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Comprehensive report on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By expert analysts Miranda, Hee-Won, Ray, Uriah, Jo-t, Carson and analysts Bharath and Sohrob. Click on the link to see the documentary!
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Camaraderie Becomes a Problem
In actuality, the driving force for the FADRC footmen’s ‘sympathy’ was the camaraderie between FADRC troops and M23 members to which the elite groups weren’t exposed. This is a key circumstance in war where camaraderie proved problematic for the reigning government, as civil military wars tend to become more personal than the regular pitched battle warfare.
By Uriah Khambatta, BNett News
Iwacu, Ikaze. "DR Congo deploys elite unit to fight M23 Africa Al Jazeera English." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 9 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
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The Civilians of The DRC vs. The M23
With the M23 slowly winning make battles and forcing government soldiers to flee, this give them the chance to loot weapons and ammo from villages to take over making the M23 stronger with each victory.
By J. Raymond Bryars, BNett News
France 24 English "Congo: M23 rebels advance and civilians free" Online Video Clip. Youtube. Youtube. 10 July 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2013
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A Possible End
However, progress is still being made as the rebels have started surrendering with the recent army attacks on M23 bases. Some have fled into Uganda, a country sympathetic to Tutsis.
Even though the M23 seem to have begun disintegrating, the threat of them regrouping still remains. Thus, it is crucial that the DRC sign a peace deal soon so that it no longer has to face conflicts with M23 and other minor rebel groups.
By Hee Won Kim, BNett News
(Source: Youtube)
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Feeding The Hungry
The UN representative's nonchalance in response to the gun shots indicates that they are very common and people have almost grown immune to their terror.
By Carson Tunnell, BNett News
(Source: World Food Programme)
World For Programme "DRC: Feeding the Hungry in A Conflict Zone." Online video clip.
YouTube. YouTube, 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
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Due Justice
One of the problems that has caused this is the failure of the DRC to fully assist the International Criminal Court in its efforts to try such people. For example, the government has not apprehended Laurent Nkunda, a former Congolese army official charged with war crimes by the body. To add insult to injury, the government has long known where Nkunda lives but has not moved to arrest him. This man, accused of horrendous acts like gang raping a woman and her three-year old daughter in front of her husband, has not been brought to justice. Rwanda is also partially to blame for not handing over other rebel leaders charged with human rights violations to the international authorities.
The international community and the DRC's government is increasingly focusing on bringing past leaders to trial while allowing local soldiers to rehabilitate themselves, in an effort to end the fighting as soon as possible. Reintegration assistance, funded by loans from the World Bank and from the DRC government, has been massively successful thus far: the World Bank alone has helped recollect 120,000 weapons, disarm and return 32,000 children to their families, and give US $600 to 100,000 former soldiers to return to normal livelihoods.
For a lot of these former rebels, life will never regress to those lows of war again.
By Bharath Srivatsan, BNett News
(Sources: Peacebuilding Data, Human Rights Watch, The World Bank)
"Background: The Congo Conflict." PeacebuildingData.org. PeacebuildingData.org, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
"Demobilization and Reintegration in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)." Worldbank.org. The World Bank Group, 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
"D.R. Congo: Arrest Laurent Nkunda For War Crimes | Human Rights Watch." Hrw.org. Human Rights Watch, 2 Feb. 2006. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
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Is The Army to Blame?
Congolese government soldiers patrolling the streets. (HRW)
Congolese army soldiers are often just as bad as rebel forces in terms of human rights violations, it seems. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented massive amounts of rape and torture by government forces.
The victims of these abuses have told extremely gruesome stories. Some women, attempting to escape the M23 advance in Goma, reached government checkpoints where they were forced to lie down and accept being raped by multiple security officials. Women have been raped in front of their husbands and children, told that they would be killed if they screamed or protested.
Children have been murdered by army personnel, and while groups like HRW don't directly blame the army for using child soldiers, the DRC allegedly supports groups that do. For example, the Hutu-aligned FDLR forces, perhaps supported by the DRC's government as a proxy against Rwanda, have used child soldiers.
Perhaps even more dangerously, a new generation is being brought up to hate other ethnic groups. FDLR, the largest militia still in the DRC, claims that they work in Jesus's name to eradicate the Tutsi cockroaches and take back Rwanda for the Hutus. This then is used as propaganda to brainwash children. Many kids have never even seen a Tutsi in their lives but are taught to fear and revile them as the enemies. The army is tacitly supporting all of this with their ignoring this group's warring currently.
Will the next generation continue the fighting?
By Bharath Srivatsan, BNett News
(Sources: Human Rights Watch, The Guardian)
"DR Congo: War Crimes by M23, Congolese Army | Human Rights Watch." DR Congo: War Crimes by M23, Congolese Army | Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
McGreal, Chris. "'We Have to Kill Tutsis Wherever They Are'" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 16 May 2008. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
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Disgusting Tactics
A recruit demonstrating martial arts in Eastern DRC, May 16th, 2013 (Reuters)
A M23 rebel trainer running past recruits crawling on the ground during a training session, May 16th, 2013 (Reuters)
Over 24 cases of summary executions were observed by the HRW, in which civilians were murdered to instill fear into the general populace. While the M23 claimed their forces had liberated Goma and that they would be disciplined, rebel fighters looted and raped all over the city and province. In one incident, a four year old girl asking rebels where they were taking her father was shot and killed.
