Good People.......
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
Tuesday 03 September 2013
UN special envoy to the Great Lakes region Mary Robinson (R) flanked by UN special envoy to Congo Martin Kobler (L) address a news conference at the Monusco offices in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, 2 September 2013
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
UN Great Lakes Envoy to Address Rwanda Role in DRC Crisis
U.N. Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region Mary Robinson (R) flanked by U.N. special envoy to Congo Martin Kobler (L) address a news conference at the MONUSCO offices in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Sept. 2, 2013.
Gabe Joselow
September 02, 2013
GOMA, DRC — The United Nations envoy to the Great Lakes region says she will be direct with Kigali about evidence of Rwandan support for the M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Mary Robinson also hopes the recent military advances against the rebels will create a window for a political solution to the crisis
Robinson arrived Monday in Goma, the economic hub of eastern DRC, as part of a diplomatic tour of the region. Her visit follows nearly two weeks of fighting between Congolese armed forces and the M23 rebels on the outskirts of the city. She is due to attend a September 5 summit in Kampala of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region [ICGLR], which will bring together regional leaders to discuss the conflict.
Rwanda, a member of the conference, has been accused of supporting the M23 rebels, a group made up of former rebel soldiers who defected from the Congolese army last year.
Direct talks
Speaking to reporters in Goma, Robinson said she is prepared to address the issue directly with Rwanda. "I do not say one thing in Goma and another thing in Rwanda. I say tough things, especially to people who need to hear those tough things directly. And I am prepared to speak very truthfully, but also to continue to engage with Rwanda, because that is my role and my responsibility," she said.
The U.N. Group of Experts has published evidence linking Rwanda to the rebels, and the United States has called on Kigali to end its support. Rwanda has repeatedly denied any ties to M23.
Other foreign envoys, including Boubacar Diarra of the African Union and Russ Feingold from the United States, are due to join Robinson on her tour of the region, which includes a stop in Rwanda.
MONUSCO muscle
A new U.N. intervention brigade, part of the U.N. peacekeeping force MONUSCO, was seen as being instrumental in helping the Congolese army push the rebels to beyond striking distance from Goma.
Robinson said she supports MONUSCO's aggressive operations, which she sees as having opened up a chance for dialogue.
"What I see as being valuable is that there is now potentially a window for the political discussions," she said.
Robinson also said she would like to see the renewal of the Kampala talks between the Congolese government and M23. Those talks fell apart as fighting intensified during the past few months.
Special envoy Mary Robinson arrives in Kinshasa
UN special envoy Mary Robinson/AFP
KINSHASA, Sept 2 – Mary Robinson, the UN special envoy to the African Great Lakes region, arrived in Kinshasa on Sunday, after warning against an escalation of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile east.
Her visit, which will also take her to neighboring Uganda and Rwanda, follows new attacks on civilians in the country's east, which has already suffered two decades of conflict.
The former Irish president was greeted on her arrival in the capital by Martin Kobler, head of the UN mission for stabilisation in the DRC (MONUSCO).
MONUSCO said on Sunday that she would travel to eastern city of Goma on Monday to meet representatives of "provincial authorities and civil society" such as trade unions and religious organisations.
Her programme shows that she will spend the week in the region, travelling to Uganda on Wednesday and the Rwandan capital Kigali on Friday.
The visit comes at the same time as the army and Monusco forces have begun an offensive and gained ground against the M23 rebels. The UN claims that the M23 group is funded by Uganda and Rwanda.
In November, the M23 rebels occupied Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, but agreed to pull-out following intense international pressure.
Mary Robinson is responsible for trying to implement a framework agreement, signed in February, to bring about peace in North and South Kivu.
UN special envoy arrives in Congo
September 2, 2013
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — United Nations special envoy Mary Robinson has arrived in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, following a week of heavy fighting pitting Congolese and U.N. troops against a rebel group entrenched in the hills above the strategic city.
Robinson will meet with Congolese leaders before traveling to Uganda and Rwanda. The rebels, who are widely believed to be backed by Rwanda, announced a ceasefire on Friday.
Lambert Mende, the Congolese government spokesman, said on Monday he hoped Robinson would speak firmly with Rwanda, which denies supporting the rebels.
He said: "When it comes to Rwanda and what they're doing in Congo, it's been total silence."
Tanks were seen leaving the Rwandan capital and heading toward the Congo-Rwanda border at the weekend.
