BBC
29 November 2008
The former President of Argentina, Carlos Menem, has been formally charged with involvement in arms-trafficking.
Prosecutors said Mr Menem had illegally sold weapons to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s, when they were involved in conflicts. He denies the charges.
Mr Menem, who has been ill, took part in the session on a video-link from the northern province of La Rioja.
He governed Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He has been on trial, alongside 17 co-defendants, since October.
He and his co-defendants are accused of authorising the sale of weapons, including rifles, anti-tank rockets and ammunition, to Croatia and Ecuador between 1991 and 1995.
At the time, Croatia was under a UN arms embargo because of its involvement in the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia, while in 1995 Ecuador was involved in a month-long conflict with neighbouring Peru.
Mr Menem has said he signed the decrees authorising the shipments but maintains they were legal as they were destined for Panama and Venezuela, which were both at peace.
Evidence about the true destinations first came to light in 1995.
Immunity
In 2001, Mr Menem spent several months under house arrest on similar charges, but he was set free by a panel of judges, most appointed during his presidency.
The case against him was filed again after President Nestor Kirchner, who was in office between 2003 and 2007, replaced all the judges.
If found guilty, Mr Menem could technically face a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
However, as a serving senator - he represents the western province of La Rioja - Mr Menem is immune from imprisonment.
Prosecutors would either have to wait until his term in office expires, in 2014, or ask the Senate to pass a special motion to put him behind bars, the BBC's Daniel Schweimler in Buenos Aires says.
29 November, 2008
Confirmation of Gene A. Cretz as US Ambassador to Libya.
US Department of State
29 November 2008
Mr. Gene A. Cretz has been appointed as the United States Ambassador to Libya. Ambassador Cretz is an experienced diplomat who will ensure that the United States’ interests are well represented in Libya during a very important period in the history of our bi-lateral relationship. Ambassador-designate Cretz was confirmed by the United States Senate on Thursday, November 20 and will be officially sworn into his position on Wednesday, December 17.
Ambassador-designate Cretz is a senior career diplomat. He has served in posts throughout the Middle East and Asia. His most recent assignment with the Department of State was as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He has also served in Tel Aviv, Damascus, Cairo, Islamabad, New Delhi, and Beijing.
29 November 2008
Mr. Gene A. Cretz has been appointed as the United States Ambassador to Libya. Ambassador Cretz is an experienced diplomat who will ensure that the United States’ interests are well represented in Libya during a very important period in the history of our bi-lateral relationship. Ambassador-designate Cretz was confirmed by the United States Senate on Thursday, November 20 and will be officially sworn into his position on Wednesday, December 17.
Ambassador-designate Cretz is a senior career diplomat. He has served in posts throughout the Middle East and Asia. His most recent assignment with the Department of State was as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He has also served in Tel Aviv, Damascus, Cairo, Islamabad, New Delhi, and Beijing.
28 November, 2008
PANDO VIOLENCE, UNASUR INVESTIGATORS SAY “IT WAS A MASSACRE."
MISNA
27 November 2008
“What happened in Pando was a massacre. It is exactly the correct term, given that such events are qualified as such in international protocols”. The Argentine human rights secretary Rodolfo Mattarollo consigned to Chile’s President and acting chair of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Michelle Bachelet, the final report of the investigations conducted, along with other Latin American experts, into the violence that between 11 and 12 September in the northern Pando department left 19 dead, almost all pro-government farmers.
“Sectors of the prefecture organised themselves to impede the ‘campesinos’ (peasants) from reaching the city of Porvenir. Trenches were dug with state-owned excavators and the column of farmers was attacked by armed civilians”, added Mattarollo, in an interview with the Bolivian ‘La Prensa’ newspaper. The report consigned to Bachelet, who will pass it on to her Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales, contains testimonies and recommendations on the circumstances of the events, but will not be disclosed before the next summit of Heads of State of UNASUR – the bloc that contributed in part to resolving the crisis between the government and opposition, ending the clashes – to be held in mid December in Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil. The work of the UNASUR investigators, specified Mattarollo, “was that of a ‘truth commission’ called to establish the facts, not of a criminal tribunal. We worked based on our moral principles and now it will be up to the government of President Morales to take the necessary decisions based on our recommendations”, he concluded.
