Congo UN China Regime Croniess

CONGO CHINA REGIME CRONIES

To Orwell Today,

Dear Jackie,

I haven't been in touch for so long... I found this article but I don't know the writer. I just feel he feels like me about Eastern DRC and I loved the anxiety in his text! I guess it's all due the UN mongers just getting always a free ride from everybody!

Oh, Congo, Travel Video, May 5, 2008

Best regards,
Antoinette Kankindi

Oh, Congo
by Wolfgang H. Thome
May 05, 2008

KAMPALA, Uganda - Joseph Kabila, who followed in the footsteps of his assassinated father Laurent Kabila to head the Congo regime, has over the last weekend lambasted the Belgian government for questioning his human rights record and his economic activities that many feel illegal like the cancellation of long term mining and oil exploration concessions, supposedly due for "redistribution" to Chinese companies and probably regime cronies.

Strong words came out of Kinshasa, also taking a sweep at other European nations for daring to insist on the observance of human rights, portraying Belgium's and Europe's firm stand on these issues as a 'master – slave relationship."

Quickly forgotten seems the fact that Europe and Belgium made major financial contributions to the Congo in the recent past, including sending a peace keeping force to supervise the eventually stolen elections, which only left when the paymasters after all realized that Kabila would not change his ilk.

Paying for his upkeep, however, did not stop Kabila to take one swipe after another at the Europeans, and during the week went a step further and allegedly threatened future delegations from Europe to suffer 'an incident' if they would not change their agenda and tunes. Sounds much like the old egocentric tyrant Mobutu, doesn't it? Millions of lives were lost in a liberation struggle to get rid of one of Africa's worst despots only to see him replaced with yet another one.

Meanwhile, fresh fighting in the East of the Congo has again forced a halt to much needed food and medical aid reaching the poverty stricken people, as non-governmental organization were compelled to stop work, while government troops and their friendly militias were rampaging through the affected areas.

At the same time further allegations were made against UN forces in Eastern Congo by the BBC, something for long alleged by other usually well informed sources, that 'peace keepers' were engaged in supplying arms and ammunition to militias in league with the Kinshasa regime.

This is of particular gravity, as those same militias are said to have been involved in the 1994 genocide against the Rwandese Tutsi and moderate Hutu populations and have since then engaged in a number of other terrorist activities against the new Rwanda, as well as Uganda, in cross border hit and run attacks.

This column has often in the past been criticized over the forthright stand taken against the going on's in Eastern Congo but the latest allegations made by the BBC and their evidence offered as a result of their undercover investigation confirms all which has been said by this correspondent in the past. The BBC has singled out Indian UN troops for dealing and trading in gold and drugs with the Virunga based militias near the town of Goma. The 'peacekeepers' had allegedly even used UN helicopters to supply arms and ammunition to the terror militias at remote locations in exchange for illicit merchandise.

The essence of the latest news reports from the BBC also largely exonerates General Nkunda, whose Tutsi self protection forces have long been a thorn in the side of the Kinshasa regime and have been subjected to harsh pursuit by the obviously biased UN forces, their genocide militia friends and the regime's own troops.

The UN cover up now suggested by the BBC reminds this correspondent very much of the situation in 1994 in Rwanda, when the UN also played a very dubious role in the build up of the genocide, which eventually cost some 800,000 lives, after its forces failed to take decisive action to prevent one of the worst mass slaughters of innocents in human history. Then, as again now, the UN was prompt to go on the defensive and denied any wrong doings and pointed out that 'new managers' were now in place! However, like in the 'food for oil' and other scandals before, it will now not be long before the truth will be established for all to see.

Greetings Antoinette,

Thanks for sending that excellent "Oh, Congo" article which I highlighted and bolded above for emphasis. In case you missed it, here's another good article from a couple weeks ago:

Nkunda fighting for peace. Guardian, Apr 21, 2008 ("...There has been a problem in Congo since 1994, when the Rwandan genocide pushed the Hutu perpetrators into eastern Congo. Since these killers, who make up the FDLR, Interahamwe and Ex-FAR, have been in eastern Congo the Tutsi people have fled to Rwanda....Safety in eastern Congo is the main issue. Because of this lack of security we cannot develop, we cannot get the internally displaced people back. If we can establish peace I will be able to lay down my arms, and that will be it....")

But other than that, there's not much truthspeaking or peaceseeking coming out of the Congo.

As you say, the UN (which I call Big Brother) is up to its usual mongering in the Congo (and elsewhere) again.

Panorama program investigating the UN peacekeepers. BBC, Apr 28, 2008 (...UN Crimes identified by the Task Force include fraud, bribery, bid-rigging and money laundering. It identified 15 'significant corrupt schemes' involving UN contracts worth an estimated $630 million (£350 million). Thirty-two companies from countries including Britain, the United States, New Zealand, India, Russia, France, Italy, Kenya, Canada, Cyprus, Ireland and the Congo have been banned from doing business with the UN. It identified 15 UN staff as having committed criminal offences, 12 of whom have been referred for prosecution with the relevant national authorities, while 27 staff have been charged within the UN with misconduct. Five staff have been dismissed and 10 have been suspended. Crimes identified by the Task Force include fraud, bribery, bid-rigging and money laundering. The Task Force is now investigating allegations of 'forged bids', 'fraud', 'gross mismanagement', 'favouritism', 'collusion' and 'misappropriation' in Iraq, Sudan and within the United Nations headquarters in New York...)

