Sources within M23 Congolese rebels and PARECO-Union des Congolais Patriotes pour la Paix (UPCP) inform AfroAmerica Network that M23 will reorganize after taking Masisi. M23 rebel movement will dissolve into UPCP, led by General Kakulu Sikuli Vasaka Lafontaine.
The decision to dissolve M23 was made early last week, in a meeting held in Bunagana among the M23 leaders, UPCP, and Rwandan Defense Forces top military leaders. The meeting was also attended by Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi, the representatives of Etienne Thsisekedi’s UDPS, and top Ugandan military leaders. The reasons behind the decision to dissolve M23 into UPCP were two folds: to give M23 a Congolese image (see our article:DRC: Rwandan Defense Forces’ March On Kinshasa Has Begun of July 8, 2012) and to shed the overwhelming negative image of M23 depicted in international media, by NGOs and foreign governments. M23 rebels are generally viewed as a Rwandan proxy militia, bent on raping, looting, and massacring civilians.
General Kakulu Sikuli Vasaka Lafontaine, who is from the Nande tribe, will become the overall Commander of the new combined rebel troops. His deputy will be Colonel Mboneza, from the Tutsi ethnic group. Colonel Kahasha, the current deputy to General Lafontaine and who hails from the Shi tribe that mostly resides in and around Bukavu (previous informations suggested he was also of Hema descent) will move to South-Kivu, in Bukavu and Uvira areas, to become the Commander of the troops in his native region. The fate of the current M23 rebels commander Colonel Makenga remains undetermined. Colonel Makenga was rather a choice of opportunity and the Rwandan dictator General Paul Kagame, the force behind M23 rebels, never trusted him and has questioned his allegiances on numerous occasions (see here).
Colonel Mboneza is currently leading the combats in Mabenga, after conquering Kiwandja. He is progressing northward on his way to joining General Lafontaine’s headquarters.
During the Bunagana meeting, Rwandan Defense Forces leaders gave instructions to the rebels to focus more on conquering Masisi and Walikale, making a junction from South-Kivu, to North-Kivu to Ituri and then moving westward to Maniema and beyond. For now, there is no plan to overrun the town of Goma which houses MONUSCO’s headquarters.
After the Bunagana meeting, Rwandan Defense Forces supplied more troop reinforcements along with heavy and modern weaponries and communication equipments to the Congolese rebels. Ugandan Military leaders lent 8 trucks to Mbusa Nyamwisi to carry his troops. Etienne Tshisekedi’s representatives promised to ready their militants for an uprising in Kinshasa when the moment comes.
Early this week, Mbusa Nyamwisi’s additional troops started crossing from Uganda into the Democratic Republic of the Congo along with hundreds of Ugandan Defense Forces troops. According to the sources, Mbusa Nyamwisi has been staying in Kampala for the last few weeks, before heading to an undisclosed country. His troops will coordinate operations with those of Colonel Hillaire Paluku Kombi based around Beni and Butembo and those of Colonel Matata Cobra around Bunia in Ituri.
Colonel Hillaire Paluku Kombi is being supplied in weapons and communication equipment by Colonel Eric Ruhorimbere, the FARDC commander in the Beni area.
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Brother congolese, do not trust foreigner forces!!!Let’s build our own force because those troops:Angola,Zimbabwe,Namibia….and whatever struggled for Congo but Rwandan won uknow the history. Even one batallion of Rwandan Kadogo can destab all Congo, you know…
general fontaine’s pic can be seen at http://www.therwandan.com/ki/hgio/
c’est un journal ruandais je pense publie en kinyaruanda
Lafontaine est un ruandais.
Dear Afroamerica.net,
As Cabinet Director and Spokesman of President Etienne Tshisekedi, and in order to prevent further confusion to take place in the mind of your readers, I refute Mr Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi’s status of representative of Mr Etienne Tshisekedi whatsoever in any political issue. As you should know, Mr Mbusa is the President of his own political party, RDC/KML, and President of a parliamentary group in the DRC’s national assembly. His involvement with any group or organization will stem from and stand on that capacity.
As you should also know, UDPS and its President have always advocated non-violence as their doctrine to establish the rule of law and true democracy in DRC and have repeatedly rejected resorting to armed struggle or military means.
I hope your statement was due to human error and trust your intellectual honesty to rectify this point with enough publicity.
Truly Yours,
Albert Moleka
obviously like your web-site but you have to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to inform the reality on the other hand I will certainly come again again.
iki kinyamakuru ni rutwitsi
One time the tiger wore the hyena skin to eat and finish the hair.
But at the end the hair came to realize that the so pretend his brother and friend is a cheater; in reality he is a malicious, killer and destroyer.
Those are Rwandese people called themselves Banyamulenges. This time, even the traitors like Mbusa Nyamwisi, Xavier Ciribwami, Etienne Tshisekedi etc… among them will be punished severely. DRC does not need the kind of these people to survive and develop itself, in future. To hell all the invaders, traitors, and all their suppliers.
Angolan, Zibwabweans and South Africans troops in partnership with the FARDC’s are on their way to finish them all. Wait and see!