Joint communiqué of the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and the International Organization of La Francophonie on the situation in the Kasaï provinces, Democratic Republic of the Congo (28.03.2017)

They express deep concern over the grave situation in the Kasaï provinces, as illustrated by reports that, between 23 and 24 March, about 40 members of the Congolese National Police were killed, during an ambush by the Kamuina Nsapu militia on the road between Tshikapa and Kananga.

WASHINGTON D.C., United States of America, March 28, 2017 – The African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and the International Organisation of La Francophonie continue to follow developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) closely. They express deep concern over the grave situation in the Kasaï provinces, as illustrated by reports that, between 23 and 24 March, about 40 members of the Congolese National Police were killed, during an ambush by the Kamuina Nsapu militia on the road between Tshikapa and Kananga.

The four partner organizations condemn this despicable act and express their condolences to the families of the victims. They further condemn all other acts of violence and violations of human rights that have recently taken place in the Kasaïs.

The levels of violence as well as reports of human rights violations witnessed in some parts of the DRC require an urgent response from the country’s political leaders. In this context, they urge the defence and security forces to exercise restraint in the efforts to restore order in the Kasaïs, and encourage the continuation of the recently-initiated dialogue between the Government and the Kamuina Nsapu militia, in order to find a peaceful solution to the situation in the Kasaïs. They reiterate the need for a credible investigation to shed light on human rights violations and ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable. In this regard, they welcome the steps announced by the Government and look forward to their follow-up.

The four organizations underscore the urgency to fully implement the 31 December 2016 political agreement facilitated by the National Episcopal Conference of the Congo (CENCO), including the appointment, in line with the relevant provisions of that Agreement, of a Prime Minister from the Opposition. Such progress will help facilitate the country’s stabilization, the restoration of law and order in areas affected by violence and the holding, within the envisaged timeframe, of the elections that should conclude the transitional period agreed to by the Congolese stakeholders.

Opinion: UPFF seems like made-belief by the Calvary, as the NDA and SUN never reappeared!

Kaweesi Murder Probe: Police warns public against conspiracy theories and speculation, adds that such will slow down investigations” (…) “Police are investigating a group calling itself ‘Uganda Patriotic Freedom Fighters’ that claims to have murdered AIGP Kaweesi” (…) “The group posted on social media commending itself for a job well executed and blamed police for arresting innocent people” (NBS TV Uganda, 27.03.2017).

There been many rebel outfit of late who has taken claims of violence and robbing Police Stations, what is common is that that they come into light and fade into dust as quick as they came. These ones has all been parts of questionable acts and taken weapons and ammunition from the Police Force. Still, there has not been anyone who is caught for these crimes, neither has there been anyone taken to court. Therefore, I wonder about the newest who appeared this month!

In March 2016, the sun set on Uganda, and initially “We, Save Uganda Now” (SUN) that took responsibility for the attacks on Kapchorwa Police Station, where the former army commander ‘Mali Moto’ we’re running it. And ever since then they have not reappeared!

In June 2016, a new surfaced rebel outfit named National Democratic Alliance (NDA) attacked the Gulu Central Police station, as it was even stated by the Police Force that is was UPC Deputy Secretary Dan Odiya Oola, who was in charge. The NDA has not attacked anything else since the day in question.

Than there was the Rwenzururu Kingdoms Royal Guards and the “Kirumiramutima” (the Strong Hearted) that was a militia in the Rwenzori and Rwenzori Sub-Region. These ones created problems in the region after the election and supposed to done so since 2014. Still, the violence only appears when the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) arrives in Kasese, like last year in November, when the Flying Squad twice attacked the Buhikira Royal Palace in Kasese. It is easy to forget, but the problem of rebels appears when the Police and Army attacks innocent civilians in the region. That problem also disappear when the army leaves the region. Than the locals are preoccupied burying the dead.

