RWANDA:NO TRUE RECONCILIATION IN RWANDA

NO TRUE RECONCILIATION IN RWANDA

by Habimana Rukundo on Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 8:35pm

Hutu Refugees in Goma: Most of them were killed by the RPA, according to the former RPA officer

There is no true reconciliation in Rwanda. 

If any , as you said there is a "one way reconciliation" , or forced reconciliation .Imagine this

An army fighting for power invades a country . In the process , they wipe away the falimy of a young boy (the only survivor) . The young boy , following his neighbors and family friends, flee to Congo , where he is chassed again , under the rain of Katyusha and 105mm , to the Congo forest , then he fall sick .... Some of his friends die , and he was injured , and finally repatriated back to Rwanda . 

he undegoes an "ingando" training, where he is taught about the new country policy . He is taught about "loving his country" , he learns how the former regime (back in the time when he lastly experienced peace) was demoniac ! He is taught that history is false ... and then he is sent back to his village. 

Back at the village , he see other orphans ("Tutsi genocide orphans") going to school for free , being given all accomodations (from the school fees , matress , books even pens and clothes ....) , while he don't even dream of education , simply because he did not survive the Tutsi genocide .

“ Paul Kagame is a war criminal and he deserves to be executed 20 times a day for his crimes against humanity.”And through it all , MY BOY IS PRAISING THE REGIME , singing and dancing about the reconciliation installed by the current "father of the nation" (Mzee wacu , as many name him) . Our boy may even be currently enrolled in the local leadership of Intore .

Questions : 

1. Do you think this kid will make noise , protest , or do anything to claim a fair treatment ?? (How can he do it while the Intore are watching every house of the neighbohood ?? )

2. Do you think when Kagame comes to this village (followed with Kabarebe and other Congo war "heroes") , this kid will not applaud them ?? 

Sure he will ... !Youth prisoners accused of the Genocide in Rwanda work in field in youth prison in Gitagata, Rwanda.

3. Do you think this kid will not participate in foundraising for helping the "Tutsi genocide survivors" ?? 

You bet he will try to participate more than anyone else ! Being aware that he has none to speak for him , he will try to stay out of trouble . Azubahiriza gahunda zose za leta !

4. When Kigali Gvt will need to refute the "Mapping report" , do you think this boy will be a key witness for them ??? 

I bet he will be testifying that "only interahamwe were killed " , and RPA are angels !

5. Do you think this kid will have any way to ask for a proper burial for his family dead back in 1990 ?? 

No , no no no.... ! Why ??? Think about it . 

( Take this hint: How can an Intore ask for a proper burial for people killed by "freedom fighters" ??)

Rwanda's Island Prison for Children! Hundreds of vagrants, thieves and street kids have been sent, without a trial, to a remote island — an extreme example of the levels of repression in Rwanda.Reconciliation ?? mmmm ... Only as long as the one who implemented it has control ! Otherwise , I am afraid, it will waver quicker than most of us think .

Peace .

PRESIDENT OF RWANDA PAUL KAGAME PRAISING HIM SELF FOR KILLING RWANDAN REFUGEES

http://soundcloud.com/umuvugizi/20100413-kagame-yigamba-ko 

RWANDA: A Brief History of Rwandan Leaders and Rulers since 1950

A TRUE REPRESENTATION OF A RWANDAN LEADERSHIP AND RULERSHIP SINCE INDEPENDENCE

By TURATSINZE RUKARA

This is a true representation of those who led Rwanda and those who ruled Rwanda from left to right

The history of Rwanda is one of the mysterious history of all time. I was born a decade after my country Rwanda gained its independence not only from the colonial rulers like most of African countries did but also from its own people who had customized their ruling system to be one of the ruthless leadership on earth. If it was during the Egyptian time we could have compared the Rwandan Tutsi monarchy of that of that of Pharaoh who induced the children of God into slavery for over 400 years. This was the same case in Rwanda Tutsi monarchy induced 90% of Rwandans into slaves in their own country. I could not believe when I read the history of Rwanda as I was doing my studies both in primary and high school in Musanze-Ruhengeri when I learned that my ancestors were slaves of Tutsi monarchy for generations. I had many questions and one of them being why did 90% of Hutus and poor Tutsis accept to be enslaved by a small clique of Tutsi. To answer this question during the 49th celebration of Rwandan independence Day one must analyse briefly of  what has been happening in Rwandan leadership and Rulership.