27 November 2008
“What happened in Pando was a massacre. It is exactly the correct term, given that such events are qualified as such in international protocols”. The Argentine human rights secretary Rodolfo Mattarollo consigned to Chile’s President and acting chair of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Michelle Bachelet, the final report of the investigations conducted, along with other Latin American experts, into the violence that between 11 and 12 September in the northern Pando department left 19 dead, almost all pro-government farmers.
“Sectors of the prefecture organised themselves to impede the ‘campesinos’ (peasants) from reaching the city of Porvenir. Trenches were dug with state-owned excavators and the column of farmers was attacked by armed civilians”, added Mattarollo, in an interview with the Bolivian ‘La Prensa’ newspaper. The report consigned to Bachelet, who will pass it on to her Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales, contains testimonies and recommendations on the circumstances of the events, but will not be disclosed before the next summit of Heads of State of UNASUR – the bloc that contributed in part to resolving the crisis between the government and opposition, ending the clashes – to be held in mid December in Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil. The work of the UNASUR investigators, specified Mattarollo, “was that of a ‘truth commission’ called to establish the facts, not of a criminal tribunal. We worked based on our moral principles and now it will be up to the government of President Morales to take the necessary decisions based on our recommendations”, he concluded.
EMERGENCY MEETING OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL.
MISNA
28 November 2008
An emergency session today of the United Nations Human Rights Council will be dedicated to the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, once again gripped by fighting between the army and armed groups that appear prompted also by foreign interests. The meeting of the Geneva-based Council was requested by 16 member nations, including France, Britain, Germany, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Italy and Ukraine. This is the Council’s 8th emergency session: the past such sessions were convoked on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (2006), the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon (2006), the repeated Israeli incursions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (2006), the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region (2006), political tensions in Myanmar (2007) and again human rights violations by Israel in Gaza (2008).
28 November 2008
An emergency session today of the United Nations Human Rights Council will be dedicated to the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, once again gripped by fighting between the army and armed groups that appear prompted also by foreign interests. The meeting of the Geneva-based Council was requested by 16 member nations, including France, Britain, Germany, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Italy and Ukraine. This is the Council’s 8th emergency session: the past such sessions were convoked on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (2006), the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon (2006), the repeated Israeli incursions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (2006), the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region (2006), political tensions in Myanmar (2007) and again human rights violations by Israel in Gaza (2008).
25 November, 2008
German Expert Witness Starts His Fourth Testimony Before ICTR.
Hirondelle News Agency
24 November 2008
German political scientist Helmut Strizek, an expert witness on the Great Lakes region, was called Monday by the defence of Captain Innocent Sagahutu, on trial alongside three other officers of the former Rwandan Armed forces (FAR).
It is his fourth testimony before the ICTR where was called in the "media", "military I" and "government II" cases, at the request of the defence.
At the start of his new testimony, he notably stated that until 5 October 1993, Washington and Paris had a concerted management of the Rwandan case. "There was a kind of dialogue between France and the United States, a dialogue which was broken off at the arrival of (Bill) Clinton", supported the witness who testified via videoconference from The Hague.
He explained why at the signature, on 4 August 1993, of the peace accords between the Rwandan Government and the former rebellion of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF, currently in power), this dialogue still existed.
Among the persons responsible for the rupture, he cited Madeleine Albright who, according to him, "was driven by an unfavourable prejudice towards France". Mrs. Albright represented her country at the United Nations from 1993 to 1997, the date on which she was named Secretary of State by President Clinton.
After this German political scientist, the captain's defence should call during the week, the French historian, Bernard Lugan.
WNJ Editor's Note: Dr. Strizek's expert witness report, admitted as evidence during this testimony, is available from WNJ upon request.
24 November 2008
German political scientist Helmut Strizek, an expert witness on the Great Lakes region, was called Monday by the defence of Captain Innocent Sagahutu, on trial alongside three other officers of the former Rwandan Armed forces (FAR).
It is his fourth testimony before the ICTR where was called in the "media", "military I" and "government II" cases, at the request of the defence.