So when I here that a new rebel outfit takes the responsibility for the assassination of the Assistance Inspectorate General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix Kaweesi, they we’re suddenly a group who claimed on social media called Uganda Patriotic Freedom Fighter (UPFF). They came out of dust and has no history, just like the groups who apparently was in charge of the assaults on the Kapchorwa and Gulu Police Stations during last year. The pattern are written in the sand.

The serious rebel outfits has been scattered and are now based on foreign territory, as Allied Defense Force (ADF) is based now in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lord Resistance Army (LRA) who are in Central African Republic (C.A.R). So these are not something that is apparent problem for the security organizations or the Police Force.

So I have a hard time believing that a new outfit of rebels has that sophisticated and knowledge about top leadership inside the Police Force, that they get the knowledge of the Police Commanders house, road and about the time he leaves for his office. That the Rebel Outfit UPFF came into force and with actions all of sudden. It came from the moment of clarity as it usually do after the incident.

Just like rebel outfits came into action right after the Police Stations was assaulted in 2016. All of a sudden the ‘strong hearted’ rebelled in Rwenzori.

Now that Jospeh Ssonko, appear and claims responsibility days after the death of Kaweesi. As much as the new Police Spokesman today Asan Kasingye speaks these words and tries to explain the on-going investigation. Since the UPFF, SUN and NDA are all coming from the same source and sources are all quick and brief online. Still, their placement and quick relief of information comes and goes as quick as the government needs it.

Therefore, the government hopes people forget the other rebel outfits and leaders, as they dwindle in presence and importance. However, the dead and the families of the lost will still wonder what really happen, this are the losers of this political game, as the ones who ordered and got the AIGP Kaweesi assassinated. As well, as all the other speculations that opens up questions of this public display. That the Police Force and their leadership wants to peddle this sort of false narratives instead of dropping proper intelligence. This proves that the Police Force is rotten, as the government is lacking will of accountability and transparency. So if the Police Force and key leadership together with other Security Organizations had offered or created this sorts of violence. Than, the Republic would know that rebels and the other created stories, might just be hogwash.

That this is a possibility, that the Uganda Police Force, that the Army and the other agencies wishes to subdue and silence the public discourse as they comes with false information. This seems probable, as this is yet another group arriving to court without any invitation or knowledge of their origin and their leadership. Like the knowledge of the start of ADF and LRA are inescapable and accessible. But if you tries to get knowledge on UPFF, NDA or SUN, your have to invent the wheel and than take ride.

So, I have doubt that UPFF exists, as the NDA and SUN is made belief, it is as believable as the manufactured cases against FDC leadership and the made-up case of treason against Dr. Kizza Besigye. The same is about the believed aggressors who appears out of nowhere. Peace.

Maj. Gen. Muhoozi, says “he has no ambition for Presidency”, but the meteorically rise seems like ploy to usher him in!

No, I do not have the ambition to be President. I am very happy being in the military and that is where I intend to stay for some time,” Maj Gen Muhoozi said (NBS TV Uganda, 31.01.2017).

Major. General Muhoozi Kainerubaga spoke out in an interview yesterday, not that it out of water now that he has gone through the ranks in the military, had years of specialized training in the United States and we’re running the Special Forces Command or the Flying Squad. That he is the son of the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, do show that family matters and the reason for the meteorically rise. Maj. Gen. Kainerubaga can claim otherwise, but deep in his heart he knows that is the reason.

Muhoozi Kainrubaga has been a project in the making, that when revealed documentation from Gen. David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza who leaked it to the Daily Monitor. “Gen. Sejusa has kicked up a storm after the Daily Monitor last week published a letter he wrote to the director of the Internal Security Organisation, asking that he investigates claims of plots to assassinate top government officials opposed to the “Muhoozi Project”” (Splash Radio, 13.05.2013). So the questionable rise to power and to become a Senior Presidential Advisor after years inside the army. Therefore, the letter didn’t just stir troubles for Gen. Sejusa, but also closed the Daily Monitor after the release of the letter. Like the Government and Army didn’t like the release of this information.

