NEW CONGO DEFENSE ARCHITECTURE: ELECTRIC D FENCE + UN COMBAT FORCE + FOL BASES + DRONES

I’ve repeated it several times: to end those stupid wars in eastern Congo, the supply chain for bloody minerals from the Congo (coltan, diamonds, gold, tin, etc.) and other goods (coffee, tea, timber, etc.) must be disrupted at all cost. Once full disruption is achieved, it will preserve the lives of millions of Congolese, who have suffered at the hands of the armies of Rwanda and Uganda and the rebels these two countries have sponsored for two decades in eastern Congo. I understand much will come out from The Hague when Bosco Ntaganda finally decides to sing…

I congratulate the governments of Tanzania and Mozambique for joining the combat brigade to put a closure to the suffering in eastern Congo. I urge the South African government to learn from its mistakes in Bangui and to carry out its military intervention in eastern DRC with no strings attached, I mean with no economic gain in mind to fund the ANC and its caciques.

As the UN combat force disarms and destroys rebel groups in the DRC, the construction of the Electric D-Fence must proceed until the Congo borders with Rwanda and Uganda are completely sealed off. On the other hand, the military bases at Kamina and Kisangani shall be used for drone reconnaissance flights and for UN military planes and helicopters to engage those criminals in uniform also known as rebels. They will also serve as forward-location bases (FOL) to track, ground, or gun down any plane illegally landing or taking off from eastern DRC.

Any decent human being will agree with me that the choir at the United Nations International Criminal Court will not be complete until all those M-23 leaders and their Rwanda-and-Uganda backers are arrested and brought to justice. The UN combat force shall also be tasked with searching and arresting those criminals. It is a shared understanding among decent human beings worldwide that African “Hitlers”, also known as African dictators and tyrants, are a threat to world peace and security. Therefore, it is a moral obligation of the civilized world to eradicate tyranny from East Africa and Central Africa to preserve the human species that still dwell in that part of the world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21972193

 

 

SMART BORDERS FOR EASTERN CONGO: WHY CONGO NEEDS AN ELECTRIC D-FENCE

Some would roll their eyes because they care more about the last mountain gorillas in eastern Congo and less about the millions of human beings who daily see hordes of criminals in uniform cross the border from Rwanda and Uganda to rape and kill Congolese and loot Congo’s natural resources. Now, I must put it straightforward: Congo needs an electric D-fence on the east for homeland security purposes as long as those who sponsor atrocities in eastern Congo remain on power in Rwanda and Uganda.

This is no rocket science here. Many developed countries still use them nowadays to protect their lands against the invasion of illegal workers and terrorists. So, doesn’t it make more sense for the Congo to have such a deterrent tool to protect its civilian population against atrocities committed by the Rwandan and Ugandan armies and their sponsored rebel groups inside the Congo?

What are other advantages of a Congo D-Fence? (1) It will cut the supply of troops, weapons, and ammunition from Rwanda and Uganda; (2) It will cripple the economies of Rwanda and Uganda, which are based, to some extent, on the looting of Congo’s natural resources via those childish and stupid wars; (3) It will force the international community to be proactively engaged in protecting the lives of millions of human lives in eastern Congo and punish those responsible of atrocities against human dignity.

As I stated earlier, this is a temporary fix to the problem in eastern Congo until the exogenous root cause of violence in eastern Congo has been removed. In the meantime, any trade with Rwanda and Uganda would be through lakes. Again, for those who still don’t get it: Congo does not exist to bail out the economies of Rwanda and Uganda, PERIOD.

Congo’s D-Fence shall be modeled after the border security fence along the Israel-Egypt border (see below). There will be only three differences:  (1) a double fence; (2) besides barbed wire, surveillance cameras, and radar, sound devices will be used to ward off animals such as those mountain gorillas and other species the rest of the world seems to care much more about than about human lives; (3) instead of bare soil (below), we've got abundant vegetation in eastern Congo.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/2013/03/18/villagers-say-rwandan-troops-crossed-into-congo/BqHvLDBzhF0QMQSBYdDNNP/story.html

 

DICTATORSHIP IN UGANDA, RWANDA, BURUNDI, AND THE CONGO: THE PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUE # 1

I have repeated it many times on this blog, on the Foreign Policy Magazine, and other forums: dictators, including African Hitlers are a real threat to world security. At this point, only the most stubborn dummies in foreign policy will cling to the myths of useful dictators, benevolent dictators, or needed dictators.

Take the case of Kagame and Museveni, the dictators of Rwanda and Uganda. It has been well documented that not only have these African Hitlers looted minerals and other riches of the Congo in the last 17 years, but they are directly responsible for the death of over 4,000,000 Congolese through direct invasion of the Congo and the material support of criminals in uniform, a.k.a. rebels inside the Congo during the same period of time. Don't those stupid wars sponsored by Rwanda and Uganda in the Congo create a public safety issue for the Congolese? Again, only those who never passed Foreign Policy 101 would think that the Rwanda-and-Uganda backed wars in the Congo have created safe haven for the Congolese! Unfortunately, such stubborn dummies are still found around the world!

