RDC: LUCHA – “Kabila et sa CENI declarent officiellement la guerre: la peuple doit se defendre maintenant” (05.11.2017)

RDC: Province du Sud-Kivu – Communique Officiel (05.11.2017)

DRC: Mining Fraudster Col. Abbas Kayonga creates military stand-off in Bukavu!

That the man gets to duplicate a government office and safety commission for exports of minerals from South Kivu. Abbas Kayonga was able for years to duplicate and double commission for checking and securing exports of minerals between South Kivu and Rwanda. Clearly, he was wise enough and used his connection within the local government of South Kivu. But, they must have been tired off it and also the tricks that has been done. As some has been caught by his duplicated commission like in 2015 and others has worked together with him.

Kayonga, must have had connections with the miners and the mineral extraction industry, which means they were able to work with him and also make the documentation legalized through his duplicated operation. That must have been the reason of the colonel Kayonga rise to fortune and possible collections of weapons, as he could have a stand-off with the army after desisting to stand down from his commission. Something he didn’t want to do. But first some context, before what happen today in Bukavu, as he wouldn’t accept, because it has been his racket for years. Take a look!

South Kivu export of Minerals to Rwanda:

The situation in South Kivu is a little more difficult because of the confusion between the

commission against mining fraud, the SPC / South Kivu and the cell fight against mining fraud in

South Kivu led by Mr. ABBAS KAYONGA” (…) “ In Bukavu

information report that the head of the fight against mining fraud cell itself would be involved in

facilitating the smuggling of minerals to Rwanda. 3 main reasons seem to confirm this:

1. The people worked with the RCD (Congolese Rally for Democracy);

2. She lived in Rwanda for several years after reunification;

3. The creation of an anti-cell against mining fraud by the Governor of South Kivu parallel to

the national commission against mining fraud that has a focal point in South Kivu. To understand how the smuggling of minerals between the DRC and Rwanda was being harvested reliable data on the operation of networks operating in the minerals transit areas in Rwanda to Kigali Gisenyi, Kibuye and Shangugu” (SAM-PPA, 2015).

The technical unit in charge of the field operations of the South Kivu mining commission, Kayonga Abbas, seized 60 tons of cassiterite, coltan and olfram in 2015. It handed over these minerals to the Police of the Mines. Their owners paid the public treasury a sum of 33,380 dollars to recover their parcel. Kayonga Abbas laments the involvement of some military officers in mining fraud” (Nyota, 2016).

The Civil Society Coordination Office of South Kivu is delighted by the dismissal of Mr Abbas Kayonga from the Anti-Fraud Unit in South Kivu. Yesterday Wednesday night evening of the dead city around 19h, he would have been surprised to cross in Rwanda, a large shipment of tourmaline. He would have resisted the agents of the DGDA to the point of trying to come to arms. Fortunately he has been mastered. It is a sigh of relief for the population and especially the traders of South Kivu who were hunted down by the latter with imposition doublet, “says the message of Patient Bashombe” (…) “Remember that the anti-fraud cell of the province was a pure duplication of the DPMER. Thing that the civil society through the FEC have always lambasted. Despite the length of the night, the sun finally appears. Beware of all accomplices of fraud, embezzlement, corruption, … and other antivaleurs in the DRC, and particularly in South Kivu. These suicidal practices only accentuate the suffering of the people. The watchful eye of civil society is open and active. Here the opportunity to draw the attention of Governor Claude Nyamugabo to put order in the mining sector. There is food and drink, “says Patient Bashombe” (Lubambo, 2017)

According to security officials, the police officers were deployed to the home of the head of the Anti-Fraud Service which had been suspended on 2 November by Governor Claude Nyamugabo for harassment. This official, prosecuted official sources, is being guarded by armed men who are known neither of the Army nor the Police. The same sources reveal that there would be a cache of weapons at his home in Muhumba” (Radio Okapi, 2017).

