Is rapidly deteriorating. What the hell is wrong with the Congolese government? They've got so much wealth to benefit from, yet, are so incompetent as to not even pay their soldiers to protect their own people.

BBC Video Report

Refugee crisis...very bad...



Lebez, you're the Africa expert, what's going on?

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I was just going to post a similar thread, but hadn't seen this one already existed.

Excellent topic.

Things have always been fragile in the Congo, but now they're quickly approaching chaos. General Nkunda's troops have been largely docile for the past few years, and though he doesn't exactly enjoy widespread support, he's always managed to fend off government attempts at rooting him out. The DRC is a fractured place, where local warlords exert far more control over the populace than a central government could ever hope to. In this case, Nkunda posits that he is defending his fellow Tutsis from a resurgence in anti-Tutsi violence among the many Hutus that fled retribution in Rwanda and took solace in camps in the DRC.

So yes, in a sense, this is a reignition of the Rwandan genocide that has been burning for some time but seems to be increasing in intensity.

The government has proven somewhat lackluster in combating Nkunda - 4000 rebel troops routinely push back over 20,000 government soldiers. Kind of absurd, when you consider that Nkunda is merely mimicking the strategy of guerrila warfare perfected under Laurent Kabila, who overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko in the late 90's by marching with just a few troops all the way from Kivu to Kinshasha. Nkunda is poised to do the same.

Kabila's march set off some of the most horrific violence in the African continent's history - a pretty amazing thing considering the legacy of Rwanda, Biafra, and Sierra Leone that stains the history there. Up to four million people perished between 1998-2002, and there are very real fears that pent up animosities and the increasing instability in surrounding areas (Burundi, Central African Republic, Northern Uganda, Darfur, Southern Sudan, Chad) could provoke a true continental war with any number of adversaries.

The rebels approached Goma earlier this week, and now it appears that they are burning Hutu refugee camps - an act that will assuredly set off retribution throughout the region against Tutsi innocents as well.

quote:

DR Congo refugee camps 'burned' Killings, rapes and looting have been reported around Goma The UN says it has credible reports that camps sheltering 50,000 displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been torched. Aid groups say they are struggling to reach an estimated 250,000 people in the region fleeing fierce fighting between government and rebel forces. Intense diplomatic efforts are under way to end the crisis. French FM Bernard Kouchner and his British counterpart, David Miliband, are preparing to travel to the country. A tense ceasefire is holding in and around Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. Rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda says he is fighting to protect his Tutsi community from attack by Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom are accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The Congolese government has often promised to stop Hutu forces from using its territory, but has not done so. Gen Nkunda has also objected to government plans for foreign involvement in exploiting the country's vast mineral wealth. The Congolese government has refused to negotiate with Gen Nkunda, calling him a terrorist. 'Extremely unsafe' Speaking in Geneva, aid agency chiefs said the situation in and around the city of Goma remained highly volatile with access to those in need extremely difficult. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said there were highly disturbing reports that the camps north of Goma had been forcibly emptied, looted, and burned. The region is now in rebel control, aid agencies have no access, and no-one knows where the 50,000 residents of the camps are now. Meanwhile, a desperate shortage of food and water in Goma is leading thousands of people who sought refuge there to leave, heading to the village of Kibati, about 12km (7 miles) to the north. The BBC's Peter Greste in Goma says the road from the city is choked with human misery. For mile after mile, it is full of families bent forward with their lives on their backs: stoves, food, clothes, bedding and children. Aid agencies have all but stopped work because of security fears. "The whole population in Goma, and around Goma are feeling extremely unsafe," Red Cross spokesman Marcal Izard told the BBC. "They need food, water, shelter and, most of all, protection, [and] some sense of knowing that they will not be attacked, that they will be spared by this new round of clashes." A Congolese aid worker based in Goma, Godefroid Marhenge, told the BBC's Network Africa programme that some displaced people were without water or shelter, and "in desperate need of humanitarian assistance". Oxfam and other leading international aid agencies have suspended operations in the city, where a main hospital as well as numerous businesses and homes have been looted. Gen Nkunda said on Thursday that he was opening a "humanitarian corridor" for people to return to their homes, and so that aid could reach those trapped between his forces and UN soldiers backing up government troops in the city. Our correspondent said that instead of an open corridor, he found people hurrying back to Goma. "Someone has been shooting at us," one breathless woman said. "We can't go any further." But those who did reach Kibati told the BBC that they had more chance of getting food in the forests and bushes around the village than inside Goma. Aid group Mercy Corps has begun to distribute water to the new arrivals. Overstretched peacekeepers After several days of fighting, Gen Nkunda declared the ceasefire late on Wednesday, and his Tutsi forces are positioned some 15km (nine miles) from Goma. However, Gen Nkunda has threatened to take the city unless UN peacekeepers guarantee the ceasefire and security in Goma. Looting, killings and rapes were reported in the city on Thursday, much of it blamed on retreating Congolese troops. Meanwhile, intense diplomatic efforts are going in a bid to maintain the ceasefire: • The parliament in DR Congo has called on government to negotiate with Gen Nkunda, although President Joseph Kabila has previously refused to do so • UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said he is "deeply concerned" about the situation, and has called on regional leaders to take concrete measures to broker a peace deal • EU diplomats are meeting in Brussels to discuss whether to send troops to back up UN peacekeepers, after EU envoy Louis Michel met Mr Kabila and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame • The EU is also to discuss sending troops to the area to aid the humanitarian effort • An African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council is to hold crisis talks at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa • US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer has held talks with Mr Kabila in DR Congo's capital, Kinshasa