So if the army and government didn’t like this internal plan come into the public. Than, why was their an issue with the closure of a newspaper and the leadership? One of who is today the Presidential Spokesperson Don Wanyama, who know is crony instead of an opposition voice inside the Monitor journalist.

In 2016 to the Observer he said:

As you heard, I don’t have the ambition to be president. I am very happy being in the military and that is where I intend to stay for some time. It [Muhoozi Project] doesn’t exist, non-existent – that is a red herring. You have never heard of a message where I promote myself, it is always from the promotions board. That is the process in the military” (David Muhumuza – The Observer, 25.05.2016).

So that the Maj. Gen. Muhoozi could easily now be the giant plan the President has in the making, as the years goes and his age sinks in, he needs somebody to carry the torch. Still, the Ugandan Republic isn’t a family company or LLC. Even if the President acts of the state funds and Bank of Uganda is his coffers.

That their has been less of questionable reporting of the acts of the Flying Squad or the Special Force Command as they have violently oppressed people, can be understood that the Maj. Gen. Muhoozi has even had a close relationship and it could be romantic with Journalist Sheila Nduhukire, who has traveled with the general to Somalia and other UPDF missions with him. So the comforting news instead of questing the UPDF and rise to power, haven’t really been there.

Therefore, the son of the President except for the dossier released by Gen. Sejusa has skated by and enjoyed the rise. While other in his generation haven’t gotten to his place or had the possibilities. They have all been left behind or is still in lower level in the army. If it wasn’t for being groomed and made ready for bigger stage. The army is also so he should be rougher and experienced in battle, as the father was a bush-warrior and general. The father wants the same for his son and therefore the Special Force Command was to check if he could do operations and could carry out assaults on the ones who needed to be silenced.

However, he continues to play the role of I have “no plan” and doesn’t want to be President. Still, the rise to power and the senior adviser role is made for him to be the next in line. Gen. Muhoozi, the Presidents son certainly has the initial hope to keep the torch lit. Still, this is not family business, even if the President acts like it is.

President Museveni as all fathers wants the best for his family and sons. That means that Gen. Muhoozi has gotten special treatment and own parts of the army to lead. Therefore, he went from Special Force Command into the Senior Adviser role, proves that the father wants him to learn the political game too. So that he knows the guns and commando operations. Now he will learn to venture into politics.

So this is yet another step into the reigns and the control of the National Resistance Movement, as the father and son plans away to make it natural change. How it will happen, but surely Gen. Muhoozi has no plans to dwindle into a village and be a farmer, just like the father has no plans to run one of his farms. As the NRM Regime plans to subtly subdue and suddenly over night change from Museveni to Muhoozi. Like we didn’t know and forgotten the dossier in 2013.

The Presidency in Uganda isn’t a family matter, even if the current President thinks so. He can even switch the constitution and amend it. So that Muhoozi by law has the rights, soon the President might do as they have worked for long change the age-limit. Museveni has no legitimacy and would use all tricks to stay in power. Therefore, using his son as sideshow could possibly be a sort of play of the old man. Still, he would also see that Muhoozi takes over for him when he is done.

We can just wait and see, if like the first lady becoming a minister in the cabinet, the son could soon in the next shuffle in Parliament become a Minister for Defense, so that he follows the family line. Museveni was a Minister for Defense, before becoming a rebel and going against the then Obote government. Peace.

DRC: Time to care about the mass graves in the Kasai-Oriental Province!

There is an ongoing civil-war inside the Kasai-Oriental, a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, there has been battles between rebels, militias and foreign mercenaries in other regions like North and South Kivu. That Beni, Goma and other towns has been embattled for a decade or more. There are now more worrying reports from Kasai-Oriental province where there are now questioning of the result of the skirmishes and running warfare between rebels against the Kabila government in Kinshasa. This is the militants of Kamuina Nsapu who have fought the civil war against Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC).

