[video] Aljazeera - Inside Story - M23 On the brink of defeat

Aljazeera - Inside Story - M23 On the brink of defeat - Kambale Musavuli - Oct 29, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4MFzrdJr2Q&feature=youtu.be

[video] Aljazeera - Inside Story - M23 On the brink of defeat

Aljazeera - Inside Story - M23 On the brink of defeat - Kambale Musavuli - Oct 29, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4MFzrdJr2Q&feature=youtu.be

UN officials warn of CAR 'genocide' risk

Security Council briefed on "complete chaos" in Central African Republic, where March coup has resulted in lawlessness.

The Central African Republic (CAR) is at risk of spiraling into genocide as armed groups incite Christians and Muslims against each other in the virtually lawless country, senior UN officials have told the Security Council.

The landlocked nation of 4.6 million people has slipped into chaos since northern Seleka rebels seized the capital, Bangui, and ousted President Francois Bozize in March this year.

Rights groups say both sides may have committed war crimes.

"More and more you have inter-sectarian violence because the Seleka targeted the churches and the Christians, so now the Christians have created self-defense militias and they are retaliating against the Muslims," said French UN Ambassador Gerard Araud after a briefing by UN rights and aid officials.

Adama Dieng, UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, John Ging, director of operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and Ivan Simonovic, UN assistant secretary general for human rights, informally briefed the 15-member Security Council on Friday.

"We are seeing armed groups killing people under the guise of their religion," Dieng told reporters after the meeting, which was organised by France and Rwanda.

"My feeling is that this will end with Christian communities, Muslim communities killing each other which means that if we don't act now and decisively I will not exclude the possibility of a genocide occurring," he said, describing the current situation as "total chaos".

Central African Republic is rich in gold, diamonds and uranium, but decades of instability and the spillover from conflicts in its larger neighbours have left the country mired in cycles of crises.

The African Union plans to deploy a 3,600-member peacekeeping mission, known as MISCA, in the country. It would incorporate a regional force of 1,100 soldiers already on the ground and is unlikely to be operational before 2014.

'Horrendous' situation

The 15-member Security Council adopted a resolution on October 10 asking UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to submit a report within 30 days to outline possible international support to a planned African Union peacekeeping mission.

It also asked Ban to include "detailed options for international support to MISCA, including the possible option of a transformation of MISCA into a United Nations peacekeeping operation, subject to appropriate conditions on the ground".

Araud said the Security Council should eventually consider plans for a UN peacekeeping force of 8,000 to 10,000 troops.

"The situation in Central African Republic is horrendous, the state has collapsed and this country is now simply plundered, looted, the women are raped, people are killed by thugs. The country has fallen into anarchy," he said.

France has a small force in Bangui securing the airport and its local interests. French diplomatic sources have said France would be ready to provide logistical support and increase its troop numbers to between 700 and 1,200 if needed.

Eugene Richard Gasana, Rwanda's UN ambassador, said his country backs sending a UN force and that descriptions of the events reminded him of Rwanda's genocide.

"I had the impression it is like in 1994 at home," Gasana told reporters.

The Security Council on Tuesday approved a proposal by Ban to send 250 military personnel to the capital Bangui and then increase that force to 560 troops so they can deploy to areas outside the capital where there is a UN presence.

Given the urgency of the situation, Ban suggested that as an interim measure the initial 250 troops could be temporarily redeployed from another UN peacekeeping operation. The guards would provide perimeter security and access control.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/11/un-officials-warn-car-genocide-risk-2013111224646853367.html

 

Fears grow for the life of Rwandan accused of treason

Fears grow for the life of Rwandan accused of treason

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/africa/article3909913.ece

Jerome Starkey, Africa Correspondent and Tabu Butagira in Kampala

Last updated at 12:01AM, November 1 2013

A Rwandan refugee who fled his job in President Kagame's personal bodyguard has been abducted in Uganda and forcibly returned to his home country, where rights groups fear that he may be tortured and killed.