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7702099.stm

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quote:

Originally posted by Krypton Is rapidly deteriorating. What the hell is wrong with the Congolese government? They've got so much wealth to benefit from, yet, are so incompetent as to not even pay their soldiers to protect their own people.

The main problem is capacity. Laurent Kabila, the current president's father, once remarked that all you need to start an insurgency in the DRC is $20,000 - that's enough to recruit an army and purchase cell phones that are more sophisticated than anything the government military has to communicate with one another.

There are no real roads in the DRC - at least not as we understand them. There is absolutely no way to project power from Kinshasa, over 1000 miles from the rebel activity in Goma. Honestly, the Rwandan government has more power in the Kivu region of the DRC, and they're tacitly sympathetic to Nkunda's troops.

Then you have rival rebel movements funded by the DRC's own government to counter Nkunda, and they have proven difficult to control.

It's a mess, but believe me, the government has little control over whether it just goes away. Too strong of a response only drives more support to Nkunda and escalates a battle the government likely can't win. And that's just if Uganda and Rwanda can be persuaded to stay out this time.

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This is a brief but on-point outline of why Nkunda's troops are acting the way they are.

quote:

Rwanda's ghosts stalk DR Congo The UN, the European Union and the US are all trying to find a way to end to the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. BBC World Affairs correspondent Alan Little considers what the rebels there hope to achieve. Laurent Nkunda believes the genocide perpetrators are as deadly as ever General Laurent Nkunda's rebel force is motivated primarily by fear. They have taken to arms because they believe the genocide that killed up to million Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda in 1994 has never really ended. The Tutsis of eastern DR Congo have never felt safe. They say many of the Hutu militiamen who perpetrated that genocide fled into the hills and forests of the area, where they have continued to pursue genocide against the local Tutsi population. There is also sound reason for the rebels to distrust the Congolese army. The army, when the country was still called Zaire, was a strong ally of the genocidal regime in Rwanda. When the guilty men of Rwanda's killing fields fled into Congo, they were given safe haven there. No protection The rebel force wants the perpetrators of the genocide returned to Rwanda to face trial but these men are now so integrated into local Congolese military groups and alliances that it is now almost impossible to see how this could be achieved. Neither do the Tutsi rebels much trust the United Nations force. There was, after all, a multinational force in Rwanda in 1994 led by the despairing Canadian General Romeo Dallaire. And yet when the killing started, the UN provided no protection. Moreover, the UN and international aid agencies fed, watered and sheltered the Hutus of Rwanda for two years after the genocide, knowing all along that the refugee camps that international money sustained were bases from which the former killers could organise, plot and operate. Gen Nkunda's Tutsi rebels are unlikely to lay down their arms as long as this perceived threat to their very existence remains.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7702965.stm

In Conflict Studies this is a classic security dillemma. When security is threatened, the easiest way to alleviate fear of destruction is by improving one's own power.

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So why is a country with such vast mineral wealth so decrepit?

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quote:

Originally posted by Krypton So why is a country with such vast mineral wealth so decrepit?

Lack of infrastructure to deliver the resources to market - the diamond, zirconium, gold, etc. is all way out in the jungle or the bush. Access is pretty low. Since it's so lucrative companies are still willing to pay concessions, but given the instability it is easy for rebel groups to mess things up. To further the problem, a lot of the concessions that companies sign are with local warlords, since they have more autonomy over some regions than the government. So the DRC never even sees a vast swath of the profits - people like General Nkunda and his rebel militia do instead, compounding the problem. This is more or less the same principle that drove the blood diamond trade in the 1990's.