I have advocated for a comprehensive solution to the dictatorship problem in Africa's Great Lakes region, and I am pleased that the international community is slowly waking up to face the crude reality of tyranny in this part of the world. There is no decent human being in Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the DRC who is happy with dictatorship in those countries. Only corrupt, immoral, and fossilized minds endorse dictatorships and see them as the solution to human struggle for decent living and full realization of human potential.

Dictatorship does not provide room for accountability. Dictators and tyrants are free to loot, kill, and violate national laws, and even international laws as in the case of Kagame's and Museveni's killings and lootings in the Congo. This public safety issue must be addressed urgently. The comprehensive solution to the tyranny problem in the Great Lakes region will require foreign donors to use wisdom in how foreign taxpayers' monies are spent. Therefore, I've always endorsed any intitiative aimed at stopping the flow of monies and other monetarizable resources to countries run by dictators. If the international community is seriously interested in ending tyranny in the Great Lakes region and eliminating the specific public safety risk posed by African Hitlers, now is the time for effective financial sanctions against tyrants. Otherwise, African dictators will continue to prey on their own people and on foreign taxpayers.

BREAKING A VICIOUS PATTERN OF VIOLENCE IN AFRICA'S GREAT LAKES REGION

Foreign Affairs 101 Quiz 1: What do Paul Kagame, Yoweri Museveni, and Joseph Kabila have in common? They’re all former armed rebels turned statesmen and dictators! It is that vicious pattern of rebels turning into statesmen that must be terminated in the Great Lakes region and Central Africa! This is the most urgent public safety concern to be addressed.

Foreign Affairs 101 Quiz 2: What do M23 and other DRC rebel leaders seek? Answer: statesmanship.

Foreign Affairs 101 Quiz 3: What do Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Uganda”s Yoweri Museveni seek through their DRC proxies, a.k.a rebels? Continue to plunder Congo’s natural resources (coltan, diamonds, gold, tin, coffee, tea, timber, etc.) and kill any Congolese who oppose them.

Foreign Affairs 101 Quiz 4: How about a power-sharing agreement between Joseph Kabila and M23? We’ve seen that before; it means bringing more criminals in uniform to Kinshasa remotely controlled by Rwanda and Uganda, a public safety issue! They would add to the existing bands of criminals, mostly thieves, already in Kinshasa!

On December 15, 2012, I wrote on this blog:

“Imagine telling the cops to walk their beats and not to intervene as long as the criminals do not endanger people's lives. This equates to giving the green light or carte blanche to criminals to commit all types of crimes and walk free as long as they do not cause any wound to the civilian population. It is like telling them that they can steal, loot, enslave, rape, and do all unimaginable atrocities provided they do not cause any wound to their victims! Unfortunately, this has been the mandate the United Nations gave to its largest mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo! In the DRC, those criminals are the Rwanda-and-Uganda backed rebels whose atrocities have been well documented and publicized enough in recent months throughout the world.

As a criminologist and law enforcement expert, I strongly believe that any United Nations military or paramilitary force must be tasked with enforcing international law through the use of all tools to force belligerent groups to comply with civilized codes of conduct. Therefore, I urge the United Nations to strengthen its 19,000 troops in the Congo so that they can respond with fire any time criminals in uniform, also known as rebels and their foreign backers, violate decent norms of conduct (…)"

Foreign Affairs 101 Quiz 5: What has the United Nations come up with on January 25, 2013?

Answer from Reuters: “U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will recommend to the U.N. Security Council that a peace enforcement unit be deployed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to take on the M23 rebels and other armed groups, a senior U.N. official said on Friday.

The intervention unit of a few thousand troops would aim to prevent armed groups from expanding territory in the resource-rich region by overpowering and disarming them. The unit would be contained within the existing U.N. force, known as MONUSCO.

"It is not simply peacekeeping, this is peace enforcement. It's a much more robust stance," said the official, who declined to be named. "It will be a deterrent against the armed groups..."

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCABRE90O16I20130125?sp=true

NOW IT SEEMS THAT WORLD AFFAIRS KEY PLAYERS HAVE GOTTEN THE MESSAGE!

NOW LET'S TALK DICTATORS, REBELS, DEMOCRACY AND FOREIGN AID!

I have spent the last few months attacking the M23 rebels and their foreign sponsors and have contributed to  global awareness of the crisis in eastern Congo through this blog and on the Foreign Policy Magazine. I have not spared Joseph Kabila from criticism. For us Congolese, he still remains our headache because he bears part of the responsibility on the ongoing crisis. Put simply: if there is one thing dictators and rebels have in common, it is that both groups fit very well in the criminal category, be it in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, etc. It is that criminal element that must be eradicated in those countries and others, period.

For those who never passed Political Science 101, I need to remind them that the current leaders of the DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda were armed rebels, i.e., criminals, and violated the laws of their own countries by promoting insurgency and participating in the killing of innocent people. Rebellion is a crime; any rebel is a criminal; any former rebel who becomes a statesman is still a criminal in Rwanda, Uganda, the DRC, etc. and must be prosecuted based on the laws he violated and not based on the laws he enacted to protect himself against prosecution. There is always a case départ !