The first inhabitants of Rwanda were Twa people originated from DR Congo in Ituli forest. For those of us who were forced to flee Rwanda to Zaire the today's DRC had opportunities to interact with the indigenous Twa from Congo. They are good people despite what the Western media say about their cannibalism. This people who were hunters and gatherers until late 20th century came to Rwanda in search of good hunting game. They loved the area and a wide variety of species for game hunting ang settled in this virgin land of "Thousand Hills." They did not have a well sophisticated leadership system because they lived in a communistic system. They hunted and collected fruits together and shared among themselves. This continued for centuries until a Bantueid people came in from Northern Congo around Tchad and Cameroon. This people are called Hutu from the kiswahili word Utu or an African philosophy of Ubuntu (generosity). They were farmers who led a sedimentary lifestyle across the Equatorial forest. They were looking for farms. Because of their sedentary life they had an organized system of leadership. They had kings called ABAHINZA. The history tells us that the first Rwandan king was called GIHANGA NYAMIFANA WAHANZE INGOMA. This kind of leadership system was purely based on UBUNTU philosphy which means that I AM WHO I AM BECAUSE WE ALL ARE. This facilitated the integration of other tribes in the region. Twas coexisted very well with Hutus for centuries. This continued this way under the leadership of ABAHINZA until when another pastoralist tribe came in from the horn of Africa, specifically in Turkana-Kenya.

Tutsi people came as pastoralist in search for green pastures for their cows. THe history tells us that this people were full of pride and could not get a long well with other people they found in Rwanda. They always believed in their superiority over other tribes. Wherever they went they killed and looted. However in Rwanda because they were the minority they found that their ambition of ruling others could not work very well through violent means. They started exploiting the Bantu philosophy of Ubuntu. Hutus and Twas accommodated Tutsis as brothers who are there because we all are philosophy. They were given land to graze their cattle and were given grains to eat since they did not have enough time to farm due to the fact that they always learn after their cows. Tutsis told themselves that since these people Hutus and Twas do not have problem lcoexisting with us why don't we induce them to intermarrying with us whereby our daughters would be sexually deceptive and show their young men a superficial love that would make them marry to our daughters but our young men are instructed to never marry to Hutu or Twa girls. This started with winning over the sons of ABAHINZA who married to Tutsi women and later these Tutsi women plotted to assassinate their husbands in their matrimonial beds. Most of matrimonial homicide were done using poison. It is known that Tutsi people are good in using "charms." So after years of poisoning ABAHINZA who were to take over from as kings of Rwanda then those who remained to take over were uncles as the kings to be were still young to assume kingship. This was traditionally accepted by Rwandan traditions but very little did they know that it was a plot to overthrow a Hutu leadership. Centuries later all Hutu ABAHINZA were assassinated by a well established mechanism assisted by their Tutsi daughters who had intermarried with Hutu kings. That is when Tutsi took over from Hutu leadership to Tutsi rulership styel as we are going to see it. From this time Hutus had to deal with 400 years of serfdom and assassination characterized by mother queens like Kanjogera and rituals like INGOMA KARINGA where the mother queen Kanjogera ordered the castration of Hutu men and use their genital parts as KARINGA decoration. This went on until 1950s when some Hutu intellectuals who had been educated by white missionaries such as ANDREE PERRAUDIN got opportunity to learn how other countries were fighting for their independence from colonial powers. For these Rwandan intellectuals the fight for independence meant more than chasing colonial powers of Belgians out of Rwanda but also to fight against the deadly Tutsi monarchy which has enslaved our forefathers for over 4 centuries.

In 1950s Rwandan intellectuals led by Mbonyummutwa Dominique and Greogoire Kayibanda started PARMEHUTU a political party which was to make sure that all Rwandans are free in their own country and benefit the same from their own country. They wanted to bring an end to a 400 years monarchy rule and establish democracy. MBONYUMUTWA, KAYIBANDA, AND GITERA JOSEPH and others who fought for this independence we are celebrating today on the Rwandan 49 Independence Day are our heroes. They fought to the lasy man standing so that we can be free in our own country. So that Hutus and poor tutsis and Twas could stop toiling for the minority Tutsis but work in their own farms and pay taxes to the country like anyo responsible citizen in his own land. This is what happened in July 1, 1962 Rwanda gained its own independence and all Rwandans regardless of their own tribal background managed to breathe a sigh of freedom again. However, because of greedy Hutus who do not remember where they came from, 30 years after independence, greedy Hutus such as Twagiramungu Faustin, Bizimungu Pasteur, Kanyarengwe Alexis and others led all Rwandans back into their darker ages whereby they associated themselves with some Tutsis who wanted to bring back modern monarchy and Tutsi rule. This happened on October 1, 1990s when a Tutsis led rebellion invaded Rwanda from Uganda killing, looting, and maiming any Hutu they found on their way to Kigali. Four years after killing whoever they could and rendering millions of Rwandans refugees from both Ruhengeri and Byumba, they killed Rwandan President Habyarimana Juvenal and Burundian President Ntaryamira Cyprian. This act of terrorism outraged Rwandans and Hutus decided to protect themselves from the Tutsi monarchy which was prominent enjoying a free ride on the backs of greedy Hutus such as Twagiramungu, Kanyarengwe, Gasana, Rwigema, Bizimungu and many others. The massacre started allover Rwandans people fighting for their freedom but little did they know that America of BILL CLINTON and UK of TONY BLAIR were behind this invasion of independent state. USA imposed both economic and military embargo against Hutu regime so that their favorite RPF Tutsi led group could win militarily. It came to happen in July 1994 more than 3/4 of Hutus were sent into exile in Zaire, Burundi, Uganda, and Tanzania others remained in internal refugee camps such as Kibeho where the newly established Tutsi regime under RPF came and massacred over 250000 of Hutus who had taken refuge here. Now 20 years later since AMERICA AND UK forced a Tutsi regime on Rwandans, millions of Rwandans are still suffering and need your moral support to fight this dictatorial regime from the West. TWESE HAMWE  TUZATSINDA.