Reports indicate that gun battle broke out following an attempt by the Governor of South Kivu province, Claude Nyamugabo, to arrest the provincial anti-smuggling Unit boss, Abbas Kayonga at his home in Muhumba Island. Sources on ground indicate that the Governor allegedly accuses Kayonga of involvement in fraudulent mining and asked him to resign after smuggled minerals were intercepted. It is believed that Kayonga refused to resign and resisted any attempt to arrest him, alleging that the confiscated smuggled minerals belonged to the sister of the area governor. Kayonga, guarded by private security, was seen with a fully loaded machine gun in his garden during the standoff in which grenades and bombs were going off in the area. The crossfire left two of his guards wounded and one of them later this afternoon was reportedly dead from bullet wounds. Eye witnesses say residents in the area were seen fleeing to avoid being caught up in the fracass. Meanwhile, other residents have taken advantage of the situation and looted a church and shops. “This has created losses for Rwandan traders.We have asked residents on Rwandan side to stay calm. We are talking to DRC officials who say that it’s an issue of indiscipline and it will resolved,” the Mayor of Rusizi, Harelimana Frederic said” (Sabiiti, 2017).

So clearly, the gig was up and the time for it stop had to appear. There been rumors of his connection to Rwanda and that he used his connections to build houses and buy land in Rwanda. While could clearly be connected with the mineral industry of Rwanda and their export networks, which is connected with the Kivu provinces. That has been going on for decades. He has just used the commission to make agreements and funds. If not he wouldn’t have all these guns and guards as a civil servant in Bukavu.

This is clearly stopping one racket out of plenty, who are living off and sponging off the mineral extraction and export from South Kivu province to far hinterland. Kayonga is just one out of many, but his story is an example of someone trying to make a government institution, when there already are one and is able to live off it for years. That is what the government has accepted and wonder why it took so long to stop it as well. Since they must have known about the double check-up and commissions who looks into the matter of mineral exports in the province. That is really unique and that Kinshasa has accepted this behavior is something you also should think about. I don’t have the answer, but a reasonable pay-off and envelopes between them might have occurred now and then. Peace.

Reference:

Nyota – ‘Fraude minière: 60 tonnes de cassitérite et de coltan saisies au Sud-Kivu’ (17.02.2017) link: http://www.nyota.net/2016/02/17/fraude-miniere-60-tonnes-de-cassiterite-de-coltan-saisies-sud-kivu/

Lumbambo, Adonis – ‘Suspension d’Abbas Kayonga : Le bureau de coordination de la société civile du Sud-Kivu jubile et charge l’incriminé’ (02.11.2017) link: http://www.laprunellerdc.info/2017/11/02/suspension-dabbas-kayonga-le-bureau-de-coordination-de-la-societe-civile-du-sud-kivu-jubile-et-charge-lincrimine/

Radio Okapi – ‘Sud-Kivu : des tirs entendus depuis le matin à Bukavu’ (05.11.2017) link: https://www.radiookapi.net/2017/11/05/actualite/securite/sud-kivu-des-tirs-entendus-depuis-le-matin-bukavu

Sabiiti, Daniel – ‘Rwandan Traders Stranded At DRC Border As Gunfire Rocks Across’ (05.11.2017) link: http://ktpress.rw/2017/11/rwandan-traders-stranded-at-drc-border-as-gunfire-rocks-across/

Save Act Mine (SAM-PPA) – ‘INTERIM REPORT OF MONITORING PROGRAM OF THE CHAIN

APPROVISIONNMENT MINERALS’ (August-September 2015)

Togo: Communique de Presse du Mouvement NUBUEKE TOGO (02.11.2017)

Visiting WFP chief warns of impending humanitarian disaster in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai region (31.10.2017)

WFP is ramping up emergency assistance there, planning to reach 500,000 of the most vulnerable by end-December, and many more early next year.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, October 31, 2017 – A humanitarian catastrophe is looming in the conflict-ravaged south-central Greater Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the head of the United Nations World Food Programme warned yesterday as he wrapped up a four-day mission to the central African country that included a visit to Kasai. Some 3.2 million people in the region are severely food insecure, struggling to feed themselves and in need of assistance.