As a democracy advocate and human rights activist, I urge those with power in world politics to use their influence and pressure to promote the cause of freedom and democracy  in the countries cited above and others across the globe and to starve to death every single dictator  and armed rebel group by freezing any direct and indirect foreign aid to dictators, their assets, and their associates' assets. Throughout the years, I have repeated this same message over and over again in meetings with Western diplomats and on the Internet. There is no other way to safeguard foreign taxpayers' money!

Much has been achieved in recent weeks in freezing the assets of the Rwanda-and-Uganda backed M23 rebels. Now is the time to focus on the foreign assets of the dictators of Africa's Great Lakes region and work towards the end of tyranny in this part of the world. This is a second test for the international community to help eliminate dictatorships and build democracies.

For those who still struggle with Foreign Policy 101, the reasoning is very simple: dictatorship, freedom, and rule of law cannot mix; they're like water and oil. No dictator can promote democracy and the only specie a dictator can turn into is that monstrous creature I once coined "dictocrat" at  the Foreign Policy Magazine. This is a weird specie that sheds its skin through fraudulent elections to camouflage its tyrannical origins and ends. Paul Kagame, Yoweri Museveni, Joseph Kabila, Paul Biya, Bozizé, etc. are just a few examples. Along the same lines, there is no such a thing as "benevolent dictator". I've heard some diplomats praise creatures such as Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni as benevolent dictators. They're wrong and must go back to school: these individuals and some of their peers are not only tyrants, but they also belong to what I've also coined a "new generation of African thieves". 

I am pleased that only a few countries still roll the red carpet for visiting dictators, and it is comforting that state dinners in presidential palaces to honor visiting dictators and tyrants have become a rare event  in today's world. I commend those leaders who refuse to physically associate, even on picture, with African dictators and tyrants. I urge them to move beyond  the symbolic state dinner ban and start playing a more active role towards the end of tyranny in Africa in general and in Africa's Great Lakes region in particular. A bon entendeur, salut!

WELCOME DRONES AND FOL BASE IN THE CONGO!

On November 27, 2012 and December 9, 2012, I published well-thought opinion-articles on the Foreign Policy magazine and on this blog urging the United Nations to take actions towards ending those Rwanda-fueled stupid, primitive, and stone-aged wars in eastern Congo. I also suggested, among many things, the implementation of an aerial interdiction program to fight contraband of some stolen goods from the Congo (diamonds, gold, etc.) that can easily be smuggled by air. Based on my experience in Latin America, I've  also advocated for the installation of a Forward-Location Base (FOL) to monitor eastern Congo and terminate those very stupid wars no real Mensch is pleased with!

Things have been moving in the right direction since my several political writings on this blog and on the Foreign  Policy Magazine (see my previous posts). I am pleased that the United Nations is now considering deploying drones in eastern Congo. In fact, the Boston Globe wrote on January 8, 2013, under the title UN wants to use surveillance drones in the Congo :

“(…) The diplomats said France, Britain, the U.S. and other Western countries back the deployment of drones in eastern Congo, saying it would enhance the ability of peacekeepers to track armed groups and help protect U.N. forces from ambushes. U.N. officials say drones could also be useful in other African conflicts and (…) The exploitation of Congo’s mineral resources continues to exacerbate conflict and instability on the ground.

The M23 rebel group is made up of hundreds of mainly Tutsi soldiers who deserted the Congolese army in April. A U.N. group of experts reported in November that M23 is backed by Rwanda, which has provided them with battalions of fighters and sophisticated arms, like night vision goggles (...)”

http://www.boston.com/news/world/united-nations/2013/01/08/wants-use-surveillance-drones-congo/jtDP9Vn1zHbHWJDcym6ErI/story.html

I have not been preaching in the desert, and I welcome this new move by the United Nations. We need drones and an FOL base in the Congo to fight extremists and their sponsors. It's one of the many steps that still must be taken in the right direction to protect the people of the Congo and hold accountable the suppliers (Rwanda) and recipients (M23) for their atrocities against the peaceful people of the Congo. 

Congo sits over hundreds of trillions of dollars in natural resources (see http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39986&Cr=democratic&Cr1=congo#.UO0IxxGFzkc), and we understand that undemocratic China has made huge progress securing contracts with the current government of the DRC and has made giant steps winning the hearts, minds, and souls of Congolese, building infrastructure here and there,  and engraving a new script in Congolese minds about the West and what the West stands for in the Congo. History repeating itself: winners (this time with excessive cash in hand) always rewrite history!

Now is time for Realpolitik, not a time for romanticism with an insignificant, unessential, and overcrowded piece of land perched, like a parasite, on a flank of giant Congo.  

We Congolese face our own challenges and long for and work towards a dictatorship-free Congo. Our most powerful weapon is the ability to communicate and convey a clear message to the entire world through all types of media. We do not believe in those primitive and childish wars sponsored by Rwanda in eastern Congo, and I will always applaud any initiative to eradicate those atrocities in eastern Congo and their sponsors. 

Again, I welcome the use of drones in eastern Congo to put an end to those stone-aged and stupid wars. The use of drones must be complemented with an FOL base.