November 20, 2013
For some reason, despite his abysmal human rights record, the United States Government has continued to fund the Paul Kagame regime of Rwanda. Never mind that there are at least 6 million dead at his hands. Never mind that he invaded the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) twice (officially) - According to his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Government, it was to rid the DRC of forces hostile to Rwanda, however, these invasions openly killed innocent civilians as well, without apology.
The latest invasion into the DRC by Rwanda was unofficial. It came in the form of an illegal militia named M23 (named after the date of it's founding - March 23). While many journalists call M23 a rebel group, I will not - it was an illegal militia sponsored by Rwanda and Uganda to destabilize the DRC.
Recently, the Army of the DRC (FARDC) with the help of the UN (MONUSCO) defeated M23 and sent over 1000 militants fleeing the border to Uganda and over 100 militants into Rwanda. Both countries refuse to turn those militants over to the DRC for justice. Since they deny any involvement in this militia, it is interesting that they do not help prosecute these criminals.
The FARDC and MONUSCO was only able to finally defeat M23 when the United States temporarily withdrew military aid money from Rwanda. Interestingly, President Kagame shunned this gesture and laughed in the face of his ally - the US, but in the end, his neo-colonial movement failed.
For the time being, the DRC is free from M23 oppression. At the same time, we must remember that there are many other militias in the Eastern DRC that would destabilize this mineral rich nation. What could be one of the richest nations in the world has its citizens living in abject poverty due to poor governance on the part of President Joseph Kabila and his cronies and also because no leader has ever been given the chance to actually lead without being under constant attack from outside forces - be them nations or corporate interests.
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