Joel Mutabazi escaped from Rwanda in 2011 after claiming that he suffered 17 months of torture and solitary confinement in the infamous Kami military prison, on the outskirts of Kigali. He had been accused of supporting an exiled Rwandan general.

Mr Mutabazi was living in a UN safe house in Kampala after two men, who he said were members of Rwanda's intelligence service, tried to shoot him in his apartment last year.

Musa Ecweru, a Ugandan minister responsible for refugees, said that the former lieutenant was "abducted" last week by a rogue policeman and illegally transferred to Rwandan custody. In a statement released last night — six days after his arrest — the Rwandan police confirmed that Mr Mutabazi was in their custody. They claimed he had been arrested through "legal means".

It is the second time that Uganda's police have been implicated in violating Mr Mutabazi's rights, and Uganda's international commitments to the rights of refugees, at the behest of President Kagame's Government.

In a series of interviews with The Times, Mr Mutabazi had repeatedly warned that his life was in danger and appealed to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to protect him and his family. In August UN officials vowed to take "extraordinary measures" to keep him safe after members of Rwanda's security services stormed the safe house where he was staying and bundled him into a police car bound for Kigali.

He was spared only when the Office of Uganda's Prime Minister, which is responsible for refugees, ordered the Inspector General of Police to turn the car around. Mr Mutabazi, who was blindfolded, said that he heard his captors arguing with the Ugandan policemen and discussing whether or not to kill him on the spot.

Hilary Onek, the Ugandan Cabinet minister responsible for refugees, said that Mr Mutabazi was arrested "in an error of judgment", and then handed over to Rwandan officials in a clear breach of the "established legal procedure". The policeman responsible, Joel Aguma, was suspended pending an investigation, Mr Onek said.

Douglas Asiimwe, the officer responsible for refugees in the Office of the Prime Minister, also described Mr Mutabazi's disappearance as an abduction.

It is the latest example of Rwanda's ruthless pursuit of political exiles. At least six prominent opponents of Mr Kagame have been murdered since 1998, while six people have survived attempts on their life since 2010.

Britain has earmarked £90 million a year in aid to Rwanda. David Cameron invited Mr Kagame to address the Conservative Party conference in 2007 and he has continued to defend the Rwandan leader's development success despite inescapable evidence of human rights abuses.

A spokeswoman for the UN Refugee Agency said that it was a "clear violation of the asylum principle" to hand Mr Mutabazi back to the Government "where his life could be in danger". Carina Tertsakian, the Rwanda researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that Mr Mutabazi's disappearance was incomprehensible. "Rwandan authorities should guarantee his safety . . . and allow him immediate access to a lawyer and relatives," she said.

At least two other Rwandan asylum seekers, Innocent Kalisa and Pascal Manyirakiza, are thought to have been kidnapped from Kampala in August.

"Some time around August 7 a Rwandan asylum seeker named Pascal Manyirakiza, who was awaiting refugee status determination, also disappeared, apparently 'lured' from a safe house, and is believed to have been abducted," a spokeswoman for UNHCR said at the time.

Mr Manyirakiza was discovered three weeks later with what Ugandan officials described as torture marks. He had been dumped in a graveyard in the outskirts of Kampala.

In 2011 Scotland Yard warned two Rwandan exiles living in Britain that the Government in Kigali was plotting to kill them.

The Rwandan Government declined to comment yesterday. Yolande Makolo, Mr Kagame's spokeswoman, has previously dismissed reports of hit squads and claimed that Mr Mutabazi was linked to the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

Jerome Starkey
Africa Correspondent
The Times

M: +254 (0) 708 777 615
M: +44 (0) 7747 038 308
Twitter @jeromestarkey

Fears grow for the life of Rwandan accused of treason

Fears grow for the life of Rwandan accused of treason

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/africa/article3909913.ece

Jerome Starkey, Africa Correspondent and Tabu Butagira in Kampala

Last updated at 12:01AM, November 1 2013

A Rwandan refugee who fled his job in President Kagame's personal bodyguard has been abducted in Uganda and forcibly returned to his home country, where rights groups fear that he may be tortured and killed.

