Category: Rubrique

South African President Jacob Zuma is expected in Zimbabwe on Wednesday to mediate between warring political factions in Zimbabwe responsible for widening divisions and rising tensions.

Zuma will meet the leaders of the three leading political parties to press for political reforms and new elections under a recently completed draft constitution.

South Africa’s mediation efforts helped pave the way for the Global Political Agreement, which was agreed upon by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) led by President Robert Mugabe and the then opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by the current Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Analysts say the agreement, which led to the formation in February 2009 of the current power-sharing government, was intended to help diffuse the post-election impasse that threatened to bring the country to a standstill at the time.

South Africa has played the role of chief mediator since the violent and disputed elections of 2008, with President Zuma taking over from his predecessor Thabo Mbeki after taking over the presidency in 2009.

The agreement, which led to the formation in February 2009 of the current power-sharing government, aimed at helping diffuse post-election stalemate that threatened to bring the country to a standstill at the time.

The current government’s term of office is set to come to an end soon and fresh elections due to take place on a yet-to-be-specified date in the near future, little progress has been made on some of the most contentious issues.

The Government of Rwanda has responded to allegations contained in the Addendum to the UN Group of Experts Interim Report. Below is a detailed responce highlighting every allegation and a responce to it.

ALLEGATION 1. RDF UNIT TRAINED IN KANOMBE BARRACKS TO GO AND FIGHT FOR M23

Rebuttal: It is common (and verifiable) knowledge that Kanombe Barracks is a garrison-type barracks that comprises living quarters; a referral military hospital also open to civilian patients; a cemetery; and five service support units’ headquarters and related facilities.

This Barracks therefore cannot host the training of recruits or any other force preparation activity.

Evidence: During their visit to Kigali, the GoE toured Kanombe Barracks and were able to see that the allegation is farfetched

ALLEGATION 2. RWANDA PROVIDED ARMS AND AMMUNITION TO M23

Rebuttal: The GoE seriously suggests that it was able to establish, in about a week’s time, that Col. Makenga could not obtain 75mm canons and their ammunition from FARDC and concludes that these were instead provided by RDF.

As a matter of fact, RDF does not hold 75mm canons in ordinance stores and has never purchased such canons or their ammunition. Remnants of these weapons and ammunition from the 1990 – 94 war of liberation were disposed of in 2008, which is well documented by the RDF ordinance regiment.

The GoR has credible information that FARDC, unlike RDF, maintains 75 mm canons and anti-tank rifle grenades on their arms/ammunition inventory, through RDF participation in several joint-operations with FARDC including the recent operations codenamed AMANI-LEO and UMOJA-WETU.

Evidence: Relevant documented evidence can be availed for in-situ review.

ALLEGATION 3. PROOF THAT KEY FACILITATOR OF M23 WAS SEEN IN GISENYI

Rebuttal: Brig. Gen. Ruvusha denies all allegations and states that he was on leave and out of Gisenyi from 3 – 14 May 12 and provides an incontrovertible evidence of his whereabouts during the period.

Evidence: A summarized statement of Brig. Gen. Ruvusha denying allegations can be found on Annex B to this submission.

ALLEGATION 4. M23 TROOPS CROSS BY BOAT WITH EQUIPMENTS FROM BUKAVU TO GISENYI

Rebuttal: This is technically impossible because RDF use motorised zodiac boats to carry 60 personnel and tones of equipment back and forth at night without detection by FARDC border patrols.

II. It is impossible to drive RDF 15 tonner trucks along the route reported by GoE because the alleged route is under major construction and there is no way it could support night movement involving heavy trucks.

In addition, it is inconceivable how offloading of troops in RDF uniforms on RDF trucks on the Rwandan side of the border with DRC at a time of tension is out of order, extra-ordinary and linked to Col. Makenga.

Evidence: Detailed specifications and technical data regarding all types of boats held by Rwanda Marines can be found on Annex Con this submission.

ALLEGATION 5. CONGOLESE BUSINESSMEN VISITED RWANDA TO DISCUSS M23 FINANCING

Rebuttal: Investigation by the Rwanda migration department indicates that the two businessmen mentioned in the addendum did not travel to Rwanda during the period mentioned in the addendum.

Only Mr.Dieudonne Komayombi travelled through Rwanda to Nairobi between 24 and 28 of June 2012.

Evidence: Detailed accounts of the nature and purpose of these calls and meetings are available onAnnex D on this submission.

ALLEGATION 6. GENERAL JACQUES NZIZA, THE PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, IS ALLEGED TO BE PROVIDING MILITARY, FINANCIAL AND LOGISTIC SUPPORT TO M23. IT IS ALSO ARGUED THAT HE WAS RECENTLY DEPLOYED TO RUHENGERI AND GISENYI TO COORDINATE ASSISTANCE AND RECRUITMENT.

