http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKBRE9810MD20130902?irpc=932

U.N. envoy says military success an opportunity for Congo talks

By Pete Jones

GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO | Mon Sep 2, 2013 4:15pm EDT

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By Pete Jones

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - The U.N. special envoy for Africa's Great Lakes region said on Monday recent military successes by Congo's army against eastern rebels should be used to relaunch peace talks.

Democratic Republic of Congo's army drove M23 rebels from positions overlooking the eastern city of Goma on Friday, scoring its biggest victory since the uprising began 18 months ago.

"When there is a military victory like this, it is a chance to advance with a political solution, and that is better for a durable peace," said envoy Mary Robinson, a former Irish prime minister, without going into further details.

The military breakthrough came after a new U.N. intervention brigade, with a tough mandate to crush armed groups, entered combat for the first time. U.N. artillery and helicopters pounded M23 positions in Kabati, 11 km north of Goma, until rebels withdrew.

Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger since the 1990s as foreign-backed ethnic rebel groups have fought for control of eastern Congo's rich deposits of gold, diamonds and tin, destabilising the Great Lakes region.

Congo opened peace talks in Kampala, the capital of neighbouring Uganda, after the rebels briefly seized Goma in late 2012, but the negotiations quickly stalled.

"This time it must be different. At the international level we are engaged more than ever before," Robinson said.

She is visiting the vast, former Belgian colony as part of an international mission including the United States special envoy for the Great Lakes region, Russ Feingold, and the special representative of the African Union, Boubacar Diarra.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

Regional leaders will meet in Kampala on Thursday to discuss Congo, with world powers increasing pressure for a solution.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the region in May, offering $1 billion in World Bank funding if nations stuck to a February deal not to support rebels on each others' soil.

Robinson noted there was evidence that the Tutsi-dominated government in neighbouring Rwanda was supporting M23, whose leaders come from the same ethnic group. In 2012, U.N. investigators accused Rwanda of backing the rebels, a charge Rwanda has denied.

"There is a strong perception (Rwanda is supporting M23), there seems to be some evidence for that," said Robinson. "This is having an impact on how donor countries perceive the situation."

M23 took up arms accusing Congo's government of failing to honour the terms of a 2009 peace deal that ended four years of Tutsi rebellion in the east. It accuses Kinshasa of backing Hutu militia linked to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Robinson said she supported the military action by the Congolese army and the new 3,000-strong U.N. Brigade, which intervened directly for the first time on August 23 after rebel shells landed in Goma, killing at least three civilians.

"Sometimes a military engagement is necessary to protect the population," she said in Goma, a lakeside city of one million on Congo's border with Rwanda.

During nearly two weeks of fighting, rockets have also landed in Rwanda, killing civilians.

The government in Kigali warned it would not tolerate such "provocation", raising fears it could intervene directly in eastern Congo - where it has fought two wars in the last two decades under the pretext of hunting down Hutu militia.

Congolese army spokesman Lt Colonel Olivier Hamuli said on Monday the front had been calm for the past two days.

"We must consolidate our positions," he said.

(Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKBRE9810MD20130902?irpc=932

U.N. envoy says military success an opportunity for Congo talks

By Pete Jones

GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO | Mon Sep 2, 2013 4:15pm EDT

• SHARE THIS ARTICLE

• Email
• Facebook
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By Pete Jones

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - The U.N. special envoy for Africa's Great Lakes region said on Monday recent military successes by Congo's army against eastern rebels should be used to relaunch peace talks.

Democratic Republic of Congo's army drove M23 rebels from positions overlooking the eastern city of Goma on Friday, scoring its biggest victory since the uprising began 18 months ago.

"When there is a military victory like this, it is a chance to advance with a political solution, and that is better for a durable peace," said envoy Mary Robinson, a former Irish prime minister, without going into further details.

The military breakthrough came after a new U.N. intervention brigade, with a tough mandate to crush armed groups, entered combat for the first time. U.N. artillery and helicopters pounded M23 positions in Kabati, 11 km north of Goma, until rebels withdrew.

Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger since the 1990s as foreign-backed ethnic rebel groups have fought for control of eastern Congo's rich deposits of gold, diamonds and tin, destabilising the Great Lakes region.

Congo opened peace talks in Kampala, the capital of neighbouring Uganda, after the rebels briefly seized Goma in late 2012, but the negotiations quickly stalled.

"This time it must be different. At the international level we are engaged more than ever before," Robinson said.

She is visiting the vast, former Belgian colony as part of an international mission including the United States special envoy for the Great Lakes region, Russ Feingold, and the special representative of the African Union, Boubacar Diarra.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

Regional leaders will meet in Kampala on Thursday to discuss Congo, with world powers increasing pressure for a solution.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the region in May, offering $1 billion in World Bank funding if nations stuck to a February deal not to support rebels on each others' soil.

Robinson noted there was evidence that the Tutsi-dominated government in neighbouring Rwanda was supporting M23, whose leaders come from the same ethnic group. In 2012, U.N. investigators accused Rwanda of backing the rebels, a charge Rwanda has denied.

