Washington — The United States government should publicly support sanctions against Rwandan officials backing the armed group M23, which has been responsible for widespread war crimes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. M23 rebels, whose commanders have been implicated in serious abuses, captured the city of Goma on November 20, 2012.
"The US government's silence on Rwandan military support to the M23 rebels can no longer be justified given the overwhelming evidence of Rwanda's role and the imminent threat to civilians around Goma," said Tom Malinowski, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. "The US government should support urgent sanctions against Rwandan officials who are backing M23 fighters responsible for serious abuses."
Rwandan military support for the M23 rebels has been evident in their offensive that began on November 15, Human Rights Watch said. Several civilians living near the Rwandan border told Human Rights Watch that they saw hundreds of Rwandan army soldiers crossing the border from Rwanda into Congo at Njerima hill, Kasizi, and Kabuhanga in apparent support of M23 fighters. Human Rights Watch has also documented several incidents in which Rwandan and Congolese soldiers fired across the border from either side between November 16 and 20.
A draft of the final report of the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo, soon to be published, alleges that the Rwandan government has provided "direct military support to M23 rebels" and that the "M23's de facto chain of command includes General Bosco Ntaganda and culminates with the Rwandan Minister of Defense General James Kabarebe." Ntaganda is on the UN sanctions list and is sought on arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Human Rights Watch has independently established that the Rwandan army has regularlyprovided significant military support to the M23, including overseeing operational planning, providing weapons and ammunition, recruiting at least 600 people in Rwanda to fight for the M23, training new recruits, and deploying Rwandan army troops to eastern Congo in direct support of M23 rebels.
Over the past seven months, Human Rights Watch has documented widespread war crimes by M23 rebels in eastern Congo, including summary executions, rapes, and forced recruitment, including of children. Rwandan officials may be complicit in war crimes through their military assistance to M23 forces throughout this period, Human Rights Watch said.
The draft UN Group of Experts' report says that, "Rwandan officials coordinated the creation of the rebel movement as well as its major military operations" and "provided military support to M23 through permanent troop reinforcement and clandestine support by RDF [Rwandan Defence Forces] special units." The Group of Experts found that "RDF commanders operated alongside M23 and provided logistical support during the July 2012 operations which enabled the capture of Bunagana, Rutshuru, Kiwanja and Rumangabo." During these operations, "the rebels killed one [UN] peacekeeper at Bunagana and fired on the [UN peacekeeping] base at Kiwanja," the report states.
The Group of Experts also documented support to the M23 by commanders of the Ugandan People's Defence Force. While stating that "Rwandan officials exercise overall command and strategic planning for M23," they note that "senior Government of Uganda officials have also provided support to M23 in the form of direct troop reinforcement in DRC territory, weapons deliveries, [and] technical assistance."
"The fall of Goma to the M23 magnifies the security risks to civilians in eastern Congo," Malinowski said. "As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the US should press for sanctions that target not only the M23 but the foreign officials backing their atrocities."
The Group of Experts has recommended individual sanctions against several Rwandan and Ugandan officials named in its report.
The M23's latest offensive began on November 15 with M23 rebels fighting UN peacekeepers and Congolese army forces as the rebels progressed toward Goma. By the early afternoon of November 20, after heavy fighting in and around Goma, the M23 had taken control of key areas of Goma. Congolese army soldiers had fled the town, while UN peacekeepers were still present.
Human Rights Watch has received reports of at least 11 civilians killed and dozens of others wounded during the fighting in and around Goma since November 15. An estimated 80,000 people are newly displaced in the area around Goma, including an estimated 60,000 who were in a displacement camp about 10 kilometers outside Goma, according to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs.
"The US should endorse all measures that would enable UN sanctions against Rwandan officials who are assisting the M23," Malinowski said. "All parties to the conflict should take urgent measures to protect civilians and stop abuses."