“As many as 700,000 babies and children could starve in Kasai in the next few months unless enough nutritious food reaches them quickly”, David Beasley said. “We need access to those children, and we need money – urgently.”

Kasai’s traditionally high rates of malnutrition were pushed higher following the eruption last year of inter-ethnic violence characterised by large-scale killing, the wholesale destruction of villages and crops, and the targeting of hospitals, clinics and schools. The region now accounts for more than 40 percent of the DRC’s 7.7 million severely food insecure.

WFP is ramping up emergency assistance there, planning to reach 500,000 of the most vulnerable by end-December, and many more early next year. Dozens more staff are being deployed, an additional 80 off-road trucks are being brought in to deliver food to remote areas, and the WFP-run United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), presently flying aid supplies and aid workers to seven locations in the region, is being expanded.

But WFP’s emergency operation, launched in August, has so far been financed by internal borrowings, and only one percent of the US$135 million required through mid-2018 has been secured from the international community.

While the violence in Kasai has diminished in recent weeks, banditry and extortion are commonplace. Moreover, in a region the size of Germany with multiple active militias and a road network that is largely impassable during the September-December rainy season, humanitarian access is set to remain a challenge.

WFP’s work in eastern North Kivu province, also witnessed by Beasley, is likewise constrained by access challenges and limited funding. Just 250,000 of the province’s one million displaced people – victims of two decades of conflict – are receiving assistance, and only half rations.

Much of DRC’s population is dependent on subsistence farming, and competition for land is often at the heart of its violence. Many conflict-displaced families who had returned to their villages in North Kivu and Kasai told Beasley they could not resume working their fields, such was their fear still of being attacked.

“I have met too many women and children whose lives have been reduced to a desperate struggle for survival”, Beasley said. “In a land so rich in resources, that’s heart-breaking. And it’s unacceptable.”

Beasley acknowledged donor concerns about limited return on investments in a better future for the Congolese people, noting that some governments have threatened to redirect such funding to countries where they say it will have more impact.

“I hear those concerns”, Beasley said. “But let’s not hold innocent women and children responsible for the failings of others.”

“What the brave people I met over the last few days want most of all is peace – peace to be able to grow their own food, to rebuild their lives and to build a brighter tomorrow for their children. It’s a simple, powerful message, and I have conveyed it to President Kabila, urging that he do his part to bring about much-needed change.”

My Letter to President Faure Gnassingbe: “on your continued silence!”

Dear Sir,

You Excellency of the Republic of Togo, Faure Gnassingbe!

You have been able to be President of this beautiful republic since 5th February 2005 after your fathers death, who had run the republic since 14th April 1967. With this year coming to an end, your family fortune and legacy has been in the will of having the office of President for 5 decades, 50 years. You have already served two term. And you are planning to alter the Constitution so you can have an official third term in office. You are planning to stay as long as your father.

That is the reason why I write to you. Not because I have any rights, any ownership or control. I am just a citizen of the world and would a guy that you had hired to clerical work or even wash one of your mansions in Lome. To you Mr. President, I am a nobody and righteously so.

That is why this is urgent. The Togolais, the Togolese people, the demonstrations, the detained citizens, the families of the fallen citizens at these demonstrations and those who has fled the republic. Are all on your watch. It is all because of you and your decision to stay in power. They wouldn’t be in the streets for #TogoDebout if you we’re not in power. There wouldn’t be #FaureMustGo and other posters carried in the streets and until the late hours. They are doing this, because your family the Gnassingbe has ruled this republic and not let it go.

It would be right thing, to listen and give your reason. You are trying to acts as Paul Biya of Cameroon, just relaxing in Europe, while your republic is burning. The yearning for liberation and freedom. Liberty and Democratic Principals. You are willing to risk it all, just for selfish reasons. It will be all about you, nothing else will matter.

