UN experts say Rwanda and Uganda backing DR Congo

UNITED NATIONS — A UN expert panel accused Rwanda's defense minister of being the "de facto" commander of a rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a confidential report seen by AFP. The report accused both Rwanda and Uganda of arming and supporting the M23 rebels, whose members are former fighters in an ethnic Tutsi rebel movement theoretically integrated into the Congolese military under a 2009 peace deal. This is not the first time the two central African nations have been accused of backing rebels in a proxy war in eastern Congo, allegations they have consistently denied. In June, in an interim report, the same UN panel said it had "overwhelming evidence" that senior Rwandan Defense Forces officers "have been backstopping the rebels through providing weapons, military supplies, and new recruits." In the updated, more detailed report, the experts -- who are tasked with monitoring the implementation of UN sanctions in Congo -- said they have "found no substantive element of its previous finding which it wishes to alter." The report alleged that the M23 "de facto chain of command includes General Bosco Ntaganda and culminates with the Rwandan minister of Defense, General James Kabarebe." The renegade general Ntaganda is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. The report said the government of Rwanda continues to violate the arms embargo through direct military support to M23 rebels, encouraging Congolese soldiers to desert, and providing arms, intelligence and political advice. And in Uganda, senior officials gave support "in the form of direct troop reinforcements in DRC territory, weapons deliveries, technical assistance, joint planning, political advice and facilitation of external relations." The report said Ugandan and Rwandan military units jointly supported M23 in a series of attacks in July 2012 to take over the major towns of Rutshuru territory and a Congolese military base, Rumangabo. During the July clashes, a UN peacekeeper from India was killed. According to the experts, "the rebels expanded their control over Rutshuru territory with extensive foreign support in July 2012 and have recently taken advantage of an informal ceasefire to enhance alliances and command proxy operations elsewhere." They added that "the use and recruitment of child soldiers by armed groups, notably by M23, has increased," with "the enrollment and training of hundreds of young boys and girls" and "certain M23 commanders have ordered the extra-judicial executions of dozens of recruits and prisoners of war." Both Rwanda and Uganda have again denied strenuously that they support the M23 rebellion. Rwandan foreign minister Louise Mushikiwabo accused the authors of the report of mounting a "determined political campaign opposed to resolving true causes of conflict" in the Congo. Her Ugandan counterpart, Henry Okello Oryem, called the report "a joke" and called on the experts to produce their evidence. He told AFP Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will continue mediation efforts in the region, saying leaders there would give no credit to UN report. The M23 rebel fighters were incorporated into the DR Congo army in 2009 as part of a peace deal in the troubled, mineral-rich eastern region. They quit the army this year in a dispute over salaries and poor conditions.

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ADRA Donates Relief Materials To Flood Victims In Makurdi the Benue State capital

nwfhAS part of its commitment to humanitarian cause, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church under its relief arm, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has donated relief materials valued at N2.1 million to victims of flood disaster in Benue State. Associate Director, ADRA Ife, Osun State, Pastor Daniel Oriaku while presenting the items yesterday at the LGEA, Wurukum camp in Makurdi said, the gesture was aimed at reducing the sufferings of the victims. The items donated to the camp include: 43 bags of rice, 20 bags of beans, 20 bags of garri, 240 liters
of palm oil, 615 packets of Maggi, 15 cartons of toilet soap, 40 bags of salt and 40 packs of tissue papers.

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NIGERIAN PIPELINE BLAST 15 FEARD DEAD IN ABIA STATE AS 25 SUFFERS VARIOUS BURNS

No fewer than 15 persons have been confirmed dead and more than 25 suffering various degrees of burns from fire said to have resulted from an alleged vandalism of pipelines at Umueke village in Abia state. Commissioner for Petroleum and Solid Minerals Development, Chief Don Ubani, who confirmed the incident, which he said occurred on September 23, expressed surprise that people could still break pipelines despite several warnings against such acts. Ubani said that hospitals treating the injured vandals have an obligation to report them to law enforcement agencies warning that traditional rulers in whose domains incidents of vandalism occured, "should be prepared to identify such hoodlums for appropriate actions by the government or face the consequences of nonchalance". LEADERSHIP learnt that the state governor, Chief Theodore Orji, had on receiving the information about the fire incident, sent his deputy, Sir Emeka Ananaba, to the area to assess the level of damage. He expressed regrets over the loss of lives, saying that pipeline vandalism was a very costly venture which people should desist from engaging in to save their lives.The deputy governor said that it was high time people stopped having that notion that they could live on criminal activities such as pipeline vandalism, and added that those with criminal tendencies should have a rethink and engage in legitimate means of livelihood. According to him, incidents of pipeline vandalism have become a source of worry to the state government with its attendant loss of human lives and revenue accruing to the federal government, and pointed out that the state government has been supporting the security agencies with logistics to fight the menace. Ananaba wondered why people should still engage in pipe line vandalism even with stories of dire consequences that people have faced while scooping fuel from broken pipeline in several places across the nation. He advised parents to restrain their children and wards to refrain from criminal activities.