Another limiting factor is Dutch Disease. Whatever profits do reach Kinshasa are subject to a huge imbalance in currency exchange rates. By selling off a lot of primary commodities in exchange for foreign currencies, the exchange rate raises to the point where exporting manufactured goods is impossible. This virtually kills any industry not tied to natural resources. This is a kiss of death in the DRC, where the resource trade is vulnerable and can't sustain the entire economy for any sustainable duration. Foreign aid only increases the amount of foreign capital flowing in, so that can actually have a negative effect as well - something that the World Bank has been roundly criticized for at times.

So an unprofitable market for goods means that there's been virtually no investment in commerce or industry. The DRC's economy may produce a lot of foreign capital at times, but it is still only a hollow shell.

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Meanwhile...

quote:

Nov 3, 7:26 PM EST UN says Rwanda tanks fired at Congo By MICHELLE FAUL Associated Press Writer GOMA, Congo (AP) -- Rwandan forces fired tank shells and other heavy artillery across the border at Congolese troops during fighting last week, the United Nations said Tuesday. Congo's government had accused Rwanda of actively supporting Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, but the accusation marks the first time the U.N. has publicly said Rwanda was overtly involved in the latest fighting. Rwanda has repeatedly denied its military is involved in the conflict. U.N. spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg told The Associated Press in Goma that Uruguayan peacekeepers saw Rwandan tanks and other heavy artillery fire into Congo on Wednesday as Nkunda's forces advanced toward the regional capital, Goma. On Friday, Gen. Jorge Rosales, chief of Uruguay's army, said rebel troops "have tanks and heavy artillery" from Rwanda and that intelligence reports "indicate there are soldiers from that country integrated in the rebel forces." Van Wildenberg said U.N. officials had asked the Rwandans about the firing and they denied it. "But we saw it. We observed it," she said. Alan Doss, the top U.N. envoy in Congo, said in a videoconference Monday that the "fire had come across the border from Rwanda near the Kibumba (displaced) camp where hostilities were under way." Kibumba is located on a main road about 17 miles north of Goma. The Rwandan border is visible to the east, amid several volcanoes that straddle the frontier. "We also had a unit in that area that was trying to stabilize the situation. ... I don't think it lasted any time," he said of the shooting. He said it had been documented when "our reports came in from our military observers on the ground that morning." Rwanda invaded Congo twice in the late 1990s but initially denied its troops were there both times. Rwanda finally pulled its forces out after a 2002 peace deal ended a war in Congo that drew in half a dozen African nations. Despite fears of a regional conflict, the fighting in Congo has subsided in recent days. ---- Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer at U.N. headquarters contributed to this report from New York.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...EMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Thanks for the research and quick posts Leb. Looks like I have some reading to do.

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"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

quote:

Barack Obama spoke often and passionately about Darfur while campaigning. But the African holocaust that will confront him first is the ongoing slaughter in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More than 5 million have died in that conflict since 1996, and there's no sign of a letup. As rebels commanded by Laurent Nkunda, a renegade Congolese Army general, closed in on the city of Goma in recent weeks, the United Nations' 17,000 troops— its largest peacekeeping force in the world—proved too weak to stop the push or to prevent a rampage of rape and looting by government forces who were there to defend the city. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously last week to send in 3,100 more troops, but "you would need a minimum of 100,000 soldiers to have a credible peacekeeping force in Congo," says Knox Chitiyo, an Africa expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank. Chitiyo thinks only an envoy of Obama's stature might be able to impose a settlement. What keeps the war going is eastern Congo's vast mineral wealth—gold, diamonds, tin and coltan, a vital component in mobile phones. Nkunda imposes a tax on illegal miners in his area; other militias do their own digging. Either way, the puny salaries offered if fighters disarm and join the national Army provide scant incentive to give up mining. Most of the take is smuggled out through Rwanda—and that may be a key. Enforcing a ban on minerals from militia-held areas might at least slow the fighting. Still, it's a tall order. "If there were something easy that could fix the Congo, it would have been done," says Anneke Van Woudenberg of Human Rights Watch. "There's no magic bullet."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170356

quote:

The Peacemaker Something has to be done--by the leaders of the Congo, the Great Lakes region and the international community. Olusegun Obasanjo NEWSWEEK From the magazine issue dated Dec 1, 2008 Olusegun Obasanjo has come a long way since the 1970s, when he was the military dictator of Nigeria. He went on to win two terms as president in democratic elections and is now one of Africa's elder statesmen. On Nov. 3, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named him special envoy to help end the fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has recently forced at least 250,000 people from their homes. After two weeks of shuttle diplomacy among nine countries, Obasanjo stopped in Lagos last week where NEWSWEEK's Rod Nordland caught up with him by telephone. Excerpts: NORDLAND: You must have been very upset, after you went to [rebel leader] Laurent Nkunda's headquarters, to learn that his ceasefire pledge was broken within hours. OBASANJO: I saw him on Sunday afternoon. That Sunday morning, the ceasefire was broken. I confronted him about that and asked him, what is the world going to think of you? The ceasefire must be respected, and we must get the Congo army involved, and MONUC [the U.N. peacekeeping force] must be the guarantor. By Tuesday he began to respect that, and now the ceasefire seems to be holding. There have been many ceasefires. Is there any reason to believe this one will be any more enduring? We have the Congo army on board, and with MONUC, things are looking better. We still have the problem of other militias, but for now at least [the major parties] agree on some things. Is sending in more troops the answer? The more zones of separation we create, the more areas we force [the militias] to leave, the better. To do more, we will need more MONUC troops. And there are a number of substantial IDP [internally displaced persons] centers that need to be looked after. Again, you need more troops to do that. Many aid workers and observers say only a robust foreign force, preferably from the European Union, could be effective. I don't believe at this point we should talk about EU or African Union troops. We need to deal with what we have on the ground, which is MONUC. And I won't say it has failed. Illegal mining and exploitation of resources finance the militias. Is this going to be part of your discussions? You have illegal mining problems because the Congolese authorities are not able to exert their authority in the area. [With] a cessation of hostilities, Congo can re-establish its authority, bring law and order and deal with the issue. And there are other problems, the ease of flow of small arms into Congo and the presence of foreign-armed troops. Why not win agreement from the neighboring countries to cut off the flow of illegal exports? I have raised that issue and whether we couldn't do what was tried in Liberia [boycotting blood diamonds]. But I was told while you can identify the source of diamonds, Congo's exports are not easy to identify. You visited Angola recently; did you raise the concerns that Angolan troops are already in Congo? Are you concerned that even peacekeepers from countries like Angola and Rwanda, which were previously involved in Congo's wars, could just drag the situation back to where it was in 1998, a war involving nine nations? I did visit Angola, and I was categorically told none of their troops are there. As to regional troops—they will have to all agree who will contribute troops. There's a sense that some of the most important players aren't talking to each other, like Rwanda's president Paul Kagame and Congo's president Joseph Kabila, who haven't even met over this, and also that Congolese leaders refuse to talk to Nkunda. Kagame assured me they are talking to Kabila every day, and his foreign minister just left Kigali, and on the 29th of this month, the chiefs of staff of both countries will be meeting. I believe Nkunda must talk to the government of Congo, and the government of president Kabila is not opposed to that. The next thing I want to do is get a dialogue going. What can be done about the [Hutu rebels]? Have you been able to talk to them? Something has to be done. The leaders of Congo and the Great Lakes region and the international community all have to put their heads together; there are foreign-armed troops within Congo and that is unacceptable.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/170330

Buried in the interview was that little gem - it's being reported by the UN and ICG that there may be both Rwandan and Angolan troops moving around in Kivu. The Hutu militias are starting to get a restless, especially now that the DRC's government army is more or less holding off from expelling the foreigners and pushing Nkunda's Tutsis back up the mountain and away from Goma.

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A fascinating interview with Laurent Nkunda:

