KAMPALA SMOKE-SCREEN

Ambassador James Mugume, permanent secretary for the Ministry of foreign affairs in Uganda, knows his stuff if we believe what he said prior to the CIGLR summit in Kampala this week. He told New Vision that France and Belgium are the ones who mainly distort any progress when it comes to solving the political conflict in Eastern DRC. He is fully aware that they use the media to convince the so called international community that their solutions are better. Likely any keen observer of the region, he is not afraid to say that these western powers and their allies want to perpetuate chaos rather than bringing about peace. When I read this I thought that the summit was going to make, at least, the first step in reversing this infamous trend. I was not too hopeful though for two reasons: first because of Mary Robinson statements before the summit (I wrote about that); and secondly because of the involvement of the UN, the AU and the presence of guys like Russ Feingold at the summit. These are the channels that Western power use always to pretend that they respect local solutions. It's just all about pretending because their presence does, in reality, ensure that it is the Western agenda that is followed.

The proof is in the declarations and reports made in Kampala this week. Let's take the declaration of Heads of State, signed as a result from the Ministers' reports. You can look hard and you will not find any pressure on the DRC or on the UN to stop inflicting misery of the people in the Kivu. What looks like coming close to such a pressure is the injunction to the parties to the Kampala talks to resume in three days and conclude the talks in 14 days, nothing else.

You know the summit is not about the endemic political problems of Eastern DRC, when you see that the heads of state are talking only of security problems. This is a Western mantra that is meant to change people's perception. I mean that if you solve political problems, you bring peace and conditions of development, then you consequently solve security issues that way. When the focus is on the security, you know we are in somebody else boots, not our people's bare feet.

You know the summit is not about the historical and endemic political problems of Eastern DRC, when you see that the heads of state avoided to squarely point out the UN involvement in the bombings of Goma and Gisenyi. Instead of that they increase conflict bureaucracy by admitting MONUSCO to the MCVE, which as they clearly state is financed by the EU through AU? How local can the enquiries of this body be???? How can you admit the MONUSCO aggressors, working with genocidaires FDLR to any mechanism of verification of what???

You know the summit's agenda was foreign all along when you see heads of state who know Kabila starts all attacks, demand that M23 ceases all military activities. How will it defend itself against the criminal coalition MONUSCO-FIB-FDLR-FARDC? Besides they demand that M23 ceases threats to topple the government in Kinshasa. But M23 is not about toppling the government in Kinshasa. That is Roger Lumbala's ambition. And guys in M23 should know Lumbala is using them as a plateform to find his 2016 electoral bearings. I doubt that Lumbala is interested in the dilapidated agricultural infrastructure in Masisi or Bunia. These heads of State are showing that they understand the Eastern DRC problem with the French, Belgian and US lenses, which means simply colonial lenses.

You know CIGLR heads of state are playing in the hands of colonialists when you see them put M23 at the same level of negative forces; and committing themselves to work with FIB to fight it; don't they know FIB is working with FDLR? Why deceive us?

Finally you know all this is not about our people's peace when you see CIGLR heads of state bring on the DRC resources predators from the SADC. Yeah, they did that in point 11 of their declaration. All the above shows you that:

1) Kampala was a smoke screen and the door by which the ground has been prepared for more chaos in Eastern DRC. The UN is after a generalized war.

2) Next thing you'll know, Kabila and his criminal military allies are going to re-start their attacks on M23 soon because they have demonstrated they will never participate, let alone conclude talks. It's not the bland declarations in Kampala that will change that.