Rwanda: Police manhunt for an opposition member in Gisagara District, Southern Province

by Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza for President

 On 6th June 2011, FDU-Inkingi informed the public about a spree of night gun murders in parts of Rwanda and particularly in Gisagara District (Southern Province). The police accused the opposition party of trying to rush to the media before reporting the incidents.
 Since then, a police manhunt for an FDU-Inkingi opposition member, Mr. Jean Bosco Hanganimana, resident of Gisagara District started.  From the 25th June, deployments of mobile police and night army patrols sent residents of Higiro location (Sector Nyanza, Gisagara District) in panic.
 That same day, the Executive of Higiro location, Madame Niwebasa Assumpta, expelled Mr. Jean Bosco Hanganimana, FDU-Inkingi member, from the Umuganda community work in Nyanza sector and stated that “nobody should worry about what will happen to that FDLR supporter and to those opposed to the ruling RPF”. At 16:00, the police searched his house and failed to arrest him. At 20:00, with nosearch warrant, 6 army men , a local defence staff and a civilian night patrol stormed his house, searched and arrested his wife who was later released.
 Many months before on 12th November 2010, the police abducted Mr. Jean Bosco Hanganimana from the hospital and detained him for 19 days for unknown charges. There were allegations of abuse and torture. He was reportedly attacked because he belongs to the opposition party FDU-Inkingi.
 The party FDU-Inkingi is calling upon the Government to investigate and to ensure that the local autorities and security services respect the basic rights of citizens.

FDU-Inkingi
Twagirimana Boniface
Interim Vice President

RWANDA:Coalition of Rwandan Community Associations in UK

23rdJune 2011.

Eric Joyce MP Chair

All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa

House of Commons, 

London, 

SW1A 0AA

 

By email 

 

I am writing to you on behalf of the Coalition of Rwandan Community Association in UK.

The Rwandan regime, distraught by the vigilance of the UK intelligence service in tracking its 

death squads is intent on grooming home grown hit men and women in the UK. Under the 

umbrella of the Rwandan Diaspora Convention Europe 2011, planned for the 22-24 th July 2011,

the regime is sponsoring a 5 day ideological education training for the youth (16-29 years old) “

in what is called

 

Itorero ry’igihugu,  aimed at teaching the history of Rwanda according to “the RPF” ideology” .

The militia training is scheduled to take place at the Apex Centre in Bury St Edmunds in the Suffolk County from the 17th to 24 th July 2011.

 

According to insiders in the Rwandan security apparatus, this will allow the regime’s agents 

to identify candidates suitable for more advanced training as political cum military cadres. 

Once trained ideologically and militarily, the regime would no longer need to send out hit 

squads against critics abroad.  According the official programme, there will be 

“PRESENTATION OF YOUTH AWARDS” from 3:00pm-6:00pm on 22nd July 2011.

 

The president of Paul Kagame is scheduled to address this event.

We believe that such a training falls within the definition of terrorist act under the UK law 

which where the Act "terrorism" means among others the use or threat of action where

 

(a) The use or threat is designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public or a 

section of the public, and

(b) the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological 

cause.

 

The project should be stopped as means of prevention and suppression of terrorist 

activities.

What everyone should be aware of is that the regime of General Paul Kagame

has developed an instinct of self preservation is not short of imagination to make the 

indoctrination process of RPF political ideology look like a patriotic and very progressive 

enterprise. It has used as in the case of Gacaca courts, a traditional institutions Itorero 

ry’igihugu and Intore who woe the public and deceive the international community.

