Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: UN Sanctioned Congo "Intervention Brigades" Complement US Africa Strategy

hi pablo
he was complaining about "militarizing" the region, when leaving the situation alone, without more, and more effective un troops, means a continuation of an unsettled situation in which there are attacks, then calm, then more attacks, refugees, etc. if it isn't m23, it is mai mai, or even the drc army. ultimately peace will come, but i have no idea how. i know a few things with some certitude: all the groups that i have heard of practice depredations, protect their turf by raping and ethnic cleansing their opponents' villages; sell minerals for guns; and often are stooges for rwanda or uganda. the drc army is possibly no better.
so, want the real skinny? go to congo siasa, jason stearns's blog, and you can get the real bottom line from an expert. i am a reader of his stuff and that of others, but not a researcher into the region. i also follow the situation there, and in rwanda and burundi, daily. but only reading the reports of others. i trust irin reports implicitly.
the u.s. cuts, followed by the others i mentioned (u.s., eu) were significant, and kagame did back off, as did m23. it did not implode: it split in half, and one half, ntaganda's, was undone by kagame, sending ntaganda off to the tribunal in the hague. the other half is very active still.
look, the u.s. offered no real criticisms or sanctions of kagame for all these years; finally he got a real slap, with international repercussions, and all of a sudden people were listening to more than hrw and ai, and the consequences counted.
the one point you make i cannot properly assess: the extent to which kagame is getting real messages to back off or not. for all these years, since 1996, he's mostly done whatever he wanted. the results for the congo have been catastrophic. agreed, the blame doesn't fall on him alone. the fdlr was everyone's bogeyman a year ago; and the drc army is a continual mess. the un forces are zeroes.
and then you read one day, a hundred thousand people displaced, another day, goma invaded. everyone yawns.
the "international community" has indeed failed: if this mobilization of 3000 troops moves us toward peace, i will be happy. it is too early, yet, to tell. as for u.s. support of kagame, with hilary there it was very very difficult for our criticisms to get through.
ken

On 4/26/13 1:39 PM, Pablo Idahosa wrote:

Kapanga, Ken,

I only passed this on because, I suspect, many people are unaware of the complexity of the, yes,  scary circumstances that both of you might be more well aware of than myself. However, without hopefully sounding too conspiratorial,  the tacit implication here is that the conduit for enforcing  is set up by  the US that does not have a good track record of resolving very much anywhere, let alone Africa. If there's  talk about irrational (what does that mean, or do you mean he appears contradictory?),  it is no more contradictory, but ultimately realpolitik,  for the US to  support  Kagame's seat of the Security council,  and then turn around and tickle his knuckles over the M23, amongst others. My understanding is that Rwanda supports the US use (they mean even have a base for)  US drones. As to US sanctions, and "real" sanctions,  what are they Ken, and how, or what is the form that has been followed by the UK, Belgium and Europe [the EU]?  That is,   why would  Kagame listen  to players who in many ways are less important than they once were in the region?  So, to the extent that the ravages and rampages of the  M23 thugs can and should be  stopped, who would not support that?  Again, though, for those who are from there, and others who know better than me, my understanding is that the attacks have abated, and they (the M23) have more or less have imploded, though not gone away. Any military intervention, albeit with nice, new shinny uniforms, always means more guns circulating, but we'll see, and hopefully you are both right.

Pablo

On 2013-04-25 4:55 PM, kenneth harrow wrote:

pablo
i don't know why you say scary. scary would be not to intervene to stop m23 and mmai mai and the other militias whose ravages can't be controlled b y the present weak congolese army or monuc.
the interview is irrational. this won't further militarize the region by opposing militias.
the speaker calls for sanctioning rwanda; i agree. then he downplays the first serious american sanctions last spring, which were followed by real sanctions by u.k., belgium and europe.
ken

On 4/25/13 2:49 PM, Kapanga, Kasongo wrote:

Being from Congo and knowing the amounts of weapons in circulation in the region, I don’t know what “further militarize Congo” means while M23 thugs are terrorizing peasants and mercilessly stealing from them. Anything worse will happen that has not yet happened?

 

Kasongo Kapanga

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Pablo Idahosa
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2013 12:53 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: UN Sanctioned Congo "Intervention Brigades" Complement US Africa Strategy

 

Scary stuff, indeed.
P.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	UN Sanctioned Congo "Intervention Brigades" Complement US Africa Strategy
Date:	Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:06:00 -0400
From:	Brian K. Murphy <brian@radicalroad.com>
To:	Pablo Idahosa <pidahosa@yorku.ca>

Brian K. Murphy wrote:

P.  por ti. Cosas de miedo, como siempre.

B

*UN Sanctioned Congo "Intervention Brigades" Complement US Africa Strategy*
/*Maurice Carney: 3,000 member force intervention will further militarize Congo; US has power to sanction rebel-backers Rwanda and Uganda, but will not because they are allies in American AFRICOM strategy*/
/*
*/
/*Watch video report at:*/
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10135

UN Sanctioned Congo "Intervention Brigades" Complement US Africa Strategy

Maurice Carney: 3,000 member force intervention will further militarize Congo; US has power to sanction rebel-backers Rwanda and Uganda, but will not because they are allies in American AFRICOM strategy

 

Watch video report at:

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10135

 

 

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--   kenneth w. harrow   faculty excellence advocate  distinguished professor of english  michigan state university  department of english  619 red cedar road  room C-614 wells hall  east lansing, mi 48824  ph. 517 803 8839  harrow@msu.edu