Rebuttal: Gen. Nziza actively dismisses these allegations, since as PS of Ministry of Defense he is in charge of daily accounting at the Ministry and as such; deploying him to support M23 would amount to grounding most of the core activities of the Ministry.

Additionally, Gen. Nziza provides solid evidence that support the fact that he has not been in Gisenyi or Ruhengeri of recent.

Evidence: For copies of Gen. Nziza’s daily meetings, including detailed logs 114 people he met at the Ministry during that same period, see Annex F of this document.

ALLEGATION 7. GENS. JAMES KABAREBE AND CHARLES KAYONGA ALLEGED TO BE SUPPORTING M23 THROUGH COORDINATING COL.MAKENGA’S OPERATIONS.

Rebuttal: Gens. Kabarebe and Kayonga have played an active role in promoting peace in the region, and as such, the fact that they can be in contact with senior officials of FARDC and/or M23 should not come as a surprise. The false allegations made in paragraph 33 of the addendum as evidence of their involvement in supervising Col.Makenga’s operations are misleading.

Evidence: For detailed accounts of Gens. Kabarebe and Kayonga involvement in attempts to prevent the crisis are provided at Annex D and E.

ALLEGATION 8. LT COL JOMBA WAS RECENTLY DEPLOYED FROM GAKO MILITARY ACADEMY WHERE HE HAS BEEN AN INSTRUCTOR, TO RUHENGERI SINCE THE CREATION OF M23. HE WAS ALLEGEDLY PUT IN CHARGE OF COMMANDING LOCALLY MILITARY OPERATIONS IN SUPPORT OF M23.

Rebuttal: Lt. Col. Gakumba states that he was never deployed to Ruhengeri and remains an instructor at Gako Military in Bugesera. He provides incontrovertible evidence to support his statement; these include daily and weekly training activities in which Lt. Col. Gakumba was involved, as well as details of all visits by foreign delegations handled by the officer while at Gako.

Evidence: Relevant statement and supporting documents are available at Annex H on this submission.

ALLEGATION 9. THE GOE REFERS TO THE SIGNAL INTERCEPTION BY FARDC OF RADIO COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN RDF AND M23

Rebuttal: The so-called signal interception a FARDC indicated the reception of RDF troop reinforcements by M23, and request for additional reinforcements.

The evidence provided is one of the most unsophisticated pieces of fabrication in the entire report.. On the basis of “image 10” on p.16 of the addendum (i) the mode of communication indicated is a single frequency per channel also referred to as a ‘direct mode operation’;

(ii) encryption seems to be based on a manual cipher system also known as SLIDEX; (iii) the frequency is VHF (high) and the frequency range (159,500.00 KHz – 160,900.00 KHz – 161,000.00 KHz) indicates some eqipment of commercial standard.

Hence, it is technically incompatible with the RDF VHF communication system which uses PRC family military standard with low VHF rage operating from 30 – 80/108 MHz which means that a two-way communication would be impossible; (iv) Furthermore, RDF uses digital encryption imbedded in its communication assets which confirms that a two way communication is not possible in this case.

Evidence: Additional details confirming that the intercepted radio communication cannot refer to a communication between an RDF communicator and that of M23 are available on Annex Ion this submission

ALLEGATION 10. BOSCO NTAGANDA-OWNS PROPERTY IN RWANDA

Rebuttal: Investigations on the claim of a house belonging to Ntaganda indicate that the house presented as image 15 in the addendum is actually owned owned by Mr. Innocent Ndagano alias “Cent Kilos”.

Further allegations that Hotel Bushokoro located at Kinigi is co-partially owned by Gen. BoscoNtaganda is proved wrong because the property is actually owned at 50% each by Mr. Enock Munyajabo and his wife Mrs. NyiramanaKesie. it is therefore categorically false to claim that the properties belong to BoscoNtaganda.

Evidence: The certificate of registration of epithetic lease title No. UPI 3/03/04/05/217 is available at Annex J to this submission under the certificate of registration of epithetic lease title No. UPI 4/03/07/03/329 is at Annex Kto this submission

Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe is ready to cede power if elections planned for the troubled African nation do not go his way, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said.

Tsvangirai says he did not believe Mugabe, who disputed election results in 2008 and eventually retained the presidency under a power-sharing deal, would risk another round of violence in Zimbabwe.

He said 88-year-old Mugabe, who has led the country since independence in 1980, wanted to protect his legacy and would abide by the result of a ballot scheduled to be held within the next 12 months.

“I’m sure he will accept the result,” Tsvangirai told reporters during an official trip to New Zealand.

“I do not see any reason why he should plunge the country again into another dispute.

“I think he’s committed, for his own legacy and the legacy of the country, to move forward and he has to accept the result if it is conducted in a free and fair manner.”