Background on the M23
The M23 is largely made up of soldiers who took part in a mutiny from the Congolese army between late March and May 2012. Many were previously members of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a former Rwanda-backed rebel group that integrated into the Congolese army in January 2009. Bosco Ntaganda, who was then a general in the Congolese army, initially led the mutiny. In May, Col. Sultani Makenga, a former colleague of Ntaganda in the CNDP, announced he was beginning a separate mutiny. In the days that followed, Ntaganda and his forces joined Makenga. The new armed group called itself the M23. The M23 claimed the mutiny was to protest the Congolese government's failure to fully implement the March 23, 2009 peace agreement (hence the name M23), which had integrated them into the Congolese army.
Some of the M23's senior commanders have well-known histories of serious abuses, committed over the past decade in eastern Congo as they moved from one armed group to another. They have been responsible for ethnic massacres, recruitment of children, mass rape, killings, abductions, and torture. Before the mutinies, at least five of the M23 leaders were on a UN black list of people with whom the UN would not collaborate due to their human rights records.
Ntaganda has been wanted by the International Criminal Court since 2006 for recruiting and using child soldiers in Ituri district in northeastern Congo in 2002 and 2003. In July, the court issued a second warrant against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity, namely murder, persecution based on ethnic grounds, rape, sexual slavery, and pillaging, also in connection with his activities in Ituri.
Human Rights Watch has documented numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity by troops under Ntaganda's command, as well as by other M23 commanders, including Col. Makenga, Col. Innocent Zimurinda, Col. Baudouin Ngaruye, and Col. Innocent Kayna.
On November 12, 2012, the UN Security Council added Makenga to its list of individuals under sanctions, including an asset freeze and a travel ban. On November 13, the US imposed sanctions on Makenga, which includes an asset freeze and forbids American citizens from undertaking any transactions with him.
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" AS WE SEE THE NATO FORCES WHO AT THE UNITED NATIONS FORM A BLOCK OF AGGRESSORS WHO FEEL THEY CAN VILIFY WHOM THEY WILL WORLD WIDE ; THEN APPLY THIER COLONIALIST CONQUORERING DIVISIVE MENTALITY TO AFRICANS AND CALL OUT AFRICA IF IT WAS THIERE FAVOURITE WHIPPING POST""".THIS HAS TO STOP, THEY ARE NOT ELECTED POLICE MEN NOR ARE THEY E;LECTED PROSECUTORS AND DECSION MAKERS OF GOVERNEMNTS AROUND THE PLANET ESPECIALLIN AFRICA??? WE HAVE NOT CHOSEN TO BE DICTATED TO BY ANY WESTERN GOVERNMENT THEY ARE NOT OUR LEADERS THEY CAN NOT DEFINE OUR DESTINY?? IF THERE IS A CIVIL WAR IN COPNGO THEN YOU MUST SIT ONE SIDE AS THE UN IS DOING ,WHICH IT IS DOING RIGHTLY; NOT TO TAKE SIDES AS WE SAW IN IVORY COAST.. THE UNITED NATIONS IS NOT AN ARM OF THE IMPERILAIST NATIONS!!". THE UN NEEDS TO BE DEMOCRATIC IN TERMS OF HOW IT DELIVERS