I hope that you as a President, the Executive and all the above, believes you are more worth and has better understanding of all Togolese, more than the 7,600,000 million that are living there. That your mind is better fit and has a natural right to rule over these masses of people. In the country of “Work, Liberty and Homeland”. You should work for justice and freedom for all, so that they enjoy the liberties of being citizens there and always know you can trust their government.

It is time to work and not be silent, because the people deserve liberty in their homeland. It is time for President Gnassingbe to work, maybe even an ordinary job and have a paycheck at a foreign NGO. Since you are not in touch or listening to the people screaming for liberty in the streets.

They deserve that you listen and acts, that you talks and acts accordingly. The Togolaise deserve this, the millions of citizens deserves liberty in their homeland. Not just for you and your family. They deserve justice and rule of law. This isn’t right.

Let me clear, even if I am nobody, an unknown and just a mere stranger. You do not own Togo, Mr. President, His Excellency Faure Gnassingbe! You owe your place and position because of the goodwill of the Togolaise, the Togolese, you represent them, they don’t own you anything. It is time for you see and understand that. They are not obligated to do anything for you and make sure you live lavish. That is up to them.

It is time you humble yourself and become one of us common-folk, become a citizen and become some who is not representing anyone. Except that you represent the legacy of your family and your clan. But you will not represent the Republic of Togo. That has ended. Especially when you cannot address the misgivings, the oppression and the tormented public who continue to demonstrate until you fall.

It is time that you speak out and take charge, that you show some courage and bravery and steps down. That you give way and opens up for a new government with a President. That is not in your family and within your control. That should be reasonable, your family has ruled for 50 years, which is more than enough.

Your silence is just a breathe of indifference and a sign of weakness. That you don’t have character to stand up for oppression and you ill-willed actions against the ones you represent. That you cannot have the stomach or the heart to explain your grievances and your misgivings. That you cannot stand up for your orders of police brutality and state organized violence. That you are silently on stand-by, your just a person living with no concern and do not care.

That is you Mr. President, is that really you?

Best Regards

Write of Minbane

Opinion: The International Community should help the Togolese people in their hour of need and quit the silence!

Well, this is again about President Faure Gnassingbé, the current President of Togo. He is currently planning a third term for his presidency. That has sparked a fire and fury into the opposition. Which also ignited the public. They are not accepting the family rule of Gnassingbe. The Gnassingbe family rule have lasted for 50 years. Clearly, the public has their rights to address this and they have done so since the August 2017. They are continuing weeks after weeks upon end. What is worse is the meager silence of the world. The bitter ignorance of the situation. Nearly, every single day there is someone who has been assaulted and killed by the Police. This dictatorship has to stopped, the people deserves better and their demonstrations should be respected.

There are so many, countless individuals who has stood up against the ruling party and their second generation totalitarian dictator Gnassingbe. This because the President tries to abolish term limits, so he can overstay and continue to rule without question. That is seen as unacceptable and righteously so. Gnassingbe who currently rule has been in power since 4th May 2005. So he had has his time in power and is time to step down.

Since the African Union, The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations (UN) and all other international bodies has been silenced or just the mere smear documents. The different partners within Togo needs to have dialogue and needs to settle their differences. The bloodshed and the demonstration is creating instability and no-one earns on that. Well, the dialogue only earns the dictator and the indifference of situation only gains him. That is why the partners and the stakeholders should be aware.

What is worrying is not only the dying protesters. It is the utter silence, like it is denounced and the nothing of sorts from the for life President Gnassingbe. That he is not saying anything, while his citizens are suffering. The people are shot at, banned from demonstrating and if they do, they might be put on top of Police Pick-Ups and thrown on the back like cattle. This is fellow human beings, could be our brother and sister. This isn’t justice, this is the definition of INJUSTICE. The acts of belittling and hurting fellow human beings and using the powers of the state to silence them.