At the start of his new testimony, he notably stated that until 5 October 1993, Washington and Paris had a concerted management of the Rwandan case. "There was a kind of dialogue between France and the United States, a dialogue which was broken off at the arrival of (Bill) Clinton", supported the witness who testified via videoconference from The Hague.
He explained why at the signature, on 4 August 1993, of the peace accords between the Rwandan Government and the former rebellion of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF, currently in power), this dialogue still existed.
Among the persons responsible for the rupture, he cited Madeleine Albright who, according to him, "was driven by an unfavourable prejudice towards France". Mrs. Albright represented her country at the United Nations from 1993 to 1997, the date on which she was named Secretary of State by President Clinton.
After this German political scientist, the captain's defence should call during the week, the French historian, Bernard Lugan.
WNJ Editor's Note: Dr. Strizek's expert witness report, admitted as evidence during this testimony, is available from WNJ upon request.
Journalist gunned down after being sent on asignment to Somalia by the BBC.
The Scotsman
24 November 2008
By Mark Bulstrode
The family of a BBC producer killed in Somalia recently have spoken out about their search for answers ahead of an inquest into her death that starts today.
Ms. Katie Peyton, 39, died in February 2005 after being shot in the back by a gunman outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu.
The producer's mother, Angela, 68, sister Rebecca, 36, and brother Charles, 40, said they hoped the hearing would reveal the reasons why she was sent from her base in South Africa to work in the Somali capital.
Along with reporter Peter Greste, Ms Peyton had been due to film a series of reports from the country. At the five-day inquest at Ipswich Crown Court, the family will argue there was a lack of planning from BBC bosses ahead of the trip.
They claim Ms Peyton, from Beyton, Suffolk, was not warned about the dangers of the country and had felt "under pressure" at work.
Witnesses at the time said the shot had been fired by a militiaman, but the reason for the shooting was not immediately clear.
Ms Peyton underwent surgery at a Mogadishu hospital, but it was reported that she died from internal bleeding. Mr Greste was not injured.
Many militiamen were found around that hotel because it is where Somali politicians were staying as they assessed conditions for relocating the government from neighbouring Kenya, where it was then based.
Ms Peyton's sister, Rebecca, an actress who lives in Brixton, South London, said: "All the journalists we've spoken to who have been to Somalia or who know about it have been quite shocked that she was sent. We say that she didn't have access to all the information before she went.
"She didn't have any contacts in Somalia and we believe she wasn't aware of the dangers of working there."
Angela Peyton, a retired book shop worker, had been visiting her daughter in Johannesburg in early February 2005 when she was told about the assignment.
Mrs Peyton said: "She came home from work and said, 'Sorry, I've got to go to Somalia next Tuesday'. I have to say that my heart sank but I don't think I fully understood how dangerous it was.
"She said, 'This will prove to them that I'm committed'. She told me she had felt under pressure over her contract." Ms Peyton's two-year deal with the BBC was due to expire in the summer of 2005, her family said.
Her brother, Charles, said he hoped one outcome of the case would be more detailed planning from broadcasters before sending journalists into hostile environments.
His sister Rebecca, who stressed the family remained staunch supporters of the BBC, added: "The only thing anyone can do now is review what happened and see if there's anything to be learned or considered.
"We don't want anyone's head on a plate, we don't want to shut down foreign news – we just want some answers."
Mrs Peyton said the inquest would provide an opportunity to air their concerns to the BBC.
She said: "I'm determined that we will get the chance to say what we want to say and the BBC will have to hear it, whether they want to or not. Going over all the details of how Kate died will be difficult but I've braced myself for that."
Ms Peyton had worked for the BBC since 1993 and was described after her death as being one of the corporations "most experienced and respected foreign affairs producers who had worked all over Africa and all over the world".
24 November 2008
By Mark Bulstrode
The family of a BBC producer killed in Somalia recently have spoken out about their search for answers ahead of an inquest into her death that starts today.
Ms. Katie Peyton, 39, died in February 2005 after being shot in the back by a gunman outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu.
The producer's mother, Angela, 68, sister Rebecca, 36, and brother Charles, 40, said they hoped the hearing would reveal the reasons why she was sent from her base in South Africa to work in the Somali capital.