 

To understand the stratagem one needs to look at the choice of names given to the 

ideological school and granduants, namely Itorero ry’igihugu and intore. 

The word Itorero ry’igihugu, a Kinyarwanda word, was borrowed from the traditional 

educational institution for the aristocracy that mentored and cultivated leadership skills.

 

The lessons included History, Philosophy, Sociology, Oral Literature, Applied Ethics, Theology,

Political and Military Sciences, Law, Patriotism, Regional and International Relations. 

The word Intore is given to famous Rwandan dance “Intore, a “dance of heroes”. It is performed 

by men wearing grass wigs and carrying spears. It was a dance performed by returning 

warriors, celebrating victory in battle. At certain stages the dancers stop, with arms outstretched and make blood-curdling battle cries.The training is therefore to produce warriors to fight any dissenting ideology by force. 

 

In Rwanda, this ideological education has been made compulsory. For example in May 2008 local authorities in Gicumbi district in Northern Province sacked over 100 teachers for reportedly refusing to participate in the training that saw over 40,000 primary and secondary school teachers participate: 

 

Let us recall that the word interahammwe which meant “people working harmoniously 

together for a common purpose” referred to Hutu politicians who worked together and 

braved death threats while fighting to exploitative and oppressive monarchical system of 

government. In its creation, the interahamwe were not meant to kill Tutsi but rather formed 

to propagate and defend the political ideas and values of MRND party.

 

Given the past political and violent history of Rwanda and in consideration the recent 

Rwandan government foiled plan by the MI5 to eliminate physically its critics in the UK,

the Rwandan community in UK is extremely worried of the ideological training of Rwandan 

youth in the UK and therefore requests the UK government to impress upon the Rwandan 

High Commission and its affiliated Rwandan community association to stop the training into 

Rwandan into ideological extremism. 

Regards,

 

Noble Marara

Assistant Coordinator 

Email: noblemarara@yahoo.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

US proposes UN force for Sudan's Abyei

By Sally Kelly
London, (Pal Telegraph) - US introduces UN resolution that would deploy a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to disputed Abyei region.
The United States has introduced a UN resolution that would deploy a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Sudan's disputed Abyei region, the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks.
Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, said the resolution will support an agreement signed on Monday by the Khartoum-based government in the north, and the government of south Sudan, to demilitarise the contested border region.

Rice told reporters that the two parties requested the troops to be deployed under UN auspices and called for swift adoption of the resolution by the Security Council so they can get on the ground in Abyei immediately.

"Ultimately, it's obviously up for the Security Council to decide the strength and the mandate of any UN mission,'' she said.

"But the United States, in tabling this draft, has sought to remain faithful to the agreement reached by the parties, which we understand was hard won and inherently fragile.''

She declined to predict how long it would take to adopt the resolution and said that it would not happen overnight.

The violence in Abyei and neighbouring south Kordofan comes as south Sudan prepares to declare independence from the north on July 9, the culmination of a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war that killed about two million people.

The north's invasion of the Abyei region and takeover of the town of Abyei was triggered by an attack on May 19 on northern and UN troops by southern soldiers.

John Temin, of the United States Institute of Peace, spoke to Al Jazeera about the draft resolution and said: "It is important to be very clear that this is a temporary agreement that was reached. The fundamental question of whether Abyei is part of north or south remains unresolved and we are no where closer to resolving that question as a result of this agreement."

What this agreement does is remove some of the northern troops who moved into Abyei several week ago and put in Ethiopan troops to try and calm the situation, Temin said.

Abyei tensions

While south Sudan's independence is expected to take place on schedule, crucial issues remain unresolved.

The areas of debate include: the future of Abyei, which is supposed to be decided in a referendum; the north-south border demarcation; how oil revenues and other resources will be shared; and citizenship.

Rice told reporters that the purpose of the interim security agreement for Abyei is to allow the withdrawal of Sudanese forces not to settle the future of the region.

Violence began in south Kordofan earlier this month when Sudan's military attacked a black community aligned with Sudan's south.

The UN says that about 10,000 people have fled the region to escape the violence.


Source: agencies

Death as explosion rocks downtown Nairobi

Image via Wikipedia

BY CATHERINE KARONG'O and LORDRICK MAYABI from Capital FM

The casualties were rushed to various hospitals in the city, some in critical condition, as the government deployed bomb experts to establish the cause of the midday explosion.

“One person has died from this explosion 28 others are still receiving treatment in hospitals around the city, the number of casualties might rise because businessmen and their customers were caught unaware,” Police Spokesman Erick Kiraithe told journalist late on Sunday.

 “It is still too early to ascertain the cause but we have our team of the anti terrorism police, our bomb experts and the officers from the Criminal Investigations Department on the ground,” he added.