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Exclusive Interview: Congo Rebel Leader Accused Of War Crimes Tells His Story Georgianne Nienaber Congo rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda has been accused by human rights organizations of ordering his troops to rape and murder civilians and pillage communities. Huffington Post contributors Georgianne Nienaber and Helen Thomas traveled to Nkunda's compound in Kivu province, Congo, to interview Nkunda face-to-face. On the eve of Congo peace talks this week in the Kenyan capitol of Nairobi, the BBC reported that Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda had been dismissed as commander of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). Nkunda insisted that he was still in power and that the removal was just a rumor. The rival who challenged Nkunda's leadership was CNDP military chief of staff General Bosco Ntaganda, who accused Nkunda of obstructing peace efforts in the region on January 8. This is the second time in recent months that Ntaganda has caused a controversy. In October, the general signed a statement announcing Nkunda's death, according to AFP reports. The Democratic Republic of Congo has been at war since 1996. The United Nations peacekeeping force in the region (MONUC) claims that it is over-committed and cannot maintain protection for the local populations from the confrontations between the Congolese Army (FARDC), the CNDP, local militias (Mai Mai), and the remnants of the Interahamwe (FDLR) who are responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In January 2008, the Congolese Army and General Nkunda signed the Goma peace agreement, which fell apart eight months later, displacing over one quarter of North Kivu Province's population of 4 million people. According to Human Rights Watch, a total of 1.1 million people are displaced in North and South Kivu Provinces. Nkunda's rebel delegation is in Nairobi for another round of UN-brokered peace negotiations, which began on Wednesday. The talks had been suspended in December. The innocent victims of this war are civilians who are caught in the crossfire. Much information in this region is based upon rumor, and people in eastern Congo seem interested primarily in seeking safety from the fighting. This has resulted in severe overcrowding of the Internally Displaced People camps that have been in place since 1996. Conditions in the camps are no better than that found in barnyards, and newborn infants are seen sleeping on beds made of lava rocks, with barely a piece of cloth for covering. The following interview was obtained with General Nkunda at his compound three days before the BBC reports of his ouster. To date, Western media reports have been very unfavorable to Nkunda and the CNDP, including accusations of mass rapes and killings. Nkunda said he agreed to meet with Nienaber because he said he "was aware" of her reports on nature conservation from the region. Question. Would you say that you have been portrayed in a negative way in Western media? Nkunda. They cut my voice and they speak on my behalf. Journalists tell what they think will be sensational. Q. Are you the man to provide the leadership to develop Congo? N. I never talk about an individual when I talk about change or about leadership. I always talk about a spirit. Because a man cannot do, but a spirit can do. If you can find leadership, leadership can change Congo, but not a leader. Q. There have been terrible stories about how women are treated in Congo, especially how there have been mass rapes. N. You are in the area under CNDP control. Ask the women who have been raped. I cannot believe that they are raped here and then going to be treated in Goma or Bukavu. But if you go to Goma or Bukavu [under FARDC control] you are going to see hospitals full of women raped. Go to Rumangabo and they will tell you that the area under CNDP control is the most secure area in Congo. They say that we massacre Hutu tribes. The executive secretary of CNDP is a Hutu. Q. Can you tell the world what happened at Kiwanja? N. Kiwanja was liberated by the CNDP on the 28th of October, [2008]. We were in Kiwanja for one week without any killing, any rape, any looting. One week later the government [FARDC], along with Mai Mai, attacked Kiwanja and they occupied Kiwanja for 24 hours. My forces went back [withdrew] from Kiwanja. And in 24 hours, 74 people were killed. And before we came back to Kiwanja the governor of Goma, in the morning, announced that in Kiwanja there were massacres. When I heard on the radio that there were massacres in Kiwanja, I called my guys [soldiers] on the ground and said, "Where are you?" They said, "We are in Rutshuru." I said, "Who is doing this?" They said they did not know, that they were in Rutshuru. So we went back to Kiwanja on the afternoon of the 29th, or the 27th. [Nkunda leans over to check dates with an adviser.] We went back 24 hours later and some people were killed in the crossfire. To that we can testify. Because the Mai Mai, they do not know how to shoot; they shoot where they want and when they were retreating they were shooting. And we saw that even the Hutu community in Rutshuru wrote a letter about that and they gave it to [unclear] and said they were not killed by CNDP. Q. Do you have a copy of that letter? N. Yes, I do. Q. May we have a copy? N. You will have a copy. The same scenario was prepared in Goma. When we were around Goma, my intelligence services told me that there was a plan to kill people in Goma that night so that they could blame the CNDP. That is why I told my guys to not enter Goma. I was informed that there was a plan for FARDC [the government forces] to kill in the night. Those who were in charge of the killing never knew that we withdrew. But I told MONUC [UN mission in DRC] that I was going to withdraw from Goma for 12 kilometers. On that night, 64 people were killed in Goma. Q. The other charge against you is that you ordered the refugee