rebel forces. It is the diamond mining center of Congo and home of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, a Baluba. Laurent Kabila is also a Baluba, but from neighboring Shaba Province. Both Shaba and Kasai have been operating as de facto autonomous states in recent years.
Apr 8, 1997 Mobutu declares a state of emergency over all of Congo. Tshisekedi’s supporters clashed with security forces for two days when it became apparent that he would be dropped as Prime Minister.
Apr 9, 1997 Rebels capture Lubumbashi, the capital of Shaba province. It is the second-largest city in Congo in a region rich in minerals. General Likulia Bolong is named Prime Minister replacing Etienne Tshisekedi.
Apr 14, 1997 Tshisekedi supporters in Kinshasa close down the capital for two days in protest over Tshisekedi’s ouster as Prime Minister.
Apr 27, 1997 Kabila gives the United Nations 60 days to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Hutus, many of whose whereabouts are unknown having fled into the interior of Congo with the advance of Kabila’s rebels. Relief agencies begin airlifting Hutu refugees back to Rwanda shortly after Kabila makes his announcement.
May 1997 Soldiers put down a peaceful demonstration in Uvira, 90 miles south of Bukavu, South Kivu’s capital. Some 20 protesters were killed.
May 13, 1997 A night-time curfew was declared in Kinshasa.
May 16, 1997 After it has become apparent that he has no choice but to give up power, Mobutu left Kinshasa for his northern palace at Gbadolite after which he is expected to leave Congo. South Africa had been attempting to mediate between Kabila and Mobutu, but after several attempts, it was clear that Kabila held the upper hand and Mobutu had no leverage over the take-over of his country.
May 17, 1997 Kabila declared himself president and took office on the 29th. He also changed the name of Congo to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), also known as Congo-Kinshasa.
May 23, 1997 Kabila announced some members of his transitional government. The post of Prime Minister, which opposition leaders had hoped would go to Etienne Tshisekedi who has extensive popular support in Kinshasa and Kasai Province, was abolished. Tshisekedi was excluded from Kabila’s government.
Jul 8, 1997 Reports have surfaced that in the first weeks of the rebellion begun in October 1996, more than 9000 people, mostly civilians, were killed. There were systematic killings of Hutu refugees in Mbandaka, Kisingani, Goma, and Bukavu. A Senior Tutsi official in Congo’s Interior Ministry said that Rwandan and Congolese Tutsi troops were given a free hand to go after Hutu refugees so long as they also contributed to the overthrow of Mobutu. Rebel officers who opposed this policy were reportedly killed. Western diplomats said Kabila did not participate in much of the planning or execution of the rebellion.
Jul 12, 1997 A United Nations report into the massacres of Rwandan refugees in Congo during the rebellion stated they were so massive and systematic that they can be considered crimes against humanity and possibly genocide. Investigators, who have been hampered in their investigation efforts by Kabila’s government, said they received reports on 134 alleged massacres committed by Kabila’s ADFL and Banyamulenge militias.
Aug 1997 The Democratic Resistance Alliance was established in eastern DRC with the stated aim of “liberating” the area. The new movement is made up largely of Bembe and is led by Celestin Anzaluni Bemba, a local politician known for his anti-Tutsi sentiments. It is reportedly based in Tanzania. Non-Banyarwandan ethnic groups in eastern Congo have resented the privileged position the Congolese Tutsis played in the rebellion that ousted Mobutu and want all Banyamulenge out of the country. (U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), 9/10/97)
Aug 10 – 20, 1997 A DRC journalist said that troops, either Tutsis from the DRC or Rwanda, raided Masisi and killed up to 200 people in retaliation for an attack on Tutsi soldiers by Mai-Mai guerrillas. Athorities in the area confirmed 48 people were killed, but other sources put the number of dead at up to 200.
Aug 13, 1997 35,000 refugees in Tanzania’s Lugufu camp are divided between supporters and opponents of returning to the DRC. The Babembe are the majority in the camp which was set up in February. Most are refusing to return to their homes because they fought against Kabila’s rebellion. Ethnic tensions between the Bembe and Banyamulenge continues in eastern Congo.
Aug 27, 1997 The World Food Program has given seeds to farmers in the Kivu regions stating that the food supply situation was still critical in the area. The WFP estimated the remaining Rwandan refugees in Congo at more than 20,000 and added that 190,000 Congolese were internally displaced. The United Nations continued to list 200,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees as missing in the eastern region of Congo.
Sep 5, 1997 The Association for the Defense of Human Rights in the DRC said about 2000 civilians were massacred in July when Kabila’s forces and Rwandan troops avenged attacks by Mai-Mai guerrillas. The Mai-Mai had killed 162 troops in the Masisi area. The Mai-Mai are from the Hunde, Nyanga, Tembo and Kumu ethnic groups and have been fighting against the presence of Tutsis in both North and South Kivu.
