Frank Kagabo
9 November 2008
Kigali — On Friday seven Heads of State met in Nairobi- Kenya, to try and put the peace process in eastern DR Congo back on track.
The latest summit on the DR Congo was called following renewed fighting in eastern DR Congo between forces loyal to Gen. Nkunda of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and an alliance of the Congolese army and the FDLR/ Interahamwe according to several reports.
The armies of Zimbabwe and Angola are also reported to be involved in the fighting on behalf of Kabila's army. It has been stated that the problems of Congo emanate from a failure in leadership in Kinshasa.
President Paul Kagame put it more clearly at the monthly press conference at Urugwiro Village when he said that there is a government that practices politics of extremism in Kinshasa.
What is apparent is the fact that the authorities in Kinshasa have for a long time been beating drums of war against Gen. Nkunda, refusing to enter into a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
What is apparent is the fact that there is never going to be a military solution to the conflict. And this has been clearly put across by the Rwandan authorities.
However as the conference got under way Nkunda's spokesman, Betrand Bisimwa was quoted saying that many conferences of the kind had taken place and nothing substantial had come out of them.
Moreover the refusal by Kinshasa to hold direct talks with the CNDP is of no help to the vast county's problems. The positive outcome of the summit is the call for the immediate implementation of previous agreements.
More so the appointment of notable former leaders Olusegun Obasanjo and Benjamin Mkapa could help to put back the process on course. However it remains to be seen if they will receive the goodwill of all the sides to the conflict which is key to finding a lasting solution.
Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete, according to media reports, came out strongly calling for the immediate disarmament of the Interahamwe who are currently based in DR Congo.
Yet a new twist to the conflict has emerged with reports indicating that Angolan troops have joined the conflict on behalf of Kabila.
UN officials reported Friday that Angolan troops had been sighted near Goma.
On October 29, according to reliable sources, Kabila asked for political and military support from Angola as Nkunda's forces appeared set to capture Goma.
With the conflict sucking in foreign governments like Angola and Zimbabwe, fears are rising that this is likely to further complicate a matter that is purely an internal DR Congo issue.
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Couching your indictment of a journalist as a paid agent of a government with a strategic "perhaps" does not absolve you of your OBLIGATION to proffer the evidence, whatever qualitative and quantitative predicates attach to the same, for your CHARACTERIZATION of the journalist. Where is your evidence?
Futhermore, the soupist Obansanjo, sired and rocking in the 'politics' of the wallet---only Taylor knows how much he paid him (talking about paid agents);.
Obasanjo, mediating a peace agreement? Gimme a break, please.
Did the the Court in the Hague catch cold feet: indict the soupist, I say.
Is it not time we get rid of these geezers in African politics, chained, as they are, to the mendacity of their mentors, the "fathers" of African 'independence' from European despotism, European barbarism: the Big Men of the Big Lie: the national state?
Incidentally, no foreign invader of the Democratic Republic of Congo can top the reign of terror of the Belgians: the RUF in Sierra Leone learned the art and science of limb and hand chopping from the Belgian barbarians, led by the 'king,' whose name I will not permit in my soul.
Time it is for Obasanjo and his ilk to retire: or, does he want to shed tears like Jesse Jackson, the philanderer (he sired a son with a graduate student at Howard University in the USA WHILE MARRIED): OLD SCHOOLERS, YOUR TIME IS UP!
EXIT!
Best Regards.
Look here man. I never respond or participate in such, where people do not want to reveal their names. But i ma provoked by this person who says i am on the Kigali government payroll.
If you allege then prove and if not then keep silent. I am an independent thinker and writer. Nobody influences me. Better still give your true identity and we engage in an intellectual dioalogue.
So long as the Rwandan-Tutsi lead government refuses to have an inter-Rwanda dialogue with the majority Hutu, there is going to be no peace in the Great Lakes region. It is therefore in the interest of the Rwandan president to fuel war in Eastern Congo under the pretext of security for Rwanda and death for the Congolese. This shortsighted vision has created hatred among people, which will take a long time to heal long after the current "violent-driven" government has ended (and it will end, no matter how long it stays in power). The Congolese people are paying the ultimate price for their hospitality. So when the current situation changes in Rwanda, we wonder where the poor Rwandese people will flee for refuge the next time around. Will Congolese be willing to open their arms and accept them as their brothers and sisters? Time will tell. I am sure that this journalist, who possibly is on the government payroll, he is just doing his job despite the fact that he is convinced of ill-fated leadership of those in power in Kigali. Butter