The violence in the former province of Kasai, shaken by the rebellion of the militiamen of Kamuina Nsapu, was invited to a meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva on Wednesday 22 March. While the Congolese authorities confirm overflows, the indictment of seven military personnel for crimes against humanity and an investigation into two mass graves in the former province of Kasaï, the United Nations, on their part, are worried about the The alleged existence of at least 17 mass graves in the central and eastern Kasai, as well as barriers to access to these sites and the exercise of their mandate” (RFI, 2017).

After the revelations about the massacres perpetrated by the Congolese army, the Voice of the Voiceless for Human Rights association is asking the judiciary to extend its ongoing investigations to similar crimes it has documented in the Kasai Oriental. Rostin Manteka, the executive director of La Voix des sans voix, spoke about abuses in the Kabeya-Kamwanga and Miabi territories” (…) “In these two territories the FARDC soldiers have also perpetrated many crimes. Several militiamen were killed there, including innocent people. There were even entire villages burned and people buried for several weeks in forests and bushes. So we want these crimes to be taken into account as well, and I believe that an international investigation would be essential in order to fight against the impunity of crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and that all victims of these crimes The injury suffered ” (RFI, 2017).

Executed Rebels:

In a report released on Wednesday (March 23rd) in Kinshasa, the NGODH revealed that 33 people were summarily executed and shot in the territory of Kabeya Kamuanga by soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo sent to the scene. “The victims were buried, piled up like cattle in latrines with feet or hands outside in order to terrorize the rest of the population and prevent young people and children from joining the militia. Any bereavement organization was formally banned under pain of suffering the same fate, “regrets Rostin Manketa, executive director of the VSV” (MCN Team, 2017).

That the State and Republic can create 17 Mass Graves and can be in-charge while these crimes and deaths are committed, than we know something is wrong. President Kabila and the Kinshasa regime are now hostile to their own citizens. Citizens that acts upon the unjust behavior and the use of army to oppress their voices and their ballots. The Kabila government are on overtime and doesn’t seem interested in stepping down, as the Presidential Election of 2016 didn’t appear.

Therefore, the violence and killings in Kasai-Oriental province is a proof of the injustice and the illegitimate regime. That they have to kill and bury the reactionary men and woman in the province. 17 mass graves with militia-men and the villages that are burned down. This all done with the force of the Republic Army. An army who has suppressed their own. There was not to long ago a video-clip of the use of killing innocent villagers, that the Kabila government called “Hollywood”, but with the UN findings of 17 Mass Graves! Proves that these video isn’t a rare incident, but more mere fact of the killings done by government.

The villages burned, all men and woman killed, while the world haven’t really acted, as the spiral of violence and all the loss of life. The uncertainty, the fragile situation as the army and rebels are killing each other. There are so many members of families, friends, uncle and unties that has lost their lives and is buried in the mass graves. This is acts of civil war that is occur there.

Clearing Kasai for explosives:

Central DRC has a legacy of explosive remnants of war (ERW) that limit the safe access to certain locations. Thanks to the generosity of the People of Japan, UNMAS, along with its implementing partner MAG, conducted ERW survey & clearance operations in Kasai Central, Kasai Oriental, Lomami, Maniema provinces. In one year, 124,872 m2 of land have been cleared and over 6,000 ERW and 20,000 rounds of ammunition have been destroyed to avoid potential misusage and proliferation towards armed groups, such as the militias currently operating in the area” (UNMAS, 17.03.2017).

So the violence and armed battles happens with all sort of arms, as there are even use of mines and explosives to explode on civilians and army battalions. All of this together with the other acts of harm, shows the ability to warfare that is in the province of Kasai. Peace.