Along with reporter Peter Greste, Ms Peyton had been due to film a series of reports from the country. At the five-day inquest at Ipswich Crown Court, the family will argue there was a lack of planning from BBC bosses ahead of the trip.
They claim Ms Peyton, from Beyton, Suffolk, was not warned about the dangers of the country and had felt "under pressure" at work.
Witnesses at the time said the shot had been fired by a militiaman, but the reason for the shooting was not immediately clear.
Ms Peyton underwent surgery at a Mogadishu hospital, but it was reported that she died from internal bleeding. Mr Greste was not injured.
Many militiamen were found around that hotel because it is where Somali politicians were staying as they assessed conditions for relocating the government from neighbouring Kenya, where it was then based.
Ms Peyton's sister, Rebecca, an actress who lives in Brixton, South London, said: "All the journalists we've spoken to who have been to Somalia or who know about it have been quite shocked that she was sent. We say that she didn't have access to all the information before she went.
"She didn't have any contacts in Somalia and we believe she wasn't aware of the dangers of working there."
Angela Peyton, a retired book shop worker, had been visiting her daughter in Johannesburg in early February 2005 when she was told about the assignment.
Mrs Peyton said: "She came home from work and said, 'Sorry, I've got to go to Somalia next Tuesday'. I have to say that my heart sank but I don't think I fully understood how dangerous it was.
"She said, 'This will prove to them that I'm committed'. She told me she had felt under pressure over her contract." Ms Peyton's two-year deal with the BBC was due to expire in the summer of 2005, her family said.
Her brother, Charles, said he hoped one outcome of the case would be more detailed planning from broadcasters before sending journalists into hostile environments.
His sister Rebecca, who stressed the family remained staunch supporters of the BBC, added: "The only thing anyone can do now is review what happened and see if there's anything to be learned or considered.
"We don't want anyone's head on a plate, we don't want to shut down foreign news – we just want some answers."
Mrs Peyton said the inquest would provide an opportunity to air their concerns to the BBC.
She said: "I'm determined that we will get the chance to say what we want to say and the BBC will have to hear it, whether they want to or not. Going over all the details of how Kate died will be difficult but I've braced myself for that."
Ms Peyton had worked for the BBC since 1993 and was described after her death as being one of the corporations "most experienced and respected foreign affairs producers who had worked all over Africa and all over the world".
CNDP forcing civilians to fight for them.
AFP
22 November 2008
In Kiringa, it is too dangerous even to go outside. Paul and Dieudonne are hiding at home as soldiers from Laurent Nkunda’s militia patrol the streets of the town in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
There is an eerie calm in the rain-sodden streets as others too decide to stay indoors, scared of being dragooned into fighting Nkunda’s war against government troops.
Boys as young as 15 guard CNDP checkpoints along the two-kilometre stretch of road between Kiringa and Rutshutu.
Locals told AFP that Nkunda had abducted a number of young men in recent days and forced them to join his National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), confirming the suspicions of the UN mission in the country, known as MONUC.
Fearful of being kidnapped, many are locking themselves in at home or sleeping in the bush.
One 29-year-old teacher told AFP he and some friends were confronted by CNDP members on Wednesday.
"They arrested us and held us at gunpoint. Four of our friends were taken and we haven’t heard any news since," he said. "Without question, they have been taken away to do military service. Either that or they have been killed."
Since then he has stayed indoors, but hopes to leave for Uganda next week.
"It’s only because I am short of money that I haven’t gone already," he said. Others are fleeing to Goma - the provincial capital of Nord-Kivu, 80 kilometres south of Kiringa - according to local people interviewed by AFP.
One of Paul’s neighbours suffered a narrow escape after rebels arrested him and a friend last Monday.
"I was coming from the gas station when I was stopped by two officers who spoke Kinyarwanda (the language spoken in neighbouring Rwanda).
"One of my friends saw what happened and convinced them that we were doctors. His lie saved our lives," said the 27-year-old man, who did not want to give his name.
"Can you imagine? You are sent to the frontline and you’ve got no experience (of fighting). Ninety percent of the time that means death," he said.
Dieudonne, 22, and his friends were seized by rebels on Tuesday night and then bundled into the back of a lorry.
"They told us that we were going to do military service and gave us weapons," he said.
