Posted on 05/27/2013 4:21:10 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
(Reuters) - Eastern Congo's most powerful warlord stands on a hillside, surrounded by heavily armed fighters, and gazes down on the sprawling lakeside city of Goma spread invitingly below him in the distance.
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"The government can't beat us. They have no choice but to negotiate," says the lean, 39-year-old veteran of several revolts in mineral-rich eastern Congo. "We're waiting for the negotiations in Kampala."
M23 launched its rebellion in Congo's beautiful but war-torn eastern borderlands more than a year ago. Hundreds of former rebels who had been integrated into the army - veterans, like Makenga, of a previous Tutsi uprising - abandoned their posts saying the government had failed to honor a 2009 peace deal.
Their discipline and military prowess won them large swathes of territory, forcing Kinshasa to the negotiating table.
But the fall of Goma prompted the international community into action. A February deal signed by 11 neighboring countries sanctioned the deployment of the U.N. force with a mandate to neutralize armed groups like M23 in the eastern border region.
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He seems untroubled by the prospect of facing foreign troops if they bring the fight to the rebels. The 3,000-strong Brigade is to be made up of South Africans, Tanzanians and Malawians.
"We can't attack the U.N. peacekeepers but if they attack us, what choice will we have? We'll have to defend ourselves."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Blue helmets don’t give you any mythical powers, courage of mystic proportions, wisdom beyond the stars, fearless behavior to overcome impossible challenges, or valor beyond mortal means.
M23 launched its rebellion in Congo's beautiful but war-torn eastern borderlands more than a year ago. Hundreds of former rebels who had been integrated into the army... abandoned their posts saying the government had failed to honor a 2009 peace deal. Their discipline and military prowess won them large swathes of territory, forcing Kinshasa to the negotiating table. But the fall of Goma prompted the international community into action... 11 neighboring countries sanctioned the deployment of the U.N. force with a mandate to neutralize armed groups like M23... The 3,000-strong Brigade is to be made up of South Africans, Tanzanians and Malawians.
No, but the UN has lived in it's idealized bubble of "peacekeeping" and has for the most part been only observers or props in world events for the last 50 years. Recently they have acted much more aggressively in places live Ivory Coast and Libya, albeit using proxies. Now they are sending forces in an offensive war under the UN flag, a distinct change in policy. As we have seen our puppet-king and his lackeys bow at the UN alter and our troops could easily be dragged into a mess like Congo. We already have groups of "advisors" in Nigeria, Uganda, Mali and others.
Malawians? Don't they have their own little rebellion going on in their home country?
I've decided after looking at the numbers that the UN Peacekeepers and the African Union are for the most part jobs programs for third world soldiers. We pay millions of dollars each year for tens of thousands of them to protect each other's countries. Pretty clever scam if you ask me.
Pretty good scam. Send your soldiers off the fight in another country while you outsource you rebellion to French and American troops. It’s a win win for Mali.
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