by AfroAmerica Network
on August 3, 2013
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete With the Media after Addressing the Nation on July 31, 2013
“Over the past two months, especially since the end of May, 2013, the relations between our country and Rwanda have been going through a tough time. Rwandan officials’ statements against me and our country is a proof of the deterioration of these relations.
Let me assure you, my fellow citizens and our Rwandan brothers. As the leader of the government and the people of Tanzania, I am committed to good relations and close cooperation with Rwanda as well as with all neighboring countries. Neighbors need each other, hence we must have a good relations and cooperation,” Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said on Wednesday July 31, 2013 as he closed his monthly address to the Nation.
Rwandan Officials’ Insults Are Directed at Tanzania and Myself, Says President Jakaya Kikwete
President Jakaya Kikwete was referring to the war of words that pits Rwandan [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on August 2, 2013
General Eric Murokore Leading a Meeting of RPF Youth Militia Inkeragutabara in July 2013
Sources in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have informed AfroAmerica Network that they were contacted to join M23 rebels. The contacts, by phone, were from General Eric Murokore and Major Gerard Ntashamaje. General Eric Murokore is the Commander of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) paramilitary youth militia known as “Inkeragutabara.”
According to the sources, General Eric Murokore along with Gerard Ntashamaje made [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on July 30, 2013
Tanzanian Forces of the UN Intervention Brigade training in Eastern DRC in July 2013
“After 4pm on Thursday, 1 August[2013], they[any individuals in the area of North Kivu province that includes Goma and Sake who are not members of national security forces] will be considered an imminent threat of physical violence to civilians and MONUSCO will take all necessary measures to disarm them, including by the use of force in accordance with its mandate and rules of engagement,” The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUSCO, announced today on July 30, 2013 threatening to use the UN Forces of the Intervention Brigade (FIB) to enforce a security zone in and around the provincial capital of Goma, in Easten Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
This means that in 48 hours, the FIB is expected to launch ground attacks against [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on July 26, 2013
Jakaya Kikwete at the Heros Monument at Naliendele Mwara, Tanzania
“Allow me also to thank … Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Mary Robinson for [her] valued contributions and briefings.” “we[Rwanda] urge the UN’s Special Envoy, Mary Robinson, to play an active part in seeing through the Kampala talks without much further delay. Her engagement would be a welcome and helpful contribution. “But as Special Envoy Mary Robinson has stressed in the past, the Framework is a shared endeavour and its success depends on each party living up to their respective commitment.”
It is in these terms that the unusually subdued and visibly uncomfortable Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Louise Mushikiwabo addressed the United Nations Security [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on July 26, 2013
FARDC Colonel Mamadou N’Dala Moustafa on the battle front in early July 2013
On Thursday July 25, 2013, M23 Congolese rebels looted the town of Kiwandja in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to AfroAmerica Network sources in the area, M23 rebels surrounded the town of Kiwandja early in the morning of July 25, 2013 and drove several trucks into the center of the City. They then went from shop to shop and home to home, looting and loading the loot into the waiting trucks. After most of the shops were looted, M23 rebel soldiers drove the heavily loaded trucks in the direction of Bunagana, a town held by the rebels which is at the border between Rwanda, Uganda, and DRC. [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on July 24, 2013
US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa Russ Feingold
“Well, we believe there is a credible body of evidence that supports the key findings of the Human Rights Watch report, including support by senior Rwandan officials to the M23 and of Rwandan military personnel in the D.R.C. We call upon Rwanda to immediately end any support to the M23, withdraw military personnel from eastern D.R.C., and follow through on its commitments under the framework,” US State Department Spokesperson, Ms. Jen Psaki told the media today, July 23, 2013.
Jen Psaki was reacting to allegations of support by Rwandan senior military and political leaders to the renegade M23 Congolese rebels. Rwandan military and [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on July 20, 2013
Rwandan Young Men Being Rounded Up by Security Forces
“The Government is ready to talk to anybody who has grievances, including the ADF[Allied Democratic Forces]. If there is any genuine political group that wants dialogue, we are ready to do so, because war is not an option,” Ugandan Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Mr. Hilary Onek told the media in Kampala, Uganda on Tuesday July 16, 2013. On Friday, July 19, 2013, Minister of Defence, Dr Crispus Kiyonga, confirmed Mr Onek’s comments and went further that the Ugandan Government has already agreed to the principle of negotiating with the Ugandan ADF rebels. ADF rebels have recently become a significant force with close to 2,000 troops operating Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The willingness by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to negotiate with ADF falls in line with the proposition by the Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete on May 26, 2013 [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on July 17, 2013
Paul Kagame and Sylvester Mudacumura in Arusha, Tanzania in 1993
In the FDLR-FOCA press release of July 14, 2013 by Mr LaForge Fils Bazeye, the spokesperson of FDLR-FOCA Commander General Mudacumura, attacking AfroAmerica Network, it is clear that Mr. LaForge Fils Bazeye does not know what he is talking about.
The question before FDLR-FOCA commanders and troops is the following: Is FDLR-FOCA divided?
FDLR-FOCA commanders and troops know how divided or undivided their troops are. What AfroAmerica Network can confirm is the following: [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on July 13, 2013
Tanzanian Ambassador Mbelwa Kairuki(2nd right), Ms. Georgina Roberts, Deputy High Commissioner of New Zealand, Mr. Mkumbwa Ally (left), Acting Head of Government Communication Unit and Mr. Khatibu Makenga, Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Rwandan President Paul Kagame must give up his delusional dreams of invading Tanzania. Otherwise, Tanzania will respond with full shock and awe force. … We will wallop him[General Kagame]. He[General Kagame] will be whipped like a small boy, “ Mr. Ally Mkumbwa , Acting Head of Government Communication Unit in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Tanzanian media in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania on Friday July 12, 2013.
Ally Mkumbwa was reacting to recent threats by Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame against Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete (see our article: I will Just Wait For You At the Right Place And I will Hit You, Rwandan General Paul Kagame Threatens Tanzanian Jakaya Kikwete of July 3, 2013)
“You know that unrest in DRC and Rwanda cannot end without both countries sitting down with their opponents to find a long lasting solution, ” Ally Mkumbwa added, saying [click to continue…]
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by AfroAmerica Network
on July 10, 2013
Congolese Tutsi Refugees in Rwanda in March 2013
“It is clear that dialogue with all the forces that are often referred to as negative if they do not take up arms, if they agree to talk (…), it is primarily a national priority, and then in the strategic interest of the Great Lakes region, “ said Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Didier Reynders said after his meeting with the Burundian second Vice President Gervais Rufyikiri.
“If an armed group agrees to lay down the arms and renounce armed struggle, then the government should negotiate with that armed group. But laying down arms should not be a precondition to start negotiations, rather an outcome of the negotiations.”
The Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister was implicitly referring to the proposition by [click to continue…]
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