They were eventually freed after a local elder intervened and pleaded with the CNDP to let him go. Dieudonne has been in hiding for three days now and sleeps in the bush at night.
One local politician, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed that large numbers of people were fleeing Kiringa out of fear of being picked up. But he said CNDP patrols of the town were "going well" and denied that Nkunda was actively recruiting in the area.
Another elder disagreed and said that military service should not be "forced."
"But we can’t stop the CNDP from taking our children," he lamented.
22 November 2008
In Kiringa, it is too dangerous even to go outside. Paul and Dieudonne are hiding at home as soldiers from Laurent Nkunda’s militia patrol the streets of the town in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
There is an eerie calm in the rain-sodden streets as others too decide to stay indoors, scared of being dragooned into fighting Nkunda’s war against government troops.
Boys as young as 15 guard CNDP checkpoints along the two-kilometre stretch of road between Kiringa and Rutshutu.
Locals told AFP that Nkunda had abducted a number of young men in recent days and forced them to join his National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), confirming the suspicions of the UN mission in the country, known as MONUC.
Fearful of being kidnapped, many are locking themselves in at home or sleeping in the bush.
One 29-year-old teacher told AFP he and some friends were confronted by CNDP members on Wednesday.
"They arrested us and held us at gunpoint. Four of our friends were taken and we haven’t heard any news since," he said. "Without question, they have been taken away to do military service. Either that or they have been killed."
Since then he has stayed indoors, but hopes to leave for Uganda next week.
"It’s only because I am short of money that I haven’t gone already," he said. Others are fleeing to Goma - the provincial capital of Nord-Kivu, 80 kilometres south of Kiringa - according to local people interviewed by AFP.
One of Paul’s neighbours suffered a narrow escape after rebels arrested him and a friend last Monday.
"I was coming from the gas station when I was stopped by two officers who spoke Kinyarwanda (the language spoken in neighbouring Rwanda).
"One of my friends saw what happened and convinced them that we were doctors. His lie saved our lives," said the 27-year-old man, who did not want to give his name.
"Can you imagine? You are sent to the frontline and you’ve got no experience (of fighting). Ninety percent of the time that means death," he said.
Dieudonne, 22, and his friends were seized by rebels on Tuesday night and then bundled into the back of a lorry.
"They told us that we were going to do military service and gave us weapons," he said.
They were eventually freed after a local elder intervened and pleaded with the CNDP to let him go. Dieudonne has been in hiding for three days now and sleeps in the bush at night.
One local politician, speaking on condition of anonymity, agreed that large numbers of people were fleeing Kiringa out of fear of being picked up. But he said CNDP patrols of the town were "going well" and denied that Nkunda was actively recruiting in the area.
Another elder disagreed and said that military service should not be "forced."
"But we can’t stop the CNDP from taking our children," he lamented.
24 November, 2008
Nkunda, gendarme des puissants groupes opposés à l’entrée de la Chine au Congo. Congo, une guerre pour le droit à l’exploitation.
La Potentiel
par Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
24 November 2008
Le Forum International pour la Vérité et la Justice dans l’Afrique des Grands Lacs a dénoncé, hier, à Madrid, le fait que les milices du général rebelle congolais Laurent Nkunda agissent comme les « gendarmes » au service de grands intérêts internationaux qui, à partir du Rwanda, s’opposent à l’entrée de la Chine en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) pour l’exploitation des ressources minières de ce pays africain, selon l’information transmise par Europa Press.
Le Forum International pour la Vérité et la Justice dans l’Afrique des Grands Lacs réunit des personnalités, tel le Prix Nobel de la Paix Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, l’élue au Congrès des Etats-Unis Cynthia A McKinney, le Président de la Fondation S’Olivar Joan Carrero, et la Fédération des Comités de Solidarité avec l’Afrique Noire.
Par ailleurs, selon les déclarations faites la semaine dernière par un témoin « qualifié » dans l’instruction ouverte par le juge espagnol Fernando Andreu contre le régime rwandais pour génocide, l’ex-président Laurent Désiré Kabila, père de l’actuel président congolais, aurait été assassiné sur ordre du président du Rwanda Paul Kagame, pour empêcher son rapprochement avec la Chine et le Venezuela.