It was pretty diabolical when last week the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to go after one of Nkunda's men who they've accused of "crimes against humanity", while meanwhile those the UN is mandated to go after - the FDLR Hutu perpetrators of the Rwanda genocide who Nkunda is fighting - are left to their own devices, ie plundering Congo's resources. It's a classic example of Orwellian doublethink.

UN court goes after Nkunda's second-in-charge. Reuters, Apr 30, 2008 ("...Mr. Bosco is being sought for acts committed in Ituri province before he became a member of the CNDP. The arrest warrant does not mention the CNDP or Mr. Nkunda. It is linked to his (Ntaganda's) past acts, not what's happening now," said Doss, head of the U.N. mission in the Congo (MONUC). MONUC, which helped broker the January peace deal and has a 17,000-strong peacekeeping presence in Congo, will help Congolese authorities to enforce the warrant if asked, he said...)

Thanks again for sending that "Oh, Congo" article and let's keep alive the hope of one day meeting in peaceful MUSHAKI TOWN

All the best,
Jackie Jura

PS - Here's a commentary I wrote back in September (but just posting now). See CONGO RICHES CHINA NOW

To Orwell Today,

Thank you so much Jackie,

I liked your highlight, comments on Chinese strange relationship with JKK and all. I had seen the Guardian Weekly's article and loved the picture. On it everyone should see that Nkunda is no warlord as some media tend to portray him. Right now he is fully supporting the Goma Engagement Act, especially its Amani commission... One day we may meet in Mushaki. I will be happy to show you around the high hills of my childhood. From the top of one of them you can see perfectly the Kivu lake and three of the volcanos, with of course Goma and Gisenyi, the twin towns.

Greetings,
Antoinette

PS - Maybe you have already seen this one:

Congo rebels demand proof of ICC suspect's guilt. Reuters, May 10, 2008 (..."If there are such serious allegations, about massacres, about enrolling children, we must have the proof," Nkunda's military spokesman, Seraphin Mirindi, told U.N.-sponsored Radio Okapi in an interview broadcast on Friday. "And that proof we can only have if a serious investigation is carried out with the participation of the CNDP. It is only after that we will know what decision to take....")

It's not surprising to see Reuters say that it's the CNDP that "is at the center of lingering conflict in violence-ravaged North-Kivu", instead of FDLR. The objectivity of our so-called experts on the issue! Have a nice week!

Dear Antoinette,

Yes, I saw it and I noticed that the UN international court of criminals is refusing to provide Nkunda with the proof he requests:

"...The ICC's spokesman in Congo flatly rejected the possibility of a fresh inquiry that would include the Tutsi insurgents. 'The (ICC) prosecutor operates with total independence. It's not up to the CNDP to demand an independent investigation. An independent investigation has already been carried out,' Paul Madidi said...."

All the best,
Jackie Jura

To Orwell Today,

I have to tell you that I like the kind of wonderrful and chronological dossier you have about Nkunda's struggle, so I send what I think could fit in that dossier.

Thank you again!
Antoinette

Congo rebel leader Nkunda opposes deal with China. CBC, Oct 30, 2008
The leader of the rebel faction besieging a provincial capital in eastern Congo said Thursday he wanted to have direct negotiations with the country's government in an effort to put an end to future fighting, and to discuss economic and security issues. Rebel Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda unilaterally called a ceasefire late Wednesday that put an end to most of the violence that has flared since his followers began a four-day offensive in the eastern province of North Kivu. He wants additional security for ethnic Tutsis in the Congo, and he is concerned about a deal with China that would give the rising Asian power access to the Congo's brimming mineral reserves, he told the Associated Press by telephone. "We want peace for people in the region," Nkunda said after halting his advance on Goma, the capital of North Kivu, close to border with Rwanda.....Nkunda's comments come a day after chaos hit the North Kivu capital as his rebels advanced. Tens of thousands of residents, refugees and government soldiers fled Goma. When the sun went down, drunk Congo army soldiers pillaged and raped in Goma, killing at least nine people in their homes, according to UN Radio Okapi. Nkunda, with about 10,000 rebels under his command, has said he will take Goma. But so far he has heeded UN demands to stay out of the city. Nkunda told Associated Press he demands the disarmament of a Rwandan Hutu militia that he says works with the government and preys on his minority Tutsi people. He alleges the Congolese government, led by President Joseph Kabila, has not protected ethnic Tutsis from the Rwandan Hutu militia that escaped to Congo after helping slaughter half a million Rwandan Tutsis in the 1994 genocide. "It's not acceptable for government soldiers to be fighting alongside genociders," Nkunda said. In the interview, he also voiced his opposition to a $9 billion US deal that allows China access to Congo's vast mineral reserves in exchange for infrastructure improvements. Under the deal, the joint venture will have the rights to extract 9.6 million tonnes of copper and more than 500,000 tonnes of cobalt. In return, Congo will get $6 billion US worth of new roads, two hydroelectric dams, hospitals, schools and a railway. The remaining $3 billion US will be invested in mining infrastructure....