Witnesses told Capital News at the scene that the sudden explosion caught many off guard.
“I was talking with a friend inside a vehicle then we heard the loud explosion followed by a cloud of smoke. I told my friend to run for his life. I came out through the car window, I fell on the ground,” said one witness.

“I think it was a missile because it was thrown to this side,” another told Capital News.

However, police were yet to ascertain the cause or source of the explosion.

The blast caused a fire at a nearby petrol station which was completely destroyed in the incident.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga visited the scene.

“We cannot ascertain the actual cause of the explosion but we are optimistic that the ongoing investigations will come up with something,” the Premier told Journalists.

Speculation was rife that there could be other people trapped underneath some containers that served as shops for scrap metal along the street. However, no casualties were found from the debris.

The Prime Minister said the team on the ground would also quantify the extent of the damage to local businesses premises and other adjacent buildings that included a residential building.

“I don’t know what happened, I was sitted in my house when I heard the explosion and the windows broke injuring me,” said one of the casualties who suffered hand injuries.

Bomb experts from the military were digging the scene for clues that could unravel the cause of the explosion that shuttered adjacent buildings and businesses. Majority of the casualties suffered second degree burns while five of them sustained multiple fractures caused by shrapnel.

Chairman of the Disaster Committee at the Kenyatta National Hospital Dr Peter Wanyoike said a special ward had been set aside for the blast victims.

“We expect some walk- in patients to show up and also some referral from other hospitals where some of casualties were rushed,” Dr Wanyoike said.


Read more: http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Death-as-explosion-rocks-downtown-Nairobi-13077.html#ixzz1ORhS6XZc
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

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yes, this is the usual Mahmood Mamdani -- whitewash and obfuscation (in service to empire) overwhelmed by attention to "indigenes", "nativism" and important facts the understanding of which is relevent but subordinate to what he hides."

[1] Paul S Landau-- University of Maryland

"Very strongly stated, but entirely unclear. Leaving aside what you already feel about 
him, the essay is hardly a whitewash of empire -- that is where the indigene policy comes into
play. Plus refugeeism + material greed..."

[2] Raf Custers -- Ducth journalist

"keith what is your agenda ? hu ?
keith harmon snow schreef:"

Schreef?

Agenda? How about a request that people make an attempt to illuminate the deeper truths about Mamdani and his agenda rather than advancing his obfuscations as scholarship.

I don't have time to produce a definitive critique of Mamdani or his recent piece under pseudo discussion. What tires me are the ways in which Mamdani is relentlessly quoted and republished, held up as a champion of some alternative perspective on Congo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Uganda or Sudan... This recent piece is more of the same. Mamdani presents us with what we are supposed to accept as a critique of imperialism -- and which is widely touted as such by the propaganda system and by the academic community, both of which are huge problems for these countries and people.

A few facts about Mamdani (followed by several points from Mamdani's recent whitewash):

1. Mamdani was teaching at U Dar Es Salaam 1973-1979  when Yoweri Museveni, John Garang, Wamba dia Wamba, Laurent Kabila and others of this "new breed of African leader" (quoting Madeleiene Albright) were studying "Marxism" there.
2. His book Fascism and Imperialism in Uganda is anti-Amin but it is also anti-Obote (perhaps one of Uganda and Africa's greatest leaders) and it protects certain powerful outside (multinational etc.) interests (while exposing others);
3. Mamdani worked in some capacity as Museveni's minister of disinformation in the 1980's when the NRM was fighting and came to power in a ruthless, bloody, genocidal, illegal war against people of Uganda and Milton Obote's rule;
4. He taught at Makerere University (1980-93) in Kampala and was highly aligned with teh Museveni regime of terror;
5. He helped cover up Obote's treatise on Genocide "NOTES ON TH ECONCEALMENT OF GENOCIDE" committed by the NRM and Museveni;
6. Mamdani headed the Ugandan Commission of Inquiry into Local Government from 1986 to 1988 -- another whitewash mission;
7. He was the founding director of Centre for Basic Research in Kampala, Uganda (1987-96, which flourished under Museveni;
8. He likely was (is) very close to (with) William Pike -- the British? editor/publisher of Museveni's primary mouthpiece, the NEW VISION newspaper;
9. He taught at the University of Cape Town (1996-99) during the FIRST US invasion of Congo/Zaire;
10. He published his Rwanda genocide whitewash WHEN VICTIMS BECOME KILLERS in 2002 based on his research in Rwanda etc. during the Kagame regime years of consolidating its power (1994-2002 plus) (e.g. the book continued, as late as 2002 to reference the double presidential assassination as a "plane crash" and he spent approximately 1/3 ?? paragraph on the subject of this massive US-sponsored war crime; the tome is completely covering up the reality of US/UK/Israeli involvement and how the RPF butchered its way into Rwanda (and Zaire);
11. Mamdani  used the RPF to access places in Goma and Bukavu in 1996-1997; he traveled w/James Kaberebe and Jacques Depelchin (who funded and propagandized for the RCD and today runs OTA BENGA ALLIANCE with Wamba Dia Wamba out of S.F.) (in his recent story he notes: "Visiting eastern Congo as part of a fact-finding mission in 1997, I was told by a prominent civil society leader: ‘What can’t be accepted is an order whereby every immigrant who comes in is granted citizenship automatically.’ " However, Mamdani is not disclosing his true interests or affiliations);
12. His work on Darfur (Sudan more generally) has been equally obtuse and distortionist in service to western interests;
13. He does not illuminate ANY western mining companies or speak of ANY western individuals;
14. While he is Ugandan, he is no critic of Uganda (Museveni) -- but instead has some really ugly skeletons hanging in his closets;
15. The recent essay begins from the start (the war began in 1998) with disinformation (it began in 1996) and citing a western intelligence flak outfit (the IRC) (though he immediately backpeddles to suggest that EVEN the (downplayed) mortality numbers (of the IRC) were challenged by others (academics) later and the numbers of dead are (probably) far less;
16. He continues in these veins (of disinformation), with plenty or reasonable and accurate assertions mixed in, to obfuscate, until we reach the definitive paragraph about refugee killings in Eastern Congo (Zaire) in 1995-1998:

"When a 1995 decree declared all Kinyarwanda-speakers to be foreigners, the momentum of ethnic cleansing shifted to Kivu. On 7 October 1996, the governor of South Kivu ordered all Banyamulenge to leave the country within a week, or they would be interned in camps and eliminated. This was an extreme response to a dramatic situation created by developments in Rwanda. Waves of Tutsi migrants and refugees had settled in South Kivu since the late 19th century, but conflict in the province was triggered by the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s invasion of Rwanda in 1990 from bases in Uganda, which inspired many young Tutsi from Kivu to cross the border and join the RPF. That in turn led Mobutu to send a ‘mission’ to the province, ostensibly to verify who among the Banyarwanda was ‘Zairean’ and who was not. Predictably, the exercise disenfranchised more Tutsi, increased the flow of young men into the ranks of the RPF and drove up tensions in the province. The genocide of 1994 had a catastrophic effect on Kivu. As the tables began to turn in Rwanda and the RPF advanced on Kigali, more than two million refugees fled across the border. Their presence heightened the local conflict in eastern Congo and pointed up the pernicious role of the UN and the major foreign powers, France especially. In North and South Kivu, Hutu refugees lived in armed camps that were controlled by the ex-Rwandan army and the Hutu militias (or Interahamwe), who both continued to receive military supplies from the French. The soldiers and militia numbered about 20,000 in Bukavu (South Kivu) and 30,000 to 40,000 in Goma (North Kivu). Many believed there was an agreement between the French and Mobutu that the soldiers would not be disarmed by the Congolese army.”

Mobutu's alliance with Juvenal Habyarimana and Habyarimana's influencing Mobutu -- re: the hidden agenda of the Tutsis from Rwanda who were in Eastern Congo -- are salient issues. But Mamdani has an agenda, and that is to uphold the fictions of the 1994 (sic) Rwanda genocide (sic). Statements such as "France especially..." and "the UN stood around and did nothing" (in Rwanda) and "As the Interahamwe unleashed a regime of terror against Congolese Tutsi, another wave of younger men moved across the border to enlist in the RPF" and "The ethnic situation went from bad to worse after the success of the 1996 rebellion against Mobutu," etc etc etc -- this is the whitewash. In short,  if one were to apply any single adjective to Mamdani it would be 'gatekeeper'. We could embellish that with "academic gatekeeper" or "leftist gatekeeper".

Of course, the man suffers from the pressure of white supremacy and he, really, is not the source of the problem, but only an additional manifestation of it, and he knows quite well (I am sure) that he is proscribed by the boundaries of power (this white supremacy) as applied to African intellectuals (in the belly of the beast) or any coherent, intelligible, educated person of color. The worst part of it all is that he participates in the academic smokescreening and gobblygook that never cuts to the heart(s) of the matter(s).