Ces deux informations ont été développées et étayées par le président du Forum, Joan Carrero, qui, à la tête de la Fondation S’Olivar, a été plusieurs fois proposé pour le Prix Nobel de la Paix.
Les rebelles du Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP), du général tutsi Laurent Nkunda « sont les gendarmes de groupes beaucoup plus puissants ; ils agissent pour le compte de ceux qui s’opposent à ce que la Chine pénètre où que ce soit au Congo », a déclaré le président du Forum Juan Carrero, au cours d’une conférence de presse qui s’est tenue au Sénat.
D’après les déclarations de Joan Carrero, depuis que le gouvernement de Kinshasa « a signé un contrat d’un montant de 9 milliards de dollars avec la Chine », il a été confronté « à des niveaux insupportables de chantage ». Il a également déclaré que « Nkunda a déjà prévenu qu’il ne s’arrêtera pas tant que Kabila ne négociera pas et ne dénoncera pas ses contrats avec la Chine. »
Dans ce même sens, le sénateur Pere Sampol, du BLOC, a déclaré au cours de cette même conférence de presse que cette nouvelle guerre à l’Est du Congo « a été présentée comme un conflit ethnique ou tribal alors que problème essentiel a été le contrôle par de grands groupes européens et étatsuniens des ressources naturelles du Congo ».
« C’est juste au moment où le Congo a essayé d’établir des contrats commerciaux avec la Chine pour exploiter le cuivre et le coltan , avec des contrats beaucoup plus avantageux pour le Congo, que les multinationales, avec la complicité des grandes puissances internationales, ont provoqué ce conflit » a affirmé le sénateur.
Le gouvernement de Paul Kagame, a poursuivi Carrero, est en train de s’approprier la plus grande partie des minerais stratégiques qui se trouvent dans l’Est de la R.D.C., et en particulier une variété très spéciale de coltan, un composé de colombite et de tantale, fondamental dans l’industrie des télécommunications, et de caserite . « le Rwanda est un grand exportateur de coltan, mais n’a pas de coltan sur son territoire » a-t-il expliqué.
Une autre déclaration de Carrero remet en question le rôle de la Monuc, la Mission de l’Onu au Congo, constituée par environ 17 000 casques bleus. Selon des témoignages qu’il a lui-même recueillis au cours d’un récent séjour en République Démocratique du Congo, « la Monuc disparaît fréquemment quand Nkunda a le vent en poupe et, inversement, elle s’interpose et joue son rôle de modérateur lorsque Nkunda est acculé par l’armée congolaise ». Cette thèse de l’inefficacité de la Monuc dans ce conflit est corroborée, par ailleurs, par des sources directes de groupes venus de la société civile qui travaillent pour la justice et la paix dans la zone du Kivu.
Le président du Forum a qualifié de « rôle néfaste » le rôle joué par l’Onu en R.D.C. : « L’ancien secrétaire général de l’Onu, Monsieur Butros Butros Ghali, avait dénoncé le fait que le génocide était à cent pour cent de la responsabilité des Etats-Unis et c’était la raison pour laquelle son mandat n’avait pas été renouvelé » a-t-il ajouté.
Cette inaction de l’Onu est attestée par le paradoxe suivant : « 17 000 casques bleus s’avèrent incapables d’empêcher que 4 000 combattants de Nkunda soient à même de terroriser et de soumettre la population », a-t-il ajouté. Selon les dires de Carrero, le général espagnol Vicente Diaz de Villegas, qui a démissionné de ses responsabilités de chef de la Monuc en octobre dernier, « a laissé entendre que la Monuc dispose d’un mandat clair et énergique, mais que certaines puissances empêchent que ce mandat soit appliqué ».
Par ailleurs, la semaine dernière, quatre témoins sous protection ont témoigné devant le juge de la Quatrième Chambre du Tribunal Suprême, Fernando Andreu, dans le cadre de l’instruction judiciaire ouverte suite à la mort de quatre millions de Rwandais, victimes d’un plan «d’extermination pour raisons ethniques » exécuté par l’actuel parti au pouvoir, le Front Patriotique Rwandais, entre 1990 et 2002.