JUDGEMENTS IN WORLD AFFAIRS !,'AS WE SEE THE DASTARDLY ZIONIST' WHO ARE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS ',CHILD KILLERS ,MURDERERS OF WOMEN AND ELDERLY ,THE TAKERS OF LANDS WITH IMPUNITY.' THE MASTERS OF GENOCIDE AND TARGETED KILLINGS!!1. "THEY ARE A LAWLESS PEOPLE WHO IS SUPPORTED BY THE USA AND NATO'; WHO ALSO WANTS TO HAVE THIS GRAND SCHEME FOR AFRICA' DECIDING WHO CAN GOVERN FROM WHO SHOULD NOT ; DECLARING WHO IS CORRUPT FROM WHO IS NOT??." THEY FORGET ABOUT THE IMPUNITY OF CORRUPTION THAT GOES ON IN THE WEST ONE WHICH HAS DECIMATED THIER ECONOMIES AND IS STILL A PLAGUE TO WORLD ECONOMIES!!!!!!! . "THOSE OF WHOM THINKS THE WORLD IS BLIND OR SOME WAY SO STUPID THAT THEY ARE COMATOSE ' IS LIVING AN ILLUSION AND IS COMPLETELY DELUDED!!!." WE WATCH AS THE MURDEROUS REGIME OF ISRAEL'AS IT CONTINUES WITHOUT INTERRUPTION DEVASTATING THE LIVES OF MANY WOMEN ,CHILDEN WHOM HAS BEEN LIVING A LIFE OF CONTINUAL HELL AN MISERY!!!. THE WEST AND THESE MURDERERS HAVE SO MUCH HATERED FOR THESE PEOPLE' THAT THEY WONT EVEN RECOGNISE THEM AS A NATION OF PEOPLE"""!!!! "DENYINMG THEM THIER UNIVERAL RIGHTS 'AS HUMAN BEINGS!!!!!. "WE HAVE A STAGNANT ICC WHO WATCHES WITH DISAFFECTION AS THE MURDERS ,THE LAND GRABS, THE INVASIONS, THE NUCLEAR ILLEGAL WEAPONS THEY POSSESS ' ;IS NOT EVEN MENTIONEWD IT'S NOT SPOKEN ABOUT'!!" AND IT'S PROTECTED BY THE LARGEST CORRUPTOR OF ALL NATIONS THE USA". ' IF THERE IS A CIVIL WAR IN CONGO THEN IT MUST BE SEEN AS SUCH AS WE SEE IN SYRIA WHERE THE USA AND THE UN HAS GONE AS FAR AS TO UNDERMINE A SOVEREIGN NATION', BY DETERMINING THE FUTURE OF THIS NATION AS WE SAW IN LIBYA. THE SAME SCENARIO WHERE OUTSIDERS ARE RECOGNISED AS THE HEAD OF STATES WHEN THERE HAS BEEN NO ELECTION BY THE PEOPLE TO SUPPROT THIS ENTITITY WHERE THE WEST FEELS THEY HAVE THIS RIGHT OF INTERFERNCE ???? THIER STUPIDIDTY GOES BEYOND ABUSRDIITY; WE WILL CERTAINLY SEE THE SAME ENDING IF NOT WORST. THEIR TIME HAS CERTAINLY COEM THERE IS NO WAY ON THIS PLANET THAT STUPIDITY CAN BE SO ENTRENCHED IN THE MINDS OF THOSE WHO CLAIM TO BE THE SUPERIRO PEOPLE OF THIS PLANET!!!!!!! . "WE A SAW THIS IN AFRICA WHEN THEY OVERTHREW GBAGBO' EVEN THOUGH HIS NATIONS CONSTITUTION GAVE HIM PERMISION TO REMAIN PRESIDENT" AND EVEN IF NO ONE LIKED THE SITUATION;' THE ARMED COUP DE TAT DIRECTED BY FRANCE AND THE USA COUPLING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS WHO HAS BY ITSELF LOST ALL ITS LIGITIMACY ". UN THEY ARE NONOTHING OTHER THAN A OCCUPYING FORCE LED BY THE NATO NATIONS ,WHO PAYS THIER SALARIES!!!. "AFRICAN REBELLIONS MUST BE SEEN AS SUCH AND IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO SUPPORTS WHOM "THERE IS ONE RULE FOR THE WORLD" 'NOT WHITE RULES FOR BLACK PEOPLE??." A REBELLION IN AFRICA SUPPORTED BY WHOM SO EVER IS THE SAME AS WE SEE IN SYRIA AND IN ISRAE". THE W EST UDNERMINES GOVERNMENST AS WE SAW IN COTE d' IVOIRE ;" AFRICANS REFUSE TO LOOK AT THE IVORIAN SITUATION AS THE PRESIDENT WAS KDINAPPED LIKE A INTENDED SLAVE' AND STOLEN TO EUROPE'; TO STAND TRTIAL IN FRONT OF WHITE JUDGES', WITH TOKEN AFRICANS AS SUPPORTING CASTS!!!. AFRICA MUST STAND UNITED FOR THIER OWN MASTERING OF THIER OWN DESTINIES