Finally, Mahmood Mamdani -- along with genocide apologist Philip Gourevitch --was also special adviser for the Rwanda Genocide propaganda film SOMETIMES IN APRIL (<http://tv.yahoo.com/sometimes-in-april/show/36147/castcrew>) which is complete nonsense and which required that Mamdani be an accepted guest of the Kagame regime. Clearly, he is no threat to (or critic of) Kagame.

q.e.d.

keith

P.S.
schreef f. and m. (plural schreven, diminutive schreefje, diminutive plural schreefjes)

1. line, stroke of the pen
2. border (over de schreef: across the border)
3. a decoration at the end of lines which make up letters; a serif.

Not sure how schreef is intended to be used above.

Somalia: Obama's Unholy Alliance With Yoweri Museveni

[Black Star News Editorial]

If  New Year's prayers are answered, then the United States must stop bleeding the people of Somalia.

The U.S. must abandon its current approach to the Somalia tragedy. Washington must explore a genuine solution to end Somalia's decades of warfare and political paralyses.

Currently the U.S. underwrites a fictitious government in Mogadishu kept in place by Ugandan soldiers, sent there on behalf of the U.S. by dictator, Gen. Yoweri K. Museveni, who is without a doubt an unindicted war criminal.

Washington finds this relationship beneficial because by Uganda propping up the fictitious Mogadishu government, the U.S. believes Somalia is secured from being overtaken as a haven by Al-Qaeda, the United States' avowed foe. The U.S. views Somalia as Africa's Afghanistan. Nothing could be further from the truth.

For Gen. Museveni, the relationship is invaluable for many reasons: it prevents the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, from indicting him for the well documented war crimes his army committed in the DR Congo, on which the World Court found Uganda liable and awarded Congo $10 billion, or from unsealing the indictment if one already exists; it prevents Ocampo from indicting Museveni for well documented crimes against humanity committed by his army and generals, on his orders, in the northern part of Uganda; it provides him with the aura of international legitimacy, by being associated with President Barack Obama, even when his popularity continues to erode domestically as Uganda approaches a presidential election in February; and, it provides sustenance, in the form of military materiel and money, for his armed forces--which army he has primarily used to suppress domestic dissent and to commit wars of aggression against Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and now the Central African Republic.

The United States' rationale for having Uganda act as its hired mercenary army is preposterous and actually counters its own stated policy objectives. The fictitious Somalia government currently holds only a few blocks of Mogadishu, the capital. This means that since it's unable to expand its writ beyond this area, Somalia is actually fertile ground to become a haven for Al-Qaeda.

Therefore, the longer the U.S. pursues this strategically suicidal Somalia policy, the longer the crisis lasts, and with it, the suffering of the Somali people. Media accounts never refer to Somalia's civilians deaths, possibly tens of thousands--first through the U.S.-sponsored Ethiopian invasion, through starvation and diseases caused by the recurrent mass dislocations of population, and through the reckless shelling by Ugandan soldiers.

How can the United States continue to underwrite a policy that is actually contributing to the deaths of Somalians, and to the continued destruction of their country?
And what of the war crimes?
In addition to the indiscriminate shelling of Somalian civilians, it's been widely reported, including in corporate newspapers such as The New York Times that the fictitious Somali government employs child soldiers trained by Uganda --some of whom are as young as 11 years old-- to defend the few blocks it now controls.

This comes as no surprise to people who have followed Gen. Museveni's M.O. for years; he employed child soldiers in his own successful insurgency in Uganda. Of course, the use of children in war is prohibited by international law; the Somalian children are being paid with U.S. taxpayers money, which means the Obama administration is actually an accomplice to war crimes.

Fact is the Ugandan army: has not been able to check, let alone defeat the forces fighting against the fictitious Mogadishu government; it has not restored peace to any part of Somalia; it has not protected Somalians against violence from the armed militias; and, it has certainly not made Somalia a better country for its citizens.

It was a tall order--to ask Uganda's president, using his army, to undertake in Somalia what he has not been able to accomplish in Uganda in 25 years in office as the United States' own ambassador in Kampala confided in his memos to Washington, which were revealed to the world, courtesy of Wiki leaks.

Will the United States reverse its Somalia policy in the New Year? Not judging by the latest reports that the United Nations Security Council has okayed thousands of more troop reinforcement --surprise, surprise-- from Uganda, to Somalia.

Uganda's Gen. Museveni is an autocrat who is accountable to no one--his own regime's survival is predicate on continued anarchy in Somalia. The United States has a government that's supposedly accountable to Congress and to the electorate. What Somalia needs is an international conference that involves all major stakeholders, military, political, and civil society.

Contrary to the global media misrepresentation, Somalians are actually some of the most industrious, entrepreneurial, and intellectual people in all of Africa. If such a conference were sponsored by the international community, Somalians could form a legitimate interim regime--not the fictitious and discredited government now imposed on Somalia by the United States and Uganda.