Togo needs recognition, Togo uprising need the support, and it deserves so. #TogoEnMarche and #TogoDebout. That people are lifted up on trucks by soldiers and anti-riot police, hit with batons and harassed. This is not acceptable. It is wrong and demeaning. That people are caught in police stations without charges and awaiting trial. For just standing up for the constitution and term limits is insane.

But that shows how bad the system and the state is, still the statements and acts of the international community is a joke. It is not sincere and deserves to be mocked. The citizens of Togo is under siege, their uprising is violently being disrupted and intimidated. Not like that matter, it is in the wrong zip-code, this nations main trading partners France and China doesn’t care. Benin and Burkina Faso has enough to deal with on their own. They don’t need to involved in the matters of Lome.

The Togolese doesn’t deserve this injustice, no people deserve this injustice. When we know that the civil disobedience and their demonstrations has been peaceful, they have been controlled and showed the power of the people, week after week. The Togolese deserve an intervention, because the state don’t care about their citizens. All the killed protesters, all the ones hospitalized and the ones who has loved ones behind bars. Should know that the international community stand behind their cause. Instead, utter demeaning silence.

It. Has. To. Stop. And. Now. This is not right, the Togolese deserves better. They deserve credit and recognition. They deserve people standing up for them and helping them in this hour of need. That time is now! Peace.

Togo: PaxAfricana – Appel (20.10.2017)

Togo: Authorities even bans the #TogoDebout from having a Concert on the beach (Letter dated: 03.10.2017)

Opinion: It’s time to recognize the Togolese struggle to end their dictatorship!

Since millions have been protesting in #Togo the past 6 weeks, the president did not make a single speech to address the people” (Farida Nabourema, 05.10.2017).

Just as the Senegalese and ECOWAS troops entered into The Republic of Gambia earlier this year to bring down Yayha Jammeh. It is the same to happen in Togo, where the Faure Gnassingbe have been ruling for long, he has been running the Republic since 5th February 2005 and plans to rule longer after abolishing term limits. His father Eyadema Gnassingbe ruled for 37 years from 1967 to 2005. That is 50 years of dictatorship. Not just a hot minute, but a family ruling the republic as they self like.

It is understandable that the Togolese are addressing it, taking 16 hours rallies and demonstrations. Lasting all night, burning tires and showing the views on the hostile takeover of the Gnassingbe family. The family is now acting like they own Togo. What is important to know is the allies of the family, which is these: “A day after his father’s death, parliament received clear instructions to dismiss Natchaba and elect Gnassingbé in his place, which would legalize his succession; French law professor Charles Debbasch served as mastermind of the entire operation. Gnassingbé’s election was unanimously approved by the deputies who were present in parliament at the time, a parliament that was elected in an election boycotted by the opposition. The members of Gnassingbe’s party did not want to challenge the army’s choice. The parliament also eliminated a constitutional requirement that elections be held within 60 days of the president’s death, enabling the younger Gnassingbé to rule until the expiration of his father’s term in 2008. Under pressure from others in the region, and particularly Nigeria, later in February 2005 Gnassingbé announced that new elections would be held within 60 days, but said that he would remain in office in the meantime. However, on February 21, the Togolese National Assembly reversed some of the constitutional changes that it had made so as to allow Gnassingbé to assume power, although it did not instruct him to resign. This was construed as a way of pressuring him to stand down with dignity. To change the constitution during a period of transition was itself an unconstitutional act, but this did not deter Faure’s allies” (African Sucess, 2010).