camps destroyed. N. Please understand. Yes, there were internally displaced people in Kiwanja. When I came. I went to the camp and I told the population there, there are no houses here. You are in the rain. Please go back to your homes. I will take charge of your security. Please go home. On the following morning they said Nkunda forced people to leave. I am asking people to go to their HOMES! MONUC has been unable to take charge. So it is a crime because I am asking them to go to their homes? One day I told the person responsible for OCHA; the one in charge of humanitarian affairs, if we do a study in the camps around Goma, in each week there are about a hundred people dying from different diseases. In four years, CNDP has been accused of killing 100 people. But you are killing one hundred people each week in your camps. Who is the criminal? Q. Can you explain the military ethic of your soldiers? N. Rape will be punished by firing squad. This is known. And two weeks ago [approximately December 21, 2008] two officers were executed for this. Q. Who executed them? N. Other soldiers of the same rank. They were second lieutenants and they were killed by second lieutenants. These are strong measures, I know. Q. Some people call this a war for minerals. N. How can you fight for your own minerals? [Laughter] If this were about minerals, I would not be here. You see minerals are being exploited by China, by Belgium, by South Africa. Petrol is under French control, uranium under American control, copper under Belgium, diamonds under Jewish, and gold under South African control. Q. Have you met personally with Alan Doss [MONUC]? N. No. We talk only on the phone. The first time I talked to him was in January when we were in Goma during the peace talks. One day I told him, you are coming with your tanks to ask us to shut our mouths. And so you ask me to not fight. I said to him bring other tanks and other aviation forces because we will fight until we will be free. You want me to be a slave, an economic slave to China, I will not accept this. I'll fight till I die, then my brothers will continue to fight, and my elders will fight and my son will fight. Q. So does China's influence concern you now? N. Yes of course because we are going now into economic slavery. If we accept this Chinese contract it is the end for Congolese. Q. Have you heard President-elect Obama's statement about Congo, that this is just an ethnic conflict? N. He has to raise his thinking about Congo. If I could meet him one day, I would tell him that it is not a matter of ethnic conflict, it is a matter of leadership. The world is talking about a black person in power, but Americans didn't vote for a black man, they voted for an American showing the capacity to rule. But they are talking about a black person. No, no, it is not that. On his identity card it doesn't say 'black'. When the American people were voting, they voted for an American. Q. What are your views about Human Rights Watch? N. I will tell you, they are writing from the UK and from the US and they are not on the ground. I even talked to Anneke van Woudenberg. She came to see me in Masisi but after leaving here and then writing their things I had to call her back and say, "Why? You were here, now what are you doing?" She always says that the information is from "reliable sources." But all these reliable sources are unidentified. Q. General, is there anything you want to say to us that we didn't ask you about as a last question? N. I can say that what Congo expects from the world is help to be free from the leadership it is currently under. Instead of bringing so many troops, we want to have well-trained and equipped soldiers in Congo. Instead of spending money on MONUC we want to have roads. Instead of bringing ex-pats from elsewhere, we want well-trained leaders for Congo. Help Congolese leaders to have a vision for the country that is good for the people. #### Georgianne Nienaber is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. She has written a biography of murdered primatologist Dian Fossey and has spent considerable time in African conflict zones since 2004. Helen Thomas is a print and radio journalist in Australia. Her interest in African affairs stems from her involvement in an organization that seeks to provide a more balanced portrayal of Africa in the media. The confusion shrouding the Congo crisis compelled her to travel to the region herself to gain a first-hand insight of why one of the most resource-rich countries in the world continues to wallow in war, poverty and suffering.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georg...o_b_156374.html

It's difficult to take a warlord of a war-torn country at his word, but what he had to say about Obama doesn't sound like the thoughts of a man waging an ethnically-motivated campaign.

Anyway, I found this to be a fascinating read and thought I'd share.

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^^^ Fockin' eh! Thats a GREAT article ... cant believe much of the media nowadays! They had me fooled. Nkunda is a very smart man - we'll see how long he will stay alive for. Yes, I had my suspicions that Nkunda wasnt as evil as they say - after all, he is after those specific armed Hutu militias responsible for the 1994 genocide.

Thanks for the link.

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Whenever you go and buy something, you are affecting someone somewhere, be it environment, a person, or a community - you're making a statement with what you buy. So make it a smart choice ... Its a big picture

Wow.... Crazy shit. It is turning into a sad cliche about these so called leaders of these countries. They seem to be popping up all the time, each one trying to outdo the last in their level of corruption and brutality. How can we expect to even make a dent when it's so ingrained in their culture and way of life to settle disputes by slaughtering the masses and accepting such inhumane behavior as the norm?