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Ban Ki-moon: What about the people of the Congo?
April 3, 2013
Late last week, the Security Council approved the creation of what it called its first-ever “offensive” combat force, with a mandate to carry out targeted operations to “neutralize and disarm” the notorious March 23 or M23 militia, as well as other Congolese rebels and foreign armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Until now, U.N. peacekeeping forces’ only explicit mandate has been the protection of civilians.
Bosco Ntaganda surrenders in Rwanda, but will global powers hold the real culprits of crimes in the Congo accountable?
March 28, 2013
Congolese people are seeking peace and justice. Trying Bosco Ntaganda at the ICC may lead to some measure of justice for the crimes perpetrated at his behest; however, it appears that his backers in Rwanda may very well be let off the hook yet again and allowed to continue their military aggression against the DRC.
Bruce Dixon: Diversity is not justice, equity or peace
January 9, 2013
Bruce Dixon, managing editor of the Black Agenda Report and author of “Did Bloody Hands, Not Black Womanhood Sink Susan Rice Nomination?” spoke to KPFA about U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s withdrawal from consideration to become President Obama’s next secretary of state.
Withhold U.S. aid to speed end of atrocities in Congo
December 5, 2012
Over the last 16 years, more than 6 million lives have been lost in Congo – and the major perpetrators of those atrocities have been U.S. allies Rwanda and Uganda. The majority of victims have been children under the age of 5. Subsequent U.S. administrations have provided aid to the Rwandan and Ugandan regimes. The U.S. remains one of the top two donors of aid to Rwanda today.
UK rethinking budget support to Kagame’s Rwanda
October 31, 2012
The International Development Committee of the British Parliament’s House of Commons has announced that it will examine the controversial decision to disburse budget support to the government of Rwanda after first withholding it in response to U.N. investigators’ reports that Rwanda is behind the M23 militia fighting and seizing territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Verdict pending: Victoire Ingabire and D.R. Congo
September 6, 2012
Imprisoned Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire and her supporters await a Kigali court’s verdict in her case this coming Friday, Sept. 7. Ingabire has been in prison for nearly two years, charged with giving financial support to a terrorist group, planning to cause state insecurity, and divisionism, a violation of Rwanda’s “genocide ideology” statute.
ICTR calls for immediate release of Peter Erlinder from Rwandan prison as Erlinder’s wife appeals to U.N. Security Council members
June 15, 2010
In the runup to the presidential election Aug. 9, Rwandan President Paul Kagame has prevented his prospective opponents from registering, briefly jailed his leading opponent, Victoire Ingabire, and has imprisoned her attorney, Professor Peter Erlinder, since May 28. Today, the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), where Erlinder is lead defense attorney, called for his release.
Rwandan opposition parties condemn grenade attacks in Kigali
February 21, 2010
If Rwanda’s three viable opposition parties are allowed to register and participate in free and fair elections, they have a good chance, in coalition, of defeating Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Party. Those three parties condemned the Feb. 19 deadly grenade attacks in Kigali, calling them “an attempt to instill fear in the population” prior to Rwanda’s August presidential election.