"There is a strong perception (Rwanda is supporting M23), there seems to be some evidence for that," said Robinson. "This is having an impact on how donor countries perceive the situation."

M23 took up arms accusing Congo's government of failing to honour the terms of a 2009 peace deal that ended four years of Tutsi rebellion in the east. It accuses Kinshasa of backing Hutu militia linked to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Robinson said she supported the military action by the Congolese army and the new 3,000-strong U.N. Brigade, which intervened directly for the first time on August 23 after rebel shells landed in Goma, killing at least three civilians.

"Sometimes a military engagement is necessary to protect the population," she said in Goma, a lakeside city of one million on Congo's border with Rwanda.

During nearly two weeks of fighting, rockets have also landed in Rwanda, killing civilians.

The government in Kigali warned it would not tolerate such "provocation", raising fears it could intervene directly in eastern Congo - where it has fought two wars in the last two decades under the pretext of hunting down Hutu militia.

Congolese army spokesman Lt Colonel Olivier Hamuli said on Monday the front had been calm for the past two days.

"We must consolidate our positions," he said.

(Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Syria: Jabhat al-Nusra Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack | Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/jabhat-al-nusra-rebels-admit-responsibility-for-chemical-weapons-attack/5347485

Jabhat al-Nusra Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack

By Paul Joseph Watson

Global Research, September 01, 2013

Infowars.com

Region: Middle East & North Africa

Theme: US NATO War Agenda

In-depth Report: SYRIA: NATO'S NEXT WAR?

 1067 

  214  34 

 

  1777

Militants tell AP reporter they mishandled Saudi-supplied chemical weapons, causing accident

 Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have admitted to Associated Press correspondent Dale Gavlak that they were responsible for last week's chemical weapons incident which western powers have blamed on Bashar Al-Assad's forces, revealing that the casualties were the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them by Saudi Arabia.

 

"From numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families….many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the (deadly) gas attack,"writes Gavlak. (back up version here).

Rebels told Gavlak that they were not properly trained on how to handle the chemical weapons or even told what they were. It appears as though the weapons were initially supposed to be given to the Al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra.

"We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions," one militant named 'J' told Gavlak.

His claims are echoed by another female fighter named 'K', who told Gavlak, "They didn't tell us what these arms were or how to use them. We didn't know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons."

Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of an opposition rebel, also told Gavlak, "My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry," describing them as having a "tube-like structure" while others were like a "huge gas bottle." The father names the Saudi militant who provided the weapons as Abu Ayesha.

According to Abdel-Moneim, the weapons exploded inside a tunnel, killing 12 rebels.

"More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from the Saudi government," writes Gavlak.

If accurate, this story could completely derail the United States' rush to attack Syria which has been founded on the "undeniable" justification that Assad was behind the chemical weapons attack. Dale Gavlak's credibility is very impressive. He has been a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press for two decades and has also worked for National Public Radio (NPR) and written articles for BBC News.

 The website on which the story originally appeared - Mint Press (which is currently down as a result of huge traffic it is attracting to the article) is a legitimate media organization based in Minnesota. The Minnesota Post did a profile on them last year.

Saudi Arabia's alleged role in providing rebels, whom they have vehemently backed at every turn, with chemical weapons, is no surprise given the revelations earlier this week that the Saudis threatened Russia with terror attacks at next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi unless they abandoned support for the Syrian President.

"I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us," Prince Bandar allegedly told Vladimir Putin, the Telegraph reports.

 The Obama administration is set to present its intelligence findings today in an effort prove that Assad's forces were behind last week's attack, despite American officials admitting to the New York Times that there is no "smoking gun" that directly links President Assad to the attack.

US intelligence officials also told the Associated Press that the intelligence proving Assad's culpability is "no slam dunk."

As we reported earlier this week, intercepted intelligence revealed that the Syrian Defense Ministry was making "panicked" phone calls to Syria's chemical weapons department demanding answers in the hours after the attack, suggesting that it was not ordered by Assad's forces.

UPDATE: Associated Press contacted us to confirm that Dave Gavlak is an AP correspondent, but that her story was not published under the banner of the Associated Press. We didn't claim this was the case, we merely pointed to Gavlak's credentials to stress that she is a credible source, being not only an AP correspondent, but also having written for PBS, BBC and Salon.com.

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71

FOLLOW Paul Joseph Watson @ https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

Syria: Jabhat al-Nusra Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack | Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/jabhat-al-nusra-rebels-admit-responsibility-for-chemical-weapons-attack/5347485

Jabhat al-Nusra Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack

By Paul Joseph Watson

Global Research, September 01, 2013

Infowars.com

Region: Middle East & North Africa

Theme: US NATO War Agenda

In-depth Report: SYRIA: NATO'S NEXT WAR?