Kabila’s government has set up a commission of inquiry to which aims to end the political and ethnic troubles in the region. The Masisi area has long been the scene of conflict between the Banyarwanda and “autochtones” or “native” Congolese (Congolese). In 1993, approximately 14,000 Banyarwanda were killed in ethnic violence, and after the influx of Rwandan refugees into the region in mid-1994, ethnic Tutsis became the main targets of ethnic violence in Masisi and eastern Congo in general.
(U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), 9/10/97)
Sep 7, 1997 Mobutu Sese Seko died of cancer in exile in Morocco.
Sep 18, 1997 More than 100 people were believed to have been killed in renewed violence in the Masisi area. Congolese Tutsis were the main victims. An organization called MAGRIVI, the Mutual Association of the Agriculturalists of the Virunga, was blamed for the deaths. The alliance, made up of Hutu farmers and Mai-Mai militias targeted Tutsi residents and military personnel.
The human rights organization Azadho said that since July, more than 2000 people have been killed in Kivu. Last week, 7-8000 Tutsi civilians fled Masisi saying that Hutu rebels made daily attacks against them. The Interahamwe have been based in Masisi. In South Kivu, a similar movement has formed within the Babende ethnic group.
It is led by Charles Simba, a one-time ally of Kabila, and has been harassing and ambushing Kabila’s Tutsi forces. The Council for National Resistance and Liberation accused Rwandan Tutsis of massacring over 2000 Congolese, mainly Bemba, in the region between Fizi and Kalemia in early September.
Spokesman Henri Njila also stated that many groups in the east, including Babembe, Bafulero, Wanynaga, Bahunde, Bashi and Hutu, have begun to rebel against Kabila. Both Rwandan Hutus and people from other ethnic groups suspected of being sympathetic to Hutus have been killed in massacres in the east.
Sep 22, 1997 Authorities in Kivu said it is now under control of government security forces. Press sources said about 100 Mai-Mai fighters were executed a few kilometers from Goma. Since July, there have been clashes in the area between Mai-Main militiamen and Kabila’s forces. Major roads linkind Bukavu to the rest of the world have frequently been ambushed and insecurity in reigned in the area in recent months. The Mai-Mai have been waging a rebellion against what they see is foreign domination by Tutsis.
Sep 23, 1997 Ethnic rivalries flared in the east after the recall of Tutsi soldiers to Rwanda. After their departure, about 7000 ethnic Tutsis in the DRC felt they had lost their protection and fled to Goma. Three thousand fled to the Mudende refugee camp in northwestern Rwanda joining 7500 Masisi Tutsis already there. Non-Tutsi Congolese in the east are increasingly resentful of the improved status of the Tutsis. Tensions are so high in the region that there are rumors of a Rwandan invasion.
Sep 26, 1997 More than 800 former Rwandan army troops and members of the Interahamwe have surrendered to military authorities in the DRC. They had fought alongside governmental troops during the ADFL rebellion. There were no plans to repatriate them to Rwanda.
Oct 3, 1997 About 3000 Mai-Mai militiamen have surrendered to the North Kivu authorities. They will be integrated into the new national armed forces currently undergoing reconstruction. The DRC closed the frontier with Rwanda and said it was expelling all refugees. Interior Minister Mwenze Kongolo confirmed that the UNHCR would suspend its work in the east following the repatriation of all refugees.
Oct 14, 1997 Fighting continued in eastern DRC and neighboring regions of Rwanda and Burundi between Tutsis and Hutus. In the DRC, there is also fighting between Banyamulenge and Bantu groups. Since Kabila’s victory, the Banyamulenge have become more and more dominant in local administrations and in the army causing resentment from other ethnic groups.
Fighting in western Rwanda, including an attack mounted against the border town of Gisenyi by 1000 rebels based in the DRC, has increased. More than 4000 people, many of them civilians, have been killed in the past five months. In the Masis area of eastern Congo, Mai-Mai militias continue to fight Kabila’s Tutsi soldiers, and in the Fizi area a Babende rebel group led by Charles Simba, a one-time ally of Kabila’s, continues to ambush Tutsi soldiers.
Oct 29, 1997 The United Nations team attempting to investigate the alleged massacres of Hutu refugees during the civil war and Kabila’s government came to an agreement about how to proceed with the investigations. Details of the agreement included that the government will guarantee to the best of its ability the team’s security; the U.N. Mission would cover all areas it deemed necessary to help it conduct its investigation; the report would be limited to “global statements of facts” related to allegations of human rights abuses; the team undertakes not to interfere in the DRC’s internal affairs; and the time period of the mandate is 1 March 1993-31 December 1997. The mission is to be completed by 28 February 1997.
Oct 30, 1997 Rwandan Vice President and Defense Minister Paul Kagame has refuted allegations that the Rwandan army took part in the massacre of refugees in the DRC. He stated that all casaulties were a result of the war and not deliberate killing sprees.
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a “time”, yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