Un des intervenants, un «nouveau témoin extrêmement digne de foi, qui a eu une connaissance directe de l’assassinat de Laurent Désiré Kabila, le père » a certifié au magistrat qu’un « commando constitué de Rwandais recrutés dans l’entourage tutsi immédiat du président Kabila avait exécuté Kabila, avec un membre de la garde personnelle pour couper toutes les pistes ». Laurent Désiré Kabila fut assassiné en janvier 2001 et c’est son fils, l’actuel président, Joseph Kabila, qui lui a succédé à la présidence.
Le but de ce crime, a-t-il affirmé, c’était de « conserver le contrôle de l’exploitation des richesses minières du Congo par les grandes entreprises qui avaient obtenu les concessions d’exploitation grâce à l’invasion du pays qui avait précédé ». « Il y avait, à ce moment-là, des approches très sérieuses en direction de la Chine et du Venezuela, opposés à cette exploitation, ou plutôt à ce pillage, des fabuleuses ressources minières de l’ex-Zaïre qui sont parmi les plus importantes du monde », a affirmé Carrero. Le juge Andreu, selon Carrero, a été fortement impressionné par ce témoignage au point d’ordonner un supplément d’enquête et d’autres auditions.
Les témoignages faits devant le juge Andreu, a affirmé Carrero, ont révélé « les massacres » perpétrés par les forces rwandaises entre 1997 et 1998 dans « ces mêmes camps de refugiés où, aujourd’hui, à nouveau, sont regroupées les personnes déplacées ».
par Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
24 November 2008
Le Forum International pour la Vérité et la Justice dans l’Afrique des Grands Lacs a dénoncé, hier, à Madrid, le fait que les milices du général rebelle congolais Laurent Nkunda agissent comme les « gendarmes » au service de grands intérêts internationaux qui, à partir du Rwanda, s’opposent à l’entrée de la Chine en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) pour l’exploitation des ressources minières de ce pays africain, selon l’information transmise par Europa Press.
Le Forum International pour la Vérité et la Justice dans l’Afrique des Grands Lacs réunit des personnalités, tel le Prix Nobel de la Paix Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, l’élue au Congrès des Etats-Unis Cynthia A McKinney, le Président de la Fondation S’Olivar Joan Carrero, et la Fédération des Comités de Solidarité avec l’Afrique Noire.
Par ailleurs, selon les déclarations faites la semaine dernière par un témoin « qualifié » dans l’instruction ouverte par le juge espagnol Fernando Andreu contre le régime rwandais pour génocide, l’ex-président Laurent Désiré Kabila, père de l’actuel président congolais, aurait été assassiné sur ordre du président du Rwanda Paul Kagame, pour empêcher son rapprochement avec la Chine et le Venezuela.
Ces deux informations ont été développées et étayées par le président du Forum, Joan Carrero, qui, à la tête de la Fondation S’Olivar, a été plusieurs fois proposé pour le Prix Nobel de la Paix.
Les rebelles du Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple (CNDP), du général tutsi Laurent Nkunda « sont les gendarmes de groupes beaucoup plus puissants ; ils agissent pour le compte de ceux qui s’opposent à ce que la Chine pénètre où que ce soit au Congo », a déclaré le président du Forum Juan Carrero, au cours d’une conférence de presse qui s’est tenue au Sénat.
D’après les déclarations de Joan Carrero, depuis que le gouvernement de Kinshasa « a signé un contrat d’un montant de 9 milliards de dollars avec la Chine », il a été confronté « à des niveaux insupportables de chantage ». Il a également déclaré que « Nkunda a déjà prévenu qu’il ne s’arrêtera pas tant que Kabila ne négociera pas et ne dénoncera pas ses contrats avec la Chine. »
Dans ce même sens, le sénateur Pere Sampol, du BLOC, a déclaré au cours de cette même conférence de presse que cette nouvelle guerre à l’Est du Congo « a été présentée comme un conflit ethnique ou tribal alors que problème essentiel a été le contrôle par de grands groupes européens et étatsuniens des ressources naturelles du Congo ».