 1067 

  214  34 

 

  1777

Militants tell AP reporter they mishandled Saudi-supplied chemical weapons, causing accident

 Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have admitted to Associated Press correspondent Dale Gavlak that they were responsible for last week's chemical weapons incident which western powers have blamed on Bashar Al-Assad's forces, revealing that the casualties were the result of an accident caused by rebels mishandling chemical weapons provided to them by Saudi Arabia.

 

"From numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families….many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the (deadly) gas attack,"writes Gavlak. (back up version here).

Rebels told Gavlak that they were not properly trained on how to handle the chemical weapons or even told what they were. It appears as though the weapons were initially supposed to be given to the Al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra.

"We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions," one militant named 'J' told Gavlak.

His claims are echoed by another female fighter named 'K', who told Gavlak, "They didn't tell us what these arms were or how to use them. We didn't know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons."

Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of an opposition rebel, also told Gavlak, "My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry," describing them as having a "tube-like structure" while others were like a "huge gas bottle." The father names the Saudi militant who provided the weapons as Abu Ayesha.

According to Abdel-Moneim, the weapons exploded inside a tunnel, killing 12 rebels.

"More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from the Saudi government," writes Gavlak.

If accurate, this story could completely derail the United States' rush to attack Syria which has been founded on the "undeniable" justification that Assad was behind the chemical weapons attack. Dale Gavlak's credibility is very impressive. He has been a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press for two decades and has also worked for National Public Radio (NPR) and written articles for BBC News.

 The website on which the story originally appeared - Mint Press (which is currently down as a result of huge traffic it is attracting to the article) is a legitimate media organization based in Minnesota. The Minnesota Post did a profile on them last year.

Saudi Arabia's alleged role in providing rebels, whom they have vehemently backed at every turn, with chemical weapons, is no surprise given the revelations earlier this week that the Saudis threatened Russia with terror attacks at next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi unless they abandoned support for the Syrian President.

"I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us," Prince Bandar allegedly told Vladimir Putin, the Telegraph reports.

 The Obama administration is set to present its intelligence findings today in an effort prove that Assad's forces were behind last week's attack, despite American officials admitting to the New York Times that there is no "smoking gun" that directly links President Assad to the attack.

US intelligence officials also told the Associated Press that the intelligence proving Assad's culpability is "no slam dunk."

As we reported earlier this week, intercepted intelligence revealed that the Syrian Defense Ministry was making "panicked" phone calls to Syria's chemical weapons department demanding answers in the hours after the attack, suggesting that it was not ordered by Assad's forces.

UPDATE: Associated Press contacted us to confirm that Dave Gavlak is an AP correspondent, but that her story was not published under the banner of the Associated Press. We didn't claim this was the case, we merely pointed to Gavlak's credentials to stress that she is a credible source, being not only an AP correspondent, but also having written for PBS, BBC and Salon.com.

Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71

FOLLOW Paul Joseph Watson @ https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

EU@UN - Déclaration de Catherine Ashton, Haute Représentante de l'UE, sur la situation au Nord-Kivu

http://www.eu-un.europa.eu/articles/fr/article_13890_fr.htm

Déclaration de Catherine Ashton, Haute Représentante de l'UE, sur la situation au Nord-Kivu

Sommaire: le 30 Août 2013, Bruxelles - La Haute Représentante de l'Union pour les affaires étrangères et la politique de sécurité et vice-présidente de la Commission, a fait ce jour la déclaration suivante sur la situation au Nord-Kivu:

"J'exprime ma vive préoccupation concernant l'escalade de la violence dans la région de Goma et à la frontière avec le Rwanda. Je déplore la mort d'un membre tanzanien de la mission de maintien de la paix de l'ONU, les blessés qui ont résulté des affrontements avec le M23 sur le sol congolais, de même que les victimes civiles de projectiles qui sont tombés sur la ville de Gisenyi au Rwanda.

J'appelle à une enquête indépendante du mécanisme élargi de vérification conjointe afin que toute la lumière soit faite sur l'origine des tirs ayant touché le sol rwandais.

Je présente mes condoléances à la famille du casque bleu défunt, ainsi qu'aux autorités tanzaniennes. J'exprime mon plein soutien à l'action du Représentant spécial du Secrétaire général des Nations unies Martin Kobler et de la MONUSCO.

Je condamne fermement les attaques répétées du M23 contre la MONUSCO et les populations civiles, ainsi que toute tentative pour internationaliser le conflit. Toute intervention directe de pays voisins de la RDC ne pourrait qu'aggraver la situation.

J'appelle toutes les parties concernées à la retenue, au respect de l'intégrité territoriale, et à la recherche d'une solution politique en application des engagements nationaux et régionaux contenus dans l'Accord de Paix, de Sécurité et de Coopération pour la RDC et la région.

Une mission de haut niveau composée de l'Envoyée Spéciale du Secrétaire Général des Nations Unies, du Représentant spécial de l'Union africaine, de l'Envoyé spécial des Etats-Unis et du Coordinateur principal de l'UE pour la région des Grands Lacs se rendra dans la région dans les prochains jours."

• Ref: EU13-406EN
• Source UE: Union Européenne
• UN forum: 
• Date: 30/8/2013

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