Saturday 10 January 2009

NKUNDA ON THE CEASEFIRE AND NTAGANDA

Whoever believed MONUC lies and check it out now with Chief Obasanjo himself! But there is no joking, the CNDP is firm and clear, how can the negociations hold if the Congolese Government and its proxy militia do not respect Nkunda's unilateral ceasefire? It's worth recoling that it is for the sake of peace that his movement decided the ceasefire, but they won't let anyone step on it. And any mediator believing MONUC' lies should be as practicing partisanship in this whole process.
Read on to check on what Nkunda told Reuters yesterday in the evening about the ceasefire and Ntaganda's latest ambitions:
INTERVIEW-No Congo ceasefire without army pullback -Nkunda
Fri Jan 9, 2009 5:33pm GMT


"INTERVIEW-No Congo ceasefire without army pullback -Nkunda"
" By John Kanyunyu GOMA, Congo, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Congolese Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda said on Friday there could be no ceasefire with the government without an army withdrawal in east Congo to unblock stalled peace talks. "



GOMA, Congo, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Congolese Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda said on Friday there could be no ceasefire with the government without an army withdrawal in east Congo to unblock stalled peace talks.
Nkunda met with a United Nations mediator, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, at his home village of Jomba in Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, to discuss how to advance faltering peace negotiations under way in Kenya.
A previous round of talks in Nairobi in December ended with Nkunda's rebels refusing to sign a declaration ending hostilities with the government, or to renew their own unilateral ceasefire, which ended weeks of fighting in October.
Nkunda's Tutsi-dominated National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) says government soldiers and their militia allies have redeployed into U.N.-monitored buffer zones set up to avoid fresh conflict, and it wants them to pull out.
But Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUC, has said it has detected no Congolese army movements into the areas.

"(Obasanjo) understood. He said MONUC was wrong about these cases, and he said they would verify," Nkunda told Reuters.
"We left these areas in order to open up a space. If this space isn't created, then there is no longer any use signing a ceasefire," he added in a telephone interview.
After launching their offensive in late August, Nkunda's battle-hardened fighters routed President Joseph Kabila's army and captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province, displacing more than a quarter of a million people.

The late October ceasefire ended major battles with government forces but CNDP fighters continued to skirmish with pro-government Mai-Mai militia and Rwandan Hutu rebels.
Six Mai-Mai fighters were killed on Friday, after the militia attacked a CNDP position near Mabenga, 20 km (13 miles) west of the CNDP stronghold of Rutshuru in North Kivu.
When the peace talks resumed on Wednesday in Nairobi, Obasanjo's African Union co-mediator, former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, told rebel and government negotiators the two sides had to formalise a ceasefire agreement.
He said plans were well under way for a summit in mid-January to update leaders from Africa's Great Lakes region on the discussions.
Obasanjo had talks with Congolese President Kabila on Thursday and was due to arrive in Kigali later on Friday to meet Rwandan President Paul Kagame as part of his efforts to revive the struggling peace initiative.

POWER STRUGGLE

Nkunda's meeting with Obasanjo took place as the charismatic rebel leader was facing an open challenge to his leadership of the CNDP from his own military chief of staff.
General Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, announced on Monday in a statement ready by a spokesman to the BBC that he had deposed Nkunda.
On Thursday, Ntaganda, known as "the Terminator", told reporters he had the support of the movement and accused Nkunda of obstructing efforts to bring peace to the war-ravaged east.
But Nkunda and other CNDP spokesmen denied this, and said Ntaganda faced punishment for insubordination. One Nkunda aide said Ntaganda's announcement amounted to "high treason".
Nkunda appeared to take a more conciliatory approach on Friday.
"Nothing has changed. There is one member (Ntaganda) who has been disrespectful. We sent the commission to listen to him, to bring him back to his senses. We want him to work with us, to work well," he said.
Nkunda said that a rebel military disciplinary committee had met on Thursday and Friday to discuss Ntaganda's case.
"He has the right to choose. If he makes the wrong choice, well then, he'll face the consequences."

RDC: Ntaganda "n'a plus d'ordre à donner" au sein du CNDP (Laurent Nkunda)
AFP
09 jan. 09 - 16h42

GOMA (RDCongo), 9 jan 2009 (AFP) - Le chef d'état-major de la rébellion congolaise, Bosco Ntaganda, qui affirme avoir limogé le chef rebelle Laurent Nkunda, "n'a plus d'ordre à donner" au sein du mouvement, a déclaré vendredi à l'AFP M. Nkunda. "Le général Bosco Ntaganda n'a plus qualité de donner des ordres à l'armée du CNDP" (Congrès national pour la défense du peuple), a affirmé M. Nkunda, interrogé au téléphone depuis Goma (est). "Le haut commandement militaire s'est réuni hier et aujourd'hui à son sujet", a-t-il expliqué. "Nous lui avons envoyé une commission de discipline pour l'entendre. Les membres de cette commission discutent avec lui maintenant. Il l'ont rencontré à l'état-major opérationnel de Kirorlirwe" (territoire de Masisi), a précisé M. Nkunda. "Aujourd'hui, nous donnons au général Ntaganda un espace pour qu'il revienne à la raison. Il a le droit de choisir. Mais s'il fait un mauvais choix, il en prendra la responsabilité", a mis en garde le chef rebelle. Le CNDP est en crise ouverte depuis que son chef d'état-major Bosco Ntaganda a annoncé lundi le limogeage pour "mauvais leadership" de Laurent Nkunda. Jeudi, au cours d'une conférence de presse, le général Ntaganda a réaffirmé avoir renversé le président du mouvement rebelle, assurant avoir le soutien "des membres du CNDP et des commandants des grandes unités" militaires du mouvement. Après avoir tenté de minimiser l'incident, les partisans de Nkunda ont dénoncé jeudi "la supercherie" du chef d'état-major et menacé de sanctionner ce "cas d'indiscipline caractérisée". La rébellion contrôle une partie de la province du Nord-Kivu, dans l'est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Nkunda et ses partisans sont basés dans le territoire de Rutshuru (60 km au nord de Goma). Le général Ntaganda évolue dans les collines verdoyantes du territoire du Masisi (ouest de Goma). "Rien n'a changé au sein du mouvement", a de nouveau assuré Laurent Nkunda. "Il y a eu un membre indiscipliné. Il était respecté, mais aujourd'hui il ne l'est plus et il n'a plus d'ordre à donner à l'armée du CNDP". Le chef d'état-major "est entouré de 20 ou 30 militaires. Peut-il renverser le gouvernement du CNDP? Je ne crois pas", a assuré le chef rebelle. "Le général Ntaganda restera là où il est, sans pouvoir, jusqu'à ce qu'il revienne à la raison. La commission de discipline me donnera son rapport, à l'issue duquel nous déciderons de son sort", a conclu M. Nkunda. Aucun collaborateur de M. Ntaganda n'était joignable vendredi après-midi pour commenter ces déclarations.