Tsvangirai confirmed he would stand against his arch-rival Mugabe in the election, which is set to be held under a new constitution, a draft of which was finalised on Friday.

He described the draft constitution as a “progressive step” which he hoped would help Zimbabwe emerge from decades of violence and instability.

The Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has commended Iran for persistently resisting western pressure directed against Iran’s nuclear program.

Museveni said, “We know what is happening in Iran, too much pressure from the West but we are glad that you can manage,” he said.

He noted that Uganda supports all countries having nuclear energy for peaceful purposes especially for energy.

Museveni has in effect accepted an invitation to attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement due next month in Iran.

The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012, the movement had 120 members and 21 observer countries.

Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are East Africas major economies that have strong and historical cooperation with the Islamic republic of Iran.

In 2009 a Canadian firm, IBI Corporation, was hired to give Uganda technical guidance on how to generate nuclear energy.

IBI President met President Museveni in January 2009 with a proposal that they can turn the recently discovered uranium into nuclear energy.

A team of experts, businessmen and Uganda government officials coordinated by IBI, formed an advisory board that sought to develop the Nuclear Energy Programme for Uganda (NEPU).

However, experts warned Uganda to go slow on a plan to generating electricity using uranium arguing it is a very costly venture.

It takes about 10 years to build a nuclear power plant at a minimum cost of $10 billion and at least 15 years to train a nuclear scientist to run a plant.

Uganda oil industry is expected to bring in more cash to the economy that the government badly needs to modernize and push its economy to a takeoff level.

A few weeks ago, Tanzania was in the spotlight over the issue of suffering possible sanctions slammed against Iran by the United States. Tanzania was accused for allegedly reflagging of Iranian Oil tankers.

U.S. lawmaker Howard Berman had earlier said that Tanzania could face sanctions that President Barack Obama signed into law if the Iran tankers were allowed to continue sailing under the Tanzanian flag.

Berman said Congress would also have “no choice” but to consider whether to continue the range of bilateral US programmes with Tanzania.

In 2009 November, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad travelled to Kenya with a delegation of more than 100 officials and private businessmen.

The Ahmadinejad led government believes that expanding political and economic ties with east Africa’s largest economy is a priority for Iran.

Iran exports industrial oil, chemicals and carpets to Kenya and Kenya considers Iran a key market for its tea.

Iran’s volume of trade with Kenya is estimated at over $500 million.

Kenya government clearly told Iran president that it was urgently looking for a partner, who can provide technical know-how to develop a nuclear energy program for Kenya.

The United states government hold a view that Iran must abandon its nuclear program.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

The organization was founded in Belgrade in 1961, and was largely the brainchild of Yugoslavia’s President, Josip Broz Tito, India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt’s second President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah, Indonesia’s first President, Sukarno and Ethiopia’s emperor Haile Selassie.

All five leaders were prominent advocates of a middle course for states in the Developing World between the Western and Eastern blocs in the Cold War.

The phrase itself was first used to represent the doctrine by Indian diplomat and statesman V.K. Krishna Menon in 1953, at the United Nations.

The purpose of the organization as stated in the speech given by Fidel Castro during the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries” in their “struggle against imperialism,colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics.”

The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations’s members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World.

Rwanda has taken custody of seven rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) based in eastern DR Congo.

The seven rebels were part of 29 ex-combatants transported saturday to Rwanda aboard a truck from the camp DDRRR (Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Reinsertion and Reintegration) of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Democratic Republic Congo (Monusco) to the border with Rwanda.

However, Rwanda rejected to take custody of the others whom Monusco said were former members of the M23 rebel group who surrendered to UN in DRC claiming they were Rwandan Nationals.

Rwanda authorities told Monusco that those who fought in the M23 be handed to the DR-Congo government, because “this movement does not exist in Rwanda.”

The twenty-two Rwandan combatants of M23 spent almost 45 minutes in the no man’s land (neutral zone) between the DRC and Rwanda, before being taken back to DRC.

DRC has consistently accused Rwanda of having a hand in the ongoing crisis in Eastern DRC, where the M23 rebels have staged a fight against government forces. M23 rebels have made significant battle successes in the past weeks where they seized Bunagana a major boarder city and threatening to go and capture Kinshasa.

In an interview with the BBC,President Paul Kagame said, “We (Rwanda) do not support the M23 and we do not intend, because we do not know what they want. It makes no sense to be involved, because our relationship with the DRC was very good. Before all this happened, we worked together to eliminate the problem that existed between the two countries. ”

He said the problem of the M23 is “an internal problem of the Congo, and a failure of the authorities to solve their own problems.”

The British Secretary of State for Cooperation, Andrew Mitchell, said Friday, July 13th in Goma that Britain is concerned about the security situation in the province of North Kivu, where there is the rebellion of M23.