GOMA / MARY ROBINSON
The UN special envoy for the African Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson, has arrived in Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. She and other high-level international diplomats are visiting the region after the last week of August saw the heaviest fighting in months between the M23 rebel movement and Congolese government forces backed by a new, more offensive brigade of UN peacekeepers. The rebels retreated by several kilometres at the weekend and diplomatic efforts are due to culminate in a summit of regional leaders on Thursday. RFI talked to Timo Mueller, an analyst with a US-based conflict resolution lobby group, who is based in Goma.
Special envoy Mary Robinson arrives in Kinshasa
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View gallery
UN special envoy Mary Robinson (L) on July 31, 2013 in Nairobi. Robinson, the UN special envoy to the African Great Lakes region, arrived in Kinshasa on Sunday, after warning against an escalation of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile east. (AFP Photo/Simon Maina)
September 1, 2013
Mary Robinson, the UN special envoy to the African Great Lakes region, arrived in Kinshasa on Sunday, after warning against an escalation of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile east.
Her visit, which will also take her to neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda, follows new attacks on civilians in the country's east, which has already suffered two decades of conflict.
The former Irish president was greeted on her arrival in the capital by Martin Kobler, head of the UN mission for stabilisation in the DRC (MONUSCO).
MONUSCO said on Sunday that she would travel to eastern city of Goma on Monday to meet representatives of "provincial authorities and civil society" such as trade unions and religious organisations.
Her programme shows that she will spend the week in the region, travelling to Uganda on Wednesday and the Rwandan capital Kigali on Friday.
The visit comes at the same time as the army and Monusco forces have begun an offensive and gained ground against the M23 rebels. The UN claims that the M23 group is funded by Uganda and Rwanda.
In November, the M23 rebels occupied Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, but agreed to pull-out following intense international pressure.
Mary Robinson is responsible for trying to implement a framework agreement, signed in February, to bring about peace in North and South Kivu.
RDC: à Goma, l'ONU appelle le M23 à "désarmer"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56yPiO5QdNI
UN Special envoy Mary Robinson arrives in Goma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEcYJOR20-s
Published on May 1, 2013
The new UN special envoy for Africa's Great Lakes region, former Irish president Mary Robinson, arrived in Goma on Tuesday. Robinson who assumed the special envoy role last month, is tasked with leading political efforts to bring an end to more than two decades of conflict in the region.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Augustine Rukoma
To: mabadilikotanzania@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2013 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Mabadiliko] Robinson ataka DRC izungumze na M23
Huyu mama vipi tena! Mazungumzo ya nini, watusi warudi kwao
banyamulenge wajisalimishe wakajibu mashtaka
On 9/3/13, Katulanda Frederick <fkatulanda@gmail.com> wrote:
Kauli ya Mjumbe Maalumu wa Katibu Mkuu wa Umoja wa Mataifa katika Kanda ya
Maziwa Makuu, Marry Robinson, anayekamilisha ziara yake katika mji wa Goma
ya kutaka Kongo izungumze na M23 haikupokewa vyema.
Akizungumza na waandishi wa habari katika mji wa Goma, hasa akigusia swala
la mapigano baina ya waasi wa M23 na jeshi la serikali ya Kongo likiungwa
mkono na kikosi maalumu cha Umoja wa Mataifa kilichopewa jukumu la
kuingilia kati katika mapigano, Bi Robinson alisema vita hivyo
vimezipunguza nguvu za M23 na kwamba wakati umewadia waasi hao kuweka chini
silaha, na kwenda kwenye meza ya mazungumzo
''Ni dhahiri kwamba M23 wanapaswa kusimamisha mashambulizi kama
ilivyotakiwa katika Azimio la Baraza la Usalama la Umoja wa Mataifa, na pia
nadhani kwamba mlango uko wazi kwa uwezekano wa kuchukuliwa hatua za
kisiasa kuumaliza mgogoro huu."
Akijibu swali kuhusu ikiwa anaweza kuwa muwazi mbele ya viongozi wa Rwanda
juu ya shutuma dhidi ya serikali ya Kigali kuwa inawaunga mkono waasi wa
M23, Bi Robinson alisema atakwenda Kigali baada ya Kampala hapo tarehe 5
Septemba na kurudi Goma tarehe 6 Septemba pamoja na wenzake.
"Mimi sina shida ya kuzungumza moja kwa moja na viongozi wa Rwanda" kwani
aliongeza Bi Robinson aliongeza kwamba Rwanda inamfahamu vizuri tangu
alipoitembelea nchi hiyo kama rais wa Ireland.
