This Day (Lagos)
17 November 2008
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday held a peace meeting with Democratic Republic of Congo's rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, seeking an end to armed hostilities between the government troops and rebels.
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The problem of Congo can be solved by the will of the Government of Congo by accepting direct talks with rebels. Internal conflicts can never be solved by gun or by foreigners. If Congo think that Military Intervention by Angola will solve the conflict, it will rather worsen the situation because other foreign forces will also intervene to rescue the Minority Tutsi from Genocide.
ncungujohn, as far as we are all aware there is no such genocide against the minority Tutsi in the Congo. Since the war ended in 2003, can you tell me of anything that suggests that the minority Tutsi have been killed. There isn't. These are all pretextes.
To me, maybe Kigali should work hand in hand with Kinshasa to see how to solve their common interest. They could form a force together to eradicate all negative forces in their common region. If any of the two is not willing to do so, then we can question their motives for not wanting to tackle the problem together.
Since we know that there is no such thing as genocide of the minority Tutsi in the Congo, we can rightly assume that they are fighting for something else.
By the way, on what basis do you feel other countries are going to support the rebels? Which countries are you referring to? Because Angola is being invited by the legal government and is part of SADC.
Obasanjo again!!! Laurent Nkunda, you have to be very very careful of Obasanjo. Remember this man and the former president of Liberia, Mr. Charles Taylor story. Obasanjo came to Liberia about fifty times during the Liberia war and persuaded Mr Taylor to leave Liberia to seek refuge in Nigeria for the sake of peace, but Mr. Obasanjo betrayed the trust and disgrace Mr. Taylor by turning him over to the UN for prosecution. If you are not careful, you will see yourself in handcuffs and be taken to the Netherlands for prosecution like Charles Taylor. He was successful in betraying Charles Taylor and may do seem to you. He is becoming like a mission man for the United Nations. Be mindful of him in every steps of the way. A hint to wise is sufficient.
The Hague is precisely where Nkunda belongs because of all war crimes he's commited. If Obassanjo can help speed up this process, Congo will be grateful to him.
How many battalions does Obasanjo have?
Regards.
I am not convinced because we've heard and seen this before. After six to 12 months he will start again.
The solution is for Nkunda to disarm and integrate. So long as he does not want to integrate, then this is simply a waiting game. Angola should go ahead with deploying its troops in that region. The border control of that region should be monitored by Angola and other SADC forces