After meeting with Rwandan authorities in Kigali, Andrew Mitchell arrived in Goma to inquire about the situation and assess humanitarian operations financed by the countries in North Kivu.

“As part of our good relations with Rwanda and the DRC, Britain wants to work together with the UN to help solve the problem,” he said.

According to Andrew Mitchell, Britain has a very important cooperation program in the DRC, especially in humanitarian support, but also in Rwanda, with which his country also maintains friendly relations.

To the Secretary of State for Cooperation British, his second visit in three months in North Kivu is a “very strong signal that shows the importance his country attaches to its relations with the DRC, and the situation current “.

The DRC accused Rwanda of supporting the rebellion of M23.

FARDC and Monusco bombed Thursday, July 12 positions of the rebels to stop their advance towards Goma, capital of the province of North Kivu.

The Congolese troops (FARDC) and the peacekeepers of the UN Mission in DRC (Monusco) reportedly today (July 12) bombed bases of the M23 rebels who had in the past days crashed country’s troops forcing hundreds of them fleeing over to Uganda.

According to Agence France Press, three helicopters of the UN Mission in the DRC and two Congolese soldiers were seen over the area of Nkokwe Bukima, between 5 and 10 km east the road from Goma to Rutshuru.

The same source said that a colonel of mutineers claimed that the FARDC are shelling their positions, but that the Congolese soldiers did not know where the rebels were.

The FARDC has blocked the passage of all civilians at Rumangabo, a town about fifteen miles west of the bombed positions, the agency said French.

Early in the morning, the FARDC spokesperson, Col. Olivier Hamuli, accused the M23 rebels of intentionally bombing civilian populations in the outskirts of the town of Rugari, in Rutshuru.

Col. Hamuli said the bombing left one person dead and three wounded. He called this a barbaric criminal act.

Monusco said July 11 that specific areas had been established in Rutshuru territory in North Kivu to protect the civilian population against attacks from armed groups.

Monusco tanks and FARDC have been deployed in major cities of the province to prevent attacks of armed groups.

The Republic of Togo is in a political crisis following the resignation of the country’s Prime Minister and government.

The resignation was announced through a statement on Togo national television and radio.

However, no reason was given for their stepping down. Togo is due to hold parliamentary elections in October.

A statement issued late on Wednesday said that President Faure Gnassingbe had accepted Prime Minister Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo’s resignation but the former United Nations diplomat would temporarily continue to run daily business.

No official reason was given for the resignation and close aides to Houngbo did not comment.

Houngbo was virtually unknown on the Togolese political scene when he was named prime minister in 2008.

He was kept in the post following Gnassingbe’s re-election in May 2010.

In recent weeks, there have been a number of protests in the former French colony ahead of the poll as opposition groups seek to reverse changes to voting rules.

The UN Mission for Stabilization in Democratic Republic of Congo,MONUSCO is currently redeploying its troops to Goma to allegedly protect the city from mutineers, the country’s UN envoy says.

Roger Meece said he was determined to protect population centres in the east from advancing rebels of the M23 group.

Meanwhile, accoring to a source, the army has retaken the two towns recently captured by the fighters.

However, M23 rebels say they have no intention of taking Goma and want to negotiate with the government.

During the press conference held Tuesday, July 10 in Kinshasa, the head of MONUSCO, Meece also reiterated the commitment of peacekeepers in protecting civilians in large cities of the province of North Kivu.

“We take all provisions with the FARDC against any threat to civilian populations. Tanks will be made to prevent the progression of the rebels toward Goma and other towns, “said Meece.

When the decision to extend the mandate of Monusco until 30 June 2013, the Security Council asked UN mission in DRC primarily to protect civilians and maintain a reserve force able to quickly redeploy in the country.

In order to act like an independent state, the South Sudan government has ordered its public institutions, NGOs and businesses operating in the country to terminate employment of all Sudanese nationals.

The decision follows a May 26 circular issued by the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development to put the Sudanese employees in South Sudan on one-month notice, for having lost status following the independence of South Sudan on July 9, 2011.

Hellen Achiro, the Undersecretary for Labour, said the positions must be declared vacant and re-advertised for South Sudanese to apply.

“For them to stay here, they must legalise their status. If they would like to be refugees for those from war zone, they should apply so that they are legalised as refugees … for those who want to do business, they have to reapply and register afresh so that South Sudanese become part of those companies,” she added.

The Ministry of Telecommunication had been directed not to renew licences for Sudanese companies until they met conditions that included having South Sudanese partaking in the business, said Mr Sunday Moris, an official from the Labour ministry.

Hundreds of Sudanese from the far north and eastern Sudan, Darfur and the warring states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states still hold their jobs as “nationals” despite the split of the country a year ago.