A lot of these rape cases could be attributed to a psychological theory called eros thanatos, the idea that love and death are conflagrated during times of war. Essentially, in the mythical reality that war creates, rape culture is permitted because of the similarities rape has to killing in itself. To tackle this, the government of the DRC should be really strict on past rapists, bringing the army as a whole back to a more grounded sense of reality.
M23 Rebel recruits receive a training session Rumangabo military camp, May 16, 2013 (Reuters)
Army soldiers, medical officials, and others were forced to join the ranks of the M23, and were taken to camps to be 'retrained'; a possible euphemism for brainwashing or worse.
By Bharath Srivatsan, BNett News
(Source: The Human Rights Watch, Daily Mail)
"DR Congo: War Crimes by M23, Congolese Army | Human Rights Watch." DR Congo: War Crimes by M23, Congolese Army | Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
Miller, Daniel. "The UN Prepares to Go to War for the First Time, with a 3,000-strong Task Force Sent to Fight Rebels in the Congo." Dailymail.co.uk. Associated Newspapers Ltd, 14 June 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
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By Bharath Srivatsan, BNett News
(Source: African Defence)
Olivier, Darren. "How M23 Was Rolled Back." African Defence Review RSS. African Defence Review, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
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Training True Fighters?
By Bharath Srivatsan, BNett News
(Source: African Defence)
Olivier, Darren. "How M23 Was Rolled Back." African Defence Review RSS. African Defence Review, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
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Building Their Way Back Up
The entrance to the City of Joy. Built by the women for the women.
Today there are 821 organizations working on bringing the Congo economy back up to speed in order to stabilize the region and avoid further conflict. 50% of the rebels returning say their lives have improved since returning and 65% have become engaged with positive economic activity like receiving an education.
With more economic initiatives taking place like agriculture training for 29,000 people by the African Development Bank, we may start to see some positives changes. UNICEF, UNDP and many other organizations are working on these same goals together to hopefully create a stable Africa.
By Carson Tunnell, BNett News
(Source: The Guardian)
Viner, Katharine. "City of Joy: New Hope for Congo's Brutalised Women." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 09 Apr. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
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Not Everything that Glitters is Gold
Besides ethnic and political tension, economic motives have spurred the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC). The DRC has an estimated $24 trillion in untapped minerals containing 30% of the world's diamonds and over 70% of the world's coltan (a metal used in the production of consumer electronics).
In order to fund their forces, belligerents fight over mines and export the minerals. In 2003 as the price of coltan escalated, as did the violence. In addition to coltan and diamonds, the Congo Basin has vast gold, copper, and cobalt reserves.
Congolese gold mining operation, Reuters, 2009
The combination of colonialism, nationalism, ethnic tension, and history of violence have put the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a seemingly perpetual state of war which has taken 5.4 million lives.
By Sohrob Moslehi, BNett News
(Sources: BBC News, Huffington Post, VOA News)
Winter, Joseph. "DR Congo Poll Crucial for Africa." BBC News. BBC, 16 Nov. 2006. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Davidson, Kavitha A. "Congo's Conflict Minerals Fund Rebels' Brutal War, Use Of Child Soldiers In Sub-Saharan Africa (PHOTOS)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 05 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Dec.
Long, Nick. "Map Shows Gold Is Top Conflict Mineral in Eastern Congo." VOA. Voice of America, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
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Ethnic Hatred Crosses Boundaries
Congolese Child Soldier, New York Times, 2003
In 1997, former Zaire president Mobutu fled and Kabila founded the Democratic Republic of the Congo in what was formerly known as Zaire. Kabila asked Rwandan and Ugandan forces to leave the nation, but they didn't; instead, Rwandan forces retreated to Goma (a city in the Eastern DRC) and from there launched a Tutsi-led campaign against the government. In response, Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe joined the conflict on Kabila's side. This was The Second Congo War, the aftermath of which is being faced today.
By Sohrob Moslehi, BNett News
(Source: BBC News)
"Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News. BBC, 11 July 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
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History of Oppression and Anguish
Mobutu Sese Seko, BBC, 2005
Leopold became wealthy off of Congolese ivory, minerals, and above all rubber. He enforced rubber quotas by employing the brutal Force Publique (a group comprising of white officers and local solders) to sever hands of people who failed to meet them. In 1960, Belgium left the Congo and within three months the country was in chaos. It was not until 1965 that Colonel Mobutu Sese Seko finally gained power and brought peace. In 1971, Mobutu founded the Republic of Zaire and quickly won support from the West because of his strong anti-communist sentiments. The West, the United States in particular, supported him throughout the Cold War
By Sohrob Moslehi, BNett News
(Source: BBC News)
"Democratic Republic of Congo Profile." BBC News. BBC, 11 July 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
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Union Within the M23 Rebels
M23 rebels take position near the town of Mutaho, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on May 27, 2013. (Reuters)
What ideologies were instilled within the M23 and FARDC militia to unify each task force as an army?