On this view of the recent developments in Togo, it seems possible to argue that the succession issue, being within the internal affairs of the country, the insistence on the strict compliance with constitutional provisions – with particular regard to the impeachment of Fambare Quattara Natchaba and his replacement with Faure Gnassingbe – constituted an unjustified interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign State and, therefore, a violation of international law. However, it might be asked whether the doctrine of state necessity can also be used to support the amendment of the Constitution to remove the 60 days prescribed for an acting President to conduct a presidential election and to enable Faure Gnassingbe to serve his father’s (President Eyadema’s) remaining term that was to end in three years time (2005–2008). Conceptually, the doctrine of state necessity, as indicated above, only supports situations of extreme emergency (as is the case with dealing with the need to avoid a vacuum in political leadership of the country at the highest level); it does not go beyond this (Ebeku,P:20, 2005)

So it’s the Togoese Army that have given power to the son of Eyadema, who has not left power ever since. That the extreme emergency and state necessity was the reason for his rise to power in his fathers stead. Clearly, like father like son. Father was 37 years and the son 13 years. The Gnassingbe power structure has been by force and intimidation, therefore the violence and killings during recent protest is just a manifestation of the dictatorship Togo is!

TogoEnMarche and TogoDebout proves the strength of the opposition and the will of the people. Six weeks of big demonstrations. Stopping business and showing huge part of the population participate in these demonstration. The public will to stop the dictatorship is there. African Civic Society and other Groups of Activist has thrown their support behind the banners and the opposition in their will for change. The Multi-National Organizations should do to like ECOWAS, African Union and others. Since they could sway the leadership, but their silence is acknowledging the leadership of Gnassingbe and that they will not see a new dawn.

This is sad, but expected, the African Union is like a dictatorship-club, where the oppressors teach each other techniques and rhetoric to sell to their populations. So they can oppress more when they come home to their republics and kingdoms. Where they can use the tricks of Addis Ababa or Khartoum, even Alger if they feel like it.

The continued demonstrations should be a warning, that the Togolese people don’t accept the Gnassingbe family rule. They are ready for someone who cares and who doesn’t use them. Don’t violate the human rights, detain and intimidate the opposition. It was all done in the state necessity and used the pressure for the succession, also former Nigerian Presidents push for a legitimate president. But it was the National Assembly who made the changes to allow the succession. Just like it was the National Assembly that have made it possible for Gnassingbe to get more terms in power. Even if that means 50 year rule of the family.

The reason why the Togolese has had the stamina of 6 weeks of steady demonstrations. This haven’t been a fluke, this is the opposition and citizens, also the civil society at its finest. The civil disobedience, the peaceful demonstrations proving their power. The President is nobody if he doesn’t have the people, the citizens and the territory, but only with the dominion he cannot rule alone. Therefore, the continues demonstrations at this magnitude are showing how weak the government is. There are even reports that the demonstrators are so many, that they can overpower the security forces. Who they even have served water too, while they are demonstrating. Clearly, the power of Gnassingbe are dwindling.

It is time for change, the Togolese people deserve our support and not only sympathy for their cause. For their will for freedom and liberty, out of the shackles of oppression. There is hope and their ability to must strength against the President. Shows their stamina and their acts of civil disobedience are Nobel, they are for the common good. Their peaceful acts against oppression. Shows the grace and clarity of anyone who wants a bloodless and peaceful transition. Even when the Police and Soldiers has killed demonstrators. The demonstrators still has just destroyed smaller infrastructure and things, but hasn’t been violent.

That is the proof of their good and their strength. The world and ones fighting for liberty and justice. Has to see their cause and support it. The Togolese deserve credit and support. Even if someone do what the ECOWAS did with Jammeh. That could be necessary in Togo, also get Kofi Annan or Thabo Mbeki to talk some sense into Gnassingbe, but that if they muster courage to do so.

The Togolese deserves better and they should continue, knowingly that their cause to freedom is still on course. If the world want help, than they have to take in into their own hands. They are plenty and the police cannot arrest them all, neither can every soldier kill them all. The citizens knows this and therefore are the government more careful now. Peace.

Reference:

African Success – ‘Biography of Faure GNASSINGBé’ (03.07.2010) link: http://www.africansuccess.org/visuFiche.php?lang=en&id=266

Ebeku, Kaniye S.A. – ‘THE SUCCESSION OF FAURE GNASSINGBE TO THE TOGOLESE PRESIDENCY – An International Law Perspective’ (2005) link: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:240415/FULLTEXT02.pdf