WE NEED TO GETB RID OF A DEFUNCT UNITED NATIONS THAT IS DYSFUNCTIONAL AND HAS TOO MANY DOUBLE STNDARDS THEY CANT EVEN SATND FIRM AGAINST ZIONIST AGGRESSION AND WESTERN FACISM WHERE THEY DECIDE THAT A SOVEREIGN NATION AND ITS LEADERS ARE NO LONGER THE LEADERS?? WHER IS THAT DEMOCRACA?? WHOSE DEMOCRACY IS THAT AND WHAT DOES THESE NOT RECOGNISISNG HEADS OF STATES MEAN ????;WHO GIVES THEM THAT AUHORITY ???? "CONGO HAS FALLEN TO SOLDIRES THAT ARE MRE PROFESSIONAL AND HAVE A BIGGER IDEA OF HOW TO DEVELOP THE COUNTRY; ' WHERE THE PEOPLE WILL PARTICPATE AD THE WEALTH THAT S THERES WOULD BE USED TO PULL THEM OUT OF POVERTY!! NOT BEING OCCUPIED BY UN FORCES WHO WORKS FOR MULTINATIONALS MAKING SURE THEY KEPT SAFELY GUARDEDOF THE WEALTH THAT IS BEING STOLEN BY THESE CRIMINALS FROM THE WEST'... THE ENSLAVEMENT FO AFRIOCANS IS A VERY PROFOUND THING THAT TO THINK IN THE 21ST CENTURY WE HAVE THESE ENSALVERS FROM NATO WHO ARE STILL PRACTICING SLAVERY AND DO NOT SEE THAT THE WORLD HAS CHANGED THEY HAVE UNDERMINED AFRICA FOR SO LONG THEY DO NOT SEE THAT THE PEOLE ARE RISNG UP AND ARE NTO BEING FOOLED BY THAT SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE!!!. AFRICA IS ARRIVING AND THEY ARE DANCING TO THIER OWN MUSIC; THEY DONT WANT TO HEAR THE OLD TASTELESS TUNES THAT THE WEST PLAYS THEY SEE THE EST AS ANTAGONIST AGGIATATERS MISCHEIF MAKERS LIARS HYPOCRITS BACKSTABBERS DOUBLE CROSSERS THEY KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!! THEY WATCH AND SEE YOU AT WORK DAILY AND THEY KNOW THAT THEY WONT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU. AFRICANS WANT TO CREATE JOBS FOR THIER PEOPLE THEY WANT TO CREATE FINISHED PRODUCST THEY CAN NOT SEE THE WEALTH BEING SPREAD IF THIS SAME GAME IS PALYED WHERE THE WEST DOES ALL THE EXTRACTING AND THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS KEEP ALL THE FINANCES!!! WHEN THERE ARE INDUSTRIES THAT REQUIRES WORKING PEOPLE AND MANUFACTURING THAT DESIGNS AND FINISHES ALL RAW PRODUCTS AFRICANS WILL BE HAPPY THEY WILL SET AN AGENDA THAT WILL INCREASE THEIR PAY SALARIES THAT WILL MAKE THEM INHERRITORS OF THIER LANDS THIER RESOURCES THIER WEALTH!!!!!!!!!!! """ AFRICA IS ENDING CORRUPTION ON THIER TERMS!!!! EUROPE NEEDS TO END CORRUPTION IN THIER OWN LANDS ON THIER TERMS. THE WORLD WANTS TO SEE IMPRISONED BANKSTAS FINANCIAL FRAUDSTERS THEN YOU CAN TALK AND THEY WANT TO SEE THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH FRENCH POLITCIANS THAT WRERE PART OF THESE CORRUPT PRACTICES IMPRISONED AS WELL!!!!!!!!!!!
This guy is just a desktop person and does not have any idea of what is going on in DRC. just waits for reports to reach him and he does what he knows best; "SPEECH WRITING" Below is his simple BIO: Before joining Human Rights Watch, Malinowski was special assistant to President Bill Clinton and senior director for foreign policy speech writing at the National Security Council. Before working in the White House, he was a speechwriter for Secretaries of State Christopher and Albright and a member of the State Department's policy planning staff. Malinowski holds degrees in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and Oxford University.