Aside from the ideological and religious methods used for unification of troops, a sense of camaraderie was instilled by creating competition between contingents or teams of rebels within the army. Each contingent was assigned a name of a socialist revolutionary. As each contingent rose in ranks (by completing missions or simply outperforming other contingents) they would receive names for more and more famous socialists. This sense of competition necessitated teamwork and cooperation within each contingent, overall forming the glue that would hold together M23's militia: camaraderie.
Lastly, completion of leadership training granted troops their own personal weapons. This final step completes the cycle of the boot-camp process where an individual is stripped of their identity and then built up again. Here, the troops are awarded a personal artifact that builds up their identity with the M23 rebels.
By Uriah Khambatta, BNett News
Hammond, Joseph. "M23's Congo Cadres: The Rebel Movement with a Taste for Local Politics." Think Africa Press. Think Africa Press, 23 Oct. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
http://thinkafricapress.com/drc/m23-cadres-key-grip-power
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Physical vs. Mental
Rape Used As A Weapon in DR Congo War - 22 Oct 09, Al Jazeera
Weapons can be described as a tool that inflicts damage to the opposition. This damage could be physical or even mental, and in some cases both. In the DRC psychological warfare is being used to inflict physical and mental damage. The UN has made long strenuous reports that M23 rebels are beginning to target civilians. Civilians who flee their village when M23 troops capture it and seek refuge in government areas only to later return are brutally punished (M23 rebels tie up a civilian who returned to his village in search of food).
These civilians are believed to be favoring the government over the rebels but in actuality they are fleeing because the rebels exploit all civilians the same. M23 rebels force villagers to give up all their food and worst of all their daughters.
The UN reports that rebels are now using rape as weapon. There are horrific stories of rebels gang raping girls as young 12. An older man was interviewed in the hospital, he says 4-5 M23 rebels raped his 80 year old wife and forced him to watch. He passed out and woke up in the hospital, he says "only animals can do what those men did". Another incident occurred where a woman was raped and gasoline was poured on her inner thighs afterwards and set on fire.
Statistics suggest that almost 400 rapes occur in one day. Evidence and interviews of rape victims conclude that almost 90% of rape cases are inflicted by M23 rebels. Rape is a sadistic act that inflicts mental trauma as well as physical damage. The rape victims in the DRC are shunned and are afraid to return to their village because their husbands and families are ashamed to take them back. Little is being done to help the victims.
A sanctuary was built for rape victims known as the City of Joy. The City of Joy admits all sexually abused women for 6 months but then the women are thrown back into the termoil of the conflict. The UN has stepped in to help women and rehabilitate them back into regular society.
By Jotham Anderson, BNett News
Davidson, Basil. "Pan-African News Wire." : Rape Used As Weapon in DRC War. Pan-African News Wire, 22 Oct. 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
http://panafricannews.blogspot.sg/2009/10/rape-used-as-weapon-in-drc-war.html
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Giving A Helping Hand
M23 Rebels with leader Sultan Makenga no longer active (Human Rights Watch)
In present day, Rwanda's government is believed to be Tutsi. The UN pours money into Rwanda and is the biggest financial aid in Rwanda's fight against HIV/AID's. Recently, reports show that the 75 million euros donated by Britain have been used by the Rwandan government (Tutsi based) to provide arms for the M23 rebel group (Tutsi based).
Since the accusation of Rwanda's involvement in M23 affairs, the UN/Britain have frozen all funds to Rwanda. All fingers point to James Kabarebe, the Rwandan Minister of Defense.
Rwandan Minister of Defense, James Kabarebe (Umuvugizi)
James Kabarebe is being accused by the UN of having direct correlation with the M23 group and being engaged in chain of command. The president of Rwanda Paul Kagame abruptly spoke out against the allegations quoting "absolute rubbish and hogwash. Not one bullet has passed from his country to the Congo Rebels."
The UN has become convinced that Rwandan government is funding small proxies-groups (Tutsi) to prolong their ongoing feud with Hutu extremist groups. The situation is somewhat like Pakistan with the Taliban terrorist cell in Afghanistan. Pakistan's intelligence services, the ISI, has been accused of supporting the Afghan Taliban covertly to wage war against the West, just as Rwanda is being accused of using M23 to fight the Hutus in the DRC. As well as Rwanda, the UN also received information which lead to accusations of the Ugandan (borders the northern part of Rwanda) government of actually supplying Ugandan troops to aid M23 rebels along with weapon deliveries. Uganda is just one of many foreign countries funding military action in the DRC. The biggest suppliers of arms and money are China, Egypt, France, South Africa, Ukraine, and the US. None of these countries have ethnic ties to Tutsi or Hutus so the other clear catalyst for their involvement is access to the DRC's large natural resources.
The current state of the government may be clamping down on the exportation of the countries natural resources; but under a new government, forged with the help of these foreign countries, may allow some leniency with foreign countries tapping their natural resource supply.
By Jotham Anderson, BNett News
"Rwanda Defence Chief Leads DR Congo Rebels, UN Report Says." BBC News. BBC, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19973366
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