« C’est juste au moment où le Congo a essayé d’établir des contrats commerciaux avec la Chine pour exploiter le cuivre et le coltan , avec des contrats beaucoup plus avantageux pour le Congo, que les multinationales, avec la complicité des grandes puissances internationales, ont provoqué ce conflit » a affirmé le sénateur.
Le gouvernement de Paul Kagame, a poursuivi Carrero, est en train de s’approprier la plus grande partie des minerais stratégiques qui se trouvent dans l’Est de la R.D.C., et en particulier une variété très spéciale de coltan, un composé de colombite et de tantale, fondamental dans l’industrie des télécommunications, et de caserite . « le Rwanda est un grand exportateur de coltan, mais n’a pas de coltan sur son territoire » a-t-il expliqué.
Une autre déclaration de Carrero remet en question le rôle de la Monuc, la Mission de l’Onu au Congo, constituée par environ 17 000 casques bleus. Selon des témoignages qu’il a lui-même recueillis au cours d’un récent séjour en République Démocratique du Congo, « la Monuc disparaît fréquemment quand Nkunda a le vent en poupe et, inversement, elle s’interpose et joue son rôle de modérateur lorsque Nkunda est acculé par l’armée congolaise ». Cette thèse de l’inefficacité de la Monuc dans ce conflit est corroborée, par ailleurs, par des sources directes de groupes venus de la société civile qui travaillent pour la justice et la paix dans la zone du Kivu.
Le président du Forum a qualifié de « rôle néfaste » le rôle joué par l’Onu en R.D.C. : « L’ancien secrétaire général de l’Onu, Monsieur Butros Butros Ghali, avait dénoncé le fait que le génocide était à cent pour cent de la responsabilité des Etats-Unis et c’était la raison pour laquelle son mandat n’avait pas été renouvelé » a-t-il ajouté.
Cette inaction de l’Onu est attestée par le paradoxe suivant : « 17 000 casques bleus s’avèrent incapables d’empêcher que 4 000 combattants de Nkunda soient à même de terroriser et de soumettre la population », a-t-il ajouté. Selon les dires de Carrero, le général espagnol Vicente Diaz de Villegas, qui a démissionné de ses responsabilités de chef de la Monuc en octobre dernier, « a laissé entendre que la Monuc dispose d’un mandat clair et énergique, mais que certaines puissances empêchent que ce mandat soit appliqué ».
Par ailleurs, la semaine dernière, quatre témoins sous protection ont témoigné devant le juge de la Quatrième Chambre du Tribunal Suprême, Fernando Andreu, dans le cadre de l’instruction judiciaire ouverte suite à la mort de quatre millions de Rwandais, victimes d’un plan «d’extermination pour raisons ethniques » exécuté par l’actuel parti au pouvoir, le Front Patriotique Rwandais, entre 1990 et 2002.
Un des intervenants, un «nouveau témoin extrêmement digne de foi, qui a eu une connaissance directe de l’assassinat de Laurent Désiré Kabila, le père » a certifié au magistrat qu’un « commando constitué de Rwandais recrutés dans l’entourage tutsi immédiat du président Kabila avait exécuté Kabila, avec un membre de la garde personnelle pour couper toutes les pistes ». Laurent Désiré Kabila fut assassiné en janvier 2001 et c’est son fils, l’actuel président, Joseph Kabila, qui lui a succédé à la présidence.
Le but de ce crime, a-t-il affirmé, c’était de « conserver le contrôle de l’exploitation des richesses minières du Congo par les grandes entreprises qui avaient obtenu les concessions d’exploitation grâce à l’invasion du pays qui avait précédé ». « Il y avait, à ce moment-là, des approches très sérieuses en direction de la Chine et du Venezuela, opposés à cette exploitation, ou plutôt à ce pillage, des fabuleuses ressources minières de l’ex-Zaïre qui sont parmi les plus importantes du monde », a affirmé Carrero. Le juge Andreu, selon Carrero, a été fortement impressionné par ce témoignage au point d’ordonner un supplément d’enquête et d’autres auditions.
Les témoignages faits devant le juge Andreu, a affirmé Carrero, ont révélé « les massacres » perpétrés par les forces rwandaises entre 1997 et 1998 dans « ces mêmes camps de refugiés où, aujourd’hui, à nouveau, sont regroupées les personnes déplacées ».
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