Link:

MCN Team – ‘Affaire Kamuina Nsapu : la VSV appelle la justice militaire à élargir ses enquêtes au Kasaï Oriental’ (23.03.2017) link: http://mediacongo.net/article-actualite-24995.html

RFI – ‘RDC: l’ONU soupçonne l’existence d’au moins 17 fosses communes dans les Kasaï’ (23.03.2017) link: http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20170323-rdc-onu-fosses-communes-enquetes-kasai

RDC: Communique du Rassemblement du 19 Mars 2017 Relatif au Communique de la SADC du 18 Mars 2017 (19.03.2017)

RDC: La MONUSCO exprime ses vives preoccupations sur les recents developpements a Kananga (18.03.2017)

RDC: La MONUSCO poursuit activement ses recherches ses personnes portees disparues au Kasai (16.03.2017)

RDC: Letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Zambian Authorities warning of Moïse Katumbi entry into Zambia (09.03.2017)

Statement by the European Union and its Member States present in Uganda on the situation in Kasese District (16.03.2017)

Opinion: Why hasn’t there been any real investigation into the #KaseseAttacks?

There has now gone months since the Uganda People’s Defence Force, Special Forces Command and the Police Force on the 27th November 2016 has skirmishes inside the Buhikira Royal Palace in Kasese. This we’re done again as the authorities have done in the past in Rwenzori and Rwenzori sub-region, as they have made the Rwenzururu Kingdom and their Ombusinga Bwa Rwenzururu Charles Wesley Mumbere a guerrilla leader for a unknown militia called the ‘stronghearted’ or the Kirumiramutima. If these allegation we’re true and the government had real investigation to all the acclaimed issues since 2014, than they would have charged someone before blasting and killing so many Royal Guards in November 2016.

The whole last skirmish was dim of justice and real security operation as the Brigadier Peter Elewu and Maj. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba cavalry ran into the compound and did their disgraceful acts of vile violence and human rights violations. They killed and burned down the palace, they put graves with no names days after and wouldn’t let the families see the deceased, and they left behind trials of misconduct. Such, acts of killings that the world only see’s in time of war or even a civil-war. The state organizations and their security organizations are secretly about their acts.

If the State had been serious they hadn’t made the ones who were the targets of the gunfire and the burning the ones lingering in jail in and around Jinja. The same happen to the remaining royal guards also detained there. There wasn’t much grace or glory, as the king was at one point out for under an hour time before getting back inside prison. On the second time now he is exile in Kampala as the government doesn’t let him out of control and travel to his kingdom.

While this has happen the M23 has crossed from Ugandan territory to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as they have left the barracks and they have even been caught few of them in the Kasese District and Mbarara Region. There are prospects that could easily fix into a conspiracy as the insurgency and attacks on Rwenzururu Kingdom could be seen as shadow game for the release of the M23.

So, with the rumours that haven’t been verified as well, was French speaking army men at the Buhikira Royal Palace in Kasese. What are more worrying are the open questions, as of the verified numbers of dead between the army and police force. That was in the days after skirmishes. They we’re really not making sense as the amounts of dead after it all. With the loss of lives to all the royal guards, unknown civilians, police officers and so on. The State Figures still doesn’t make sense with the reports and spokespersons release in the army and police in the early days after.

The need for an investigation is clearly there, the army, police force and security organizations who acted vile in Kasese. The Rwenzururu Kingdom have been violated, the Rwenzori and Rwenzori Sub-Region has been used as a boxing bag by the NRM government. No visits from the President, the mediators or even the IGP Kale Kayihura have stopped it. As the army intervention have still let the government killings continue, as the post-election violence was created from the Special Force Command, maybe M23 and other operatives in the UPDF. That can be said, as their no clear investigation or intelligence that can be truthful, as the government tries to silence the truth. Their cherry of innocence is long good. If the NRM government really cared about their victims they wouldn’t defend the culprits, but the victims, the unknown and the unnamed dead who was assaulted and lost their life to early, as so many of the Royal Guards has done during the last year in the Rwenzururu kingdom. Peace.