Joel Mutabazi escaped from Rwanda in 2011 after claiming that he suffered 17 months of torture and solitary confinement in the infamous Kami military prison, on the outskirts of Kigali. He had been accused of supporting an exiled Rwandan general.

Mr Mutabazi was living in a UN safe house in Kampala after two men, who he said were members of Rwanda's intelligence service, tried to shoot him in his apartment last year.

Musa Ecweru, a Ugandan minister responsible for refugees, said that the former lieutenant was "abducted" last week by a rogue policeman and illegally transferred to Rwandan custody. In a statement released last night — six days after his arrest — the Rwandan police confirmed that Mr Mutabazi was in their custody. They claimed he had been arrested through "legal means".

It is the second time that Uganda's police have been implicated in violating Mr Mutabazi's rights, and Uganda's international commitments to the rights of refugees, at the behest of President Kagame's Government.

In a series of interviews with The Times, Mr Mutabazi had repeatedly warned that his life was in danger and appealed to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to protect him and his family. In August UN officials vowed to take "extraordinary measures" to keep him safe after members of Rwanda's security services stormed the safe house where he was staying and bundled him into a police car bound for Kigali.

He was spared only when the Office of Uganda's Prime Minister, which is responsible for refugees, ordered the Inspector General of Police to turn the car around. Mr Mutabazi, who was blindfolded, said that he heard his captors arguing with the Ugandan policemen and discussing whether or not to kill him on the spot.

Hilary Onek, the Ugandan Cabinet minister responsible for refugees, said that Mr Mutabazi was arrested "in an error of judgment", and then handed over to Rwandan officials in a clear breach of the "established legal procedure". The policeman responsible, Joel Aguma, was suspended pending an investigation, Mr Onek said.

Douglas Asiimwe, the officer responsible for refugees in the Office of the Prime Minister, also described Mr Mutabazi's disappearance as an abduction.

It is the latest example of Rwanda's ruthless pursuit of political exiles. At least six prominent opponents of Mr Kagame have been murdered since 1998, while six people have survived attempts on their life since 2010.

Britain has earmarked £90 million a year in aid to Rwanda. David Cameron invited Mr Kagame to address the Conservative Party conference in 2007 and he has continued to defend the Rwandan leader's development success despite inescapable evidence of human rights abuses.

A spokeswoman for the UN Refugee Agency said that it was a "clear violation of the asylum principle" to hand Mr Mutabazi back to the Government "where his life could be in danger". Carina Tertsakian, the Rwanda researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that Mr Mutabazi's disappearance was incomprehensible. "Rwandan authorities should guarantee his safety . . . and allow him immediate access to a lawyer and relatives," she said.

At least two other Rwandan asylum seekers, Innocent Kalisa and Pascal Manyirakiza, are thought to have been kidnapped from Kampala in August.

"Some time around August 7 a Rwandan asylum seeker named Pascal Manyirakiza, who was awaiting refugee status determination, also disappeared, apparently 'lured' from a safe house, and is believed to have been abducted," a spokeswoman for UNHCR said at the time.

Mr Manyirakiza was discovered three weeks later with what Ugandan officials described as torture marks. He had been dumped in a graveyard in the outskirts of Kampala.

In 2011 Scotland Yard warned two Rwandan exiles living in Britain that the Government in Kigali was plotting to kill them.

The Rwandan Government declined to comment yesterday. Yolande Makolo, Mr Kagame's spokeswoman, has previously dismissed reports of hit squads and claimed that Mr Mutabazi was linked to the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

Jerome Starkey
Africa Correspondent
The Times

M: +254 (0) 708 777 615
M: +44 (0) 7747 038 308
Twitter @jeromestarkey