Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch



Welcome to
Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch Blog. Our objective is to promote the institutions of democracy,social justice,Human Rights,Peace, Freedom of Expression, and Respect to humanity in Rwanda,Uganda,DR Congo, Burundi,Sudan, Tanzania, Kenya,Ethiopia, and Somalia. We strongly believe that Africa will develop if only our presidents stop being rulers of men and become leaders of citizens. We support Breaking the Silence Campaign for DR Congo since we believe the democracy in Rwanda means peace in DRC. Follow this link to learn more about the origin of the war in both Rwanda and DR Congo:http://www.rwandadocumentsproject.net/gsdl/cgi-bin/library


Saturday, May 22, 2010

Regarding US Laws and the DR Congo

The Year 2010 has the potential to be a watershed year for Relations between the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After a Decade that had the net result of Millions of People Killed, Raped and Left Homeless, The involvement of six neighboring states and the looting of Natural Resources change is possible in the DRC.

When Most People think of US Interests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo the result leads to Tunnel Vision. At some point this month AFRICOM will begin training the Congolese Army (FARDC) at a Base near Kisangani. There are other concerns as well such as the Congo Conflict Minerals Act and the several efforts to address the serious problem that Women have as they are habitually targeted for Sexual Assault in the Eastern Part of the Country.

However there are already two Laws on the books that could offer some redress to creating a Sane US Policy towards the DRC. First lets dust off the History Books and go back to the days of the Kennedy Administration. At that time the Country had just achieved Independence from Belgium. And the United States Congress put in an interesting clause in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Section 105 of Public Law 109-456 hereby states: The Secretary of State is authorized to withhold assistance made available under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 other than Humanitarian, Peacekeeping and Counterterrorism Assistance, for a foreign country if the Secretary determines that the Government of the Foreign Country is taking actions to Destabilize the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It does make you wonder why this isn't being used against such erstwhile allies such as Rwanda and Uganda and for good Measure Angola and Zimbabwe. Where is Congress on this? Or Even the Secretary of State or better yet other African Activists?

While this point is being mulled over the effort to have S. 2125 aka the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief Security and Democracy Act of 2006 Implemented as well. Humanitarian Relief is a large issue in the DRC with various Militias from the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda literally setting up their own fiefdoms in the Eastern Part of the Country with the willing or unwilling complicity of the United States.

Sometimes the percieved problems with the Strategy of the United States can be resolved if previous Legislation were enacted upon. The Situation regarding the Congo is a perfect example of this. There were loud voices in the Activist Community demanding that the US take concrete steps to address the myriad of issues that plague the Country will all means short of Military Action. There were voices as well that did not want an American Military Response either.

So now that the old Law Books have been dusted off and that there is an apparatus in place to rein in some of the nefarious actors that are in the neighborhood the question is will any action be taken in Washington? And they should remember that people are watching........

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure exactly why but this blog is loading very slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end? I'll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.


Check out my blog post; grounds
Here is my homepage - dissenting

Anonymous said...

Hiya. Sorry to bother you but I ran across your blog website and
discovered you're using the exact same template as me. The only problem is on my blog, I'm battling to get the layout looking like yours.

Would you mind emailing me at: angelica_sisco@live.com so I can get
this figured out. By the way I've bookmarked your website: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1938558784479190403&postID=3290689793300892129 and will certainly be visiting frequently. Thanks alot :)!

Feel free to visit my web blog; correctitude
Look into my page ... backstay

Anonymous said...

Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn't appear. Grrrr... well I'm not writing all that over again.
Regardless, just wanted to say great blog!

Feel free to surf to my site - oprema

Anonymous said...

Hey there, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your blog in Opera, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that,
amazing blog!

Also visit my homepage ... work

Anonymous said...

I'm new to building sites and I was wanting to know if having your blog title related to your articles and other content really that vital? I notice your title, "Blogger: Africa Great Lakes Democracy Watch " does seem to be spot on with what your website is about but, I prefer to keep my title less content descriptive and based more around site branding. Would you think this is a good idea or bad idea? Any kind of assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Hello administrator, I just wanted to give
you a quick heads up that your current Web address:
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1938558784479190403&postID=3290689793300892129 is being flagged as
a possibly harmful internet site in my web browser firefox.
I would highly recommend having somebody look into it.
You can lose a lot of guests due to this kind of issue.
Best of Luck.

My webpage - recovery

Anonymous said...

Appreciating the persistence you put into your site and detailed information you present.
It's good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn't the same outdated rehashed material.

Fantastic read! I've saved your site and I'm adding your
RSS feeds to my Google account.
Also see my page :: site

Unknown said...

WWW0424
cheap mlb jerseys
true religion outlet store
texans jerseys
air jordan
polo ralph lauren
mulberry handbags
adidas yeezy
coach handbags
oakley sunglasses
oakley sunglasses wholesale

Unknown said...

red bottom shoes for women
yeezys
nike air max 2018
jordan shoes
kyrie irving shoes
moncler
asics sneakers
golden goose
adidas yeezy
air max 90