{UAH} WHAT A WASTE OF AFRICAN BRAINS

Rwandan Recruitment for M23 in 2013

The latest report of the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC says this about ongoing Rwandan support for the murderous M23 "rebellion" in 2013:

20. The Group interviewed 23 people from Rwanda who served in M23. Of these, 18 were Rwandan citizens and five were Congolese citizens living in Rwanda. The Group also interviewed 31 ex-combatants from DRC, Uganda, and Burundi who told the Group there were Rwandan citizens and/or Congolese refugees from Rwanda serving with them. Between 1 January and 8 December 2013, MONUSCO repatriated 78 Rwandan citizens who had served with M23.

21. Of the 23 recruits from Rwanda, 18 were adults and 5 were children. They ended up serving with M23 through a variety of means. The Group interviewed 3 Rwandan citizens who were forced to join M23, including one 16-year-old boy. The Group also interviewed 13 Rwandan citizens who joined M23, including boys aged 13, 15 and 17, who were recruited either as volunteers or through false promises of employment. The Group interviewed one RDF Special Forces soldier who deployed at the Rwanda-DRC border in August 2013 during an RDF deployment into DRC in support of M23, and later deserted.

The Group also interviewed 5 Congolese citizens recruited in Rwanda, including one 17-year-old boy.

22. The Group has confirmed that some of the M23 recruits from Rwanda were demobilized RDF soldiers. Former M23 officers and soldiers told the Group that demobilized RDF soldiers served in M23 as trainers and operators of heavy weapons. Four ex-M23 combatants told the Group that Maj. Kalissa Rwema is one ex-RDF officer who served as a trainer for M23 at Rumangabo. UN sources and two ex-M23 officers told the Group that an ex-RDF soldier known only by his nickname “Kifaru” was a crewmember in the T-55 tank that M23 used in combat.

23. The Group previously reported that Rwandan nationals who deserted M23 and returned directly to Rwanda were forcibly sent back to M23 by RDF officers. Two RDF officers who had deserted, a demobilized RDF officer, a former M23 officer, and a M23 recruiter of Rwandan nationality told the Group that RDF officers have also recruited for M23 and have facilitated recruitment by M23 recruiters by allowing them safe passage in Rwanda.

24. M23 paid Emmanuel Ngabo $750 to help cadres recruiting for M23 in Gisenyi, Rwanda. Gaspard Karemera, the M23-appointed Administrator of the Nyragongo Territory, also travelled to Rwanda to recruit and facilitate the crossing of the recruits through the Kabuhanga border. After M23’s military defeat in November, MONUSCO officials informed the Group that they had recovered Rwandan national identity cards in former M23 positions at Rumangabo. FARDC also recovered such cards. The Group is investigating reports of continued recruitment in Rwanda after M23’s defeat.

 

 

           Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
           Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"