Obasanjo rencontre le rebelle Nkunda dans l'est de la RDC
AFP
09 jan. 09 - 16h28

GOMA (RDCongo), 9 jan 2009 (AFP) - Le médiateur de l'ONU en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), le nigérian Olusegun Obasanjo, s'est rendu vendredi matin dans l'est du pays où il a rencontré le chef rebelle Laurent Nkunda, a-t-on appris de sources concordantes. "M. Obasanjo s'est rendu ce matin à Jomba pour rencontrer Nkunda", a indiqué à l'AFP le porte-parole de la rébellion du Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP), Bertrand Bisimwa. Leur rencontre s'est achevée en fin de matinée, a précisé au correspondant de l'AFP à Goma un proche collaborateur du chef rebelle. Interrogé au téléphone par l'AFP depuis Goma, le général Nkunda a confirmé la rencontre. "Nous avons tablé sur des questions qui peuvent faire avancer les négociations de Nairobi", a expliqué le chef rebelle. La localité de Jomba est située à environ 60 km au nord de Goma, la capitale provinciale du Nord-Kivu, dans les territoires sous contrôle de la rébellion. L'ex-président nigérian, désigné fin novembre par l'ONU pour trouver une issue à la crise dans l'est de la RDC, se trouvait jeudi à Kinshasa où il s'est entretenu avec le président congolais Joseph Kabila, avant de se rendre à Kigali. Ces nouvelles consultations de M. Obasanjo interviennent alors que des négociations directes entre la rébellion et le gouvernement congolais ont repris mercredi à Nairobi. Le CNDP connaît également une crise ouverte au sein de son leadership après que son chef d'état-major Bosco Ntaganda eut annoncé en début de semaine avoir limogé Laurent Nkunda. Sur les négociations de Nairobi, "M. Obasanjo va s'entretenir au téléphone avec les présidents de l'assemblée nationale et du sénat (congolais)", a affirmé le général Nkunda. Le médiateur de l'ONU "a dit que la Monuc s'était trompée sur l'occupation de (la ligne de front de) Kibati et il a promis qu'ils vérifieraient ça", a affirmé le chef rebelle. Le CNDP affirme depuis deux semaines que l'armée gouvernementale congolaise a renforcé ses positions et procédé à des redéploiements sur cette ligne de front de Kibati, en périphérie nord de la ville de Goma. La Monuc a démenti ces allégations, provoquant le mécontentement du CNDP qui demandait depuis lors l'intervention de la médiation. M. Obasanjo "a promis d'aider jusqu'à ce que la paix revienne en RDC", selon le général Nkunda. Après sa visite dans l'est de la RDC, le médiateur devait se rendre à Nairobi.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Taking care not staying behind the events. We face on international scale some changes we have to face properly, otherwise we might land in the dustbin of history. There are some people who think to solve problems of today with ideas from yesterday. Of course that would not work. And if one has to go ahead with struggle they propose to stop. This is quite normal and eminent to the problem. But usually when victory is at sight those people try to draw things back. This is because they lack sight. It is useless to dwell on such matters and the best idea is to clean body from those remains. We must never forget when building new society, these old remains will again and again try regain the stage hoping to establish the old society. But they make one essential mistake, they ignore the will of the majority of the poeple and their wishes. If one sticks faithful and with love to the people one never makes a mistake. But all the reactionairies who forget this emerge to autocrats. The trouble is these times shows us that autocrats all over the world have big trouble but the freedom love of the poeple is getting bigger and bigger. It is up to everyone to decide, which side are you on.
L.

Anonymous said...

CNDP showed dangerous and serious strategic breaches both from inside and from outside.

Nkunda and his staff, assuming they are professional, forgot or didn't pay enough attention to the big importance of agreement forms and information sharing for some basic security issues.

About the army withdrawal issue, it's clear that you can't leave your territory ground unattended hopping that your neighbor but challenger and even potential enemy, here the MONUC, will do it for you.
The minimum they could do was to create a special joint police with MONUC to control those areas.

Ntaganda's issue being the biggest with the supposed power struggle, is also due to a big mistake done by Nkunda and mostly by the CNDP staff. All Staff members should behave alike and share their thinking and by using trusted relations including laws.

Otherwise, they'll pull badly on the CNDP body with severe consequences. Using laws to settle the dispute is a bit to late.
A gentleman agreement is the best option. The challenge is serious enough to avoid any mistake. The enemies aren't so weak as the situation seems to be!

Bagambiki.