African countries, including those with resources, such as South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, and Libya, might then be more inclined to contribute money and soldiers to a genuine African Union peace keeping force, with a clear mandate and rules of engagement, to ensure the security, while Somalia trains a police force. Perhaps Somalians may even be persuaded to lay down their weapons if they see that the world is genuinely interested in a comprehensive peace and recovery program.

So long as Somalia remains a mere arena for Washington's proxy war with Al-Qaeda, it will in fact remain a haven for all sorts of lawless militias--contributing to more and more Somalian deaths.
Gen. Museveni does not care; but what about President Barack Obama?

"Speaking Truth To Empower."

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• Somalia's al Shabaab say to attack Uganda, Burundi (reuters.com)
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What I confirmed after the Al-Shabab attacks

What I confirmed after the Al-Shabab attacks

By Tony O Otoa

The whole excitement of Africa hosting the World Cup this year was erased following the terrorist attacks in Kampala by the Somali group Al-Shabab. While watching the match with Harry Vanhoeven who I love to refer to as my European African brother, I couldn’t hold back the feeling that Africa was to be seen in a different light from now onwards. As a news junkie, I am always amazed at the African sections in the western media that portray disease and war. It is like African has nothing to offer!

A night that was supposed to be on of the best in my so far as an African ended immediately after with a phone call from a friend who could not hold back her shock. Initially, it seemed like one of the several prank calls I would expect after an exciting game but I was to be proved wrong.

The twin attacks in Kampala left at least 76 dead including a very good friend’s brother. For the first time in six years, Uganda felt vulnerable. The last time this kind of situation was felt was during the last attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army in the North in 2003. For many of the city souls, this was a new experience manifested at a large scale as the LRA never reached anywhere near Kampala. There were also a few ‘bomb’ attacks by the ‘ADF’ around bars in the late 90’s. The real perpetrators of these attacks are still contested among several circles.

After the confirmation of these attacks in Kampala through several phone calls, my mind was occupied by two very crucial things. The first one was about the security of the country and the botched intelligence. For all the resources spent on intelligence in the country, how could these terrorists register such success in their mission? It was known knowledge that the Al-Shabab were planning an attack. In fact, the media had this warning as early as six months ago. If there was areal effort to avoid these attacks, would that not have been enough time for the intelligence guys to act?
For terrorism to be defeated, intelligence is very essential and it has to be reliable. In Uganda today, intelligence is wasted on tracking the opposition and anyone considered an enemy of the system. If only this effort was put into focusing on national security and issues that really matter, terrorism in Uganda could be an old story.

Following the President’s plan to send more brothers and sisters to fight the Al-Shabab in their own territory in Somalia, there is need to guard our borders and step up vigilance. Let us remember that these are men (Al- Shabab) who are willing to blow themselves up for the sake of what they believe in not forgetting the idea of some virgins upon reaching heaven. They have nothing to loose and yet we have a lot to loose. Many people have called for the removal of the UPDF from Somalia, but this is not going to happen very soon. Uganda is in too deep to leave at this moment.

The second crucial thing that kept nagging my mind was the state of our healthcare in Uganda. Mulago hospital which is the country’s main referral hospital was tested on the day of the attacks. I was shocked to see victims of the blast on stretchers in the corridors of the emergency ward still bleeding . I know as a fact that Mulago struggles to contain such emergencies and I must say the doctors and nurses on that day were phenomenal. Despite the lack of equipment, medicine and manpower, some people were able to survive because of these great men and women who at the end of the day get paid pea nuts. Seeing President Museveni walk into Mulago and have no conscience of putting his officials for the poor state of the hospital was sickening but expected.

They say to know a man’s struggles, you need to walk a mile in his shoes. In my opinion, if I was walking in President Museveni’s shoes after such an incident, I would sort out the mess in Mulago hospital and get it back to life saving standards. I would make sure that there is sufficient medicine to treat the poor people who die because corrupt health officials channel most of the medicine including the donated ones to their private pharmacies. Lastly, I would rethink my foreign policy by emphasising what is best for my nation. Instead of sending more troops, I would buy more medicine, fix the pot holes in the city and nationwide and most importantly, I would realise it is time up for me and stand down. I really want to walk in those shoes.

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• AU summit due to focus on Somalia (bbc.co.uk)
• African leaders pledge more troops to fight al-Shabaab after Uganda bombs (independent.co.uk)
• "Over 50 dead as three bomb blasts rock Ugandan capital Kampala, terrorist attack possible: official" and related posts (ugandawatch.blogspot.com)
• U.S.-backed War in Somalia Comes to Uganda, Threatens to Set Whole Region Aflame (indigenist.blogspot.com)