"Nadhani kuwa ni muhimu kwa kila upande uliosaini mkataba wa Addis Ababa
kuuheshimu na hivyo katika kanda hii. Nitalitamka hilo bila uoga kwa marais
wote akiwemo Rais Paul Kagame. Naelewa kuwa kuna uwoga hapa kutokana na
kuwa karibu na eneo hili kwa jeshi la Rwanda. Hilo nitalijadili na Rais
Kagame.''
Kivu ya Kaskazini wakasirishwa
[image: Mary Robinson]<http://www.dw.de/robinson-ataka-drc-izungumze-na-m23/a-17062014?maca=kis-newsletter_kis_programm-1967-html-newsletter#>
Mary Robinson
Kwa upande wake. Gavana wa Mkoa wa Kivu ya Kaskazini, Julien Paluku
Kahongya, akizungumza na waandishi wa habari baada ya kufanya mazungumzo na
Bi Robinson, alisema kwamba haoni umuhimu tena wa kuendelea kwa mazungumzo
ya Kampala.
"Kufuatia vitendo vya awali vya M23 na tulivyokuwa tunavitangaza, na kwamba
inatupa mabomu katika miji mikubwa kama vile Goma na Gisenyi, hilo kwa
sheria ya kimataifa ni ukatili wa kivita. Na sioni kwa upande wa Umoja wa
Mataifa ambao wanaheshimu vyombo vya kimataifa kuiomba serikali halali kama
vile ya Kongo kuzungumza na wahalifu."
Mwandishi: John Kanyunyu/DW Beni
Mhariri: Saumu Yusuf
The Talk'
Frederick M. Katulanda
Cell: +255 784 642620,
Alternative:+255 754 642620
E-mail: fkatulanda@yahoo.com
Goma Residents Hopeful Rebel Withdrawal Spells Peace in Eastern Congo
Girls, displaced by recent fighting between Congolese army and the M23 rebels, cover themselves from the cold in Munigi village near Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo September 1, 2013.
Gabe Joselow
September 01, 2013
GOMA — Residents of Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, are optimistic that the withdrawal of M23 rebels from positions outside the city could bring an end to fighting in the area. The situation is still volatile, as tensions with neighboring Rwanda remain high.
Days after the shelling stopped, the Virunga market in Goma is starting to shuffle back to life.
It's Sunday - a typically slow day - but many of the shops here are open. Women are folding colorful fabrics, and customers are walking through rows of used blue jeans hanging from wooden posts.
Serges Chivai, a shopkeeper on the edge of the market, is just packing away the flashlights and plastic toys displayed in his stall. He says business is going well, at least compared to the last week. "Last week the atmosphere was really bad," he said, "because bombs were being dropped, people were running away, people were afraid, that's why the work really could not go well."
The merchants and customers here tell similar stories, of bomb blasts and panic for nearly two weeks, as the Congolese army and a U.N. intervention force battled M23 rebels on the outskirts of the city.
Artillery shells fell around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, including one near the market.
On Friday, M23 announced it is withdrawing from areas just north of the city.
Delphine, an 18-year-old merchant hanging colorful cloth in the center of the market, says she hopes the withdrawal signals that the end of the fighting could be near." "We want the government to finish the war," she says, "then we can get clients to buy our fabrics and we can live peacefully," she said.
Despite the rebels' pullback, fighting continued Saturday deeper into M23-held territory, as the army has shown few signs of letting up.
The latest round of fighting also has disrupted Rwanda, after shells exploded across the border during fighting last week, killing at least one person. The incident prompted angry accusations between the two countries, with both saying the missiles were launched from the other's territory.
Rwanda, which has accused the U.N. mission in DRC (MONUSCO) of turning a blind eye to past cross-border bombings, has called the latest shelling into Rwandan territory a "provocation."
The U.N. special representative who heads MONUSCO, Martin Kobler, met with Rwandan officials last week to try to ease tensions and to explain the role of the new U.N. intervention brigade, which lived up to its aggressive mandate to attack M23 positions.
In Goma Saturday, Kobler told reporters, "I made it very clear this is for the protection of the civilian population of Goma, this is the core of our mandate, this is what we're here for, we could not have remained passive in this situation where M23 rockets hit the population of Goma and caused deaths."
The U.N. has presented evidence of Rwandan military links to the M23, and the United States has called on Rwanda to cease its support for the rebels. Kigali has repeatedly denied the accusations.
http://www.voanews.com/content/goma-residents-hopeful-rebel-withdrawal-peace-drc-congo/1741391.html
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