05 06 12 FC – End the Impunity in Eastern Congo: Hold US Ally to Account

 The report by MONUSCO is
not surprising, but the carte blanche that the Rwandan government enjoys,
especially at the international level, continues to boggle the mind. It would
appear that the more Rwanda destabilizes the Congo, the more military equipment,
training, intelligence and financial aid the government gets from its donors in
the West. Timothy Reid's prescient article in the Harvard Policy Journal
entitled "Killing
Them Softly: Has Foreign Aid to Rwanda and Uganda Contributed to the
Humanitarian Tragedy in the Democratic Republic of Congo?" captures the
scale of the impunity with which the Rwandan government has operated in Congo
with the full backing of its donors.

A staunch ally of the United States
and the United Kingdom, the Rwandan government has benefited tremendously from
the diplomatic cover and protection that accompanies its relationship with such
powerful nations – former
New York Times reporter, Howard French explains.

The United States
has a law on its books that supporters of the Rwandan government both inside and
outside the US government would wish to disappear. The Democratic
Republic of The Congo Relief, Security and Democracy Promotion Act (PL
109-456), sponsored by Barack Obama and Co-Sponsored by Hillary Clinton
when they were both Senators, was signed into law in 2006 by President
Bush.

Section 105 of Public Law 109-456 says "The Secretary of State
is authorized to withhold assistance made available under the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), other than humanitarian, peacekeeping, and
counterterrorism assistance, for a foreign country if the Secretary determines
that the government of the foreign country is taking actions to destabilize the
Democratic Republic of the Congo."

Following a United
Nations group of experts report published in 2008 documenting Rwanda's
support for the CNDP and its leader at the time, Laurent Nkunda, Sweden and
Netherlands did what the United States has not done to date; they held the
Rwandan government to account by withholding
financial aid. Subsequently, Rwanda demobilized the CNDP and placed Laurent
Nkunda under house arrest only to replace him with Bosco Ntaganda as head of the
CNDP. Now that Ntaganda has become toxic as a result of increasing demands that
he should be brought to the International Criminal Court (ICC) where he is
wanted for war crimes in the Congo, there is now an attempt to replace him with
Sultani Makenga. Noted scholar of the region Rene LeMarchand stated in the Fall/Winter
2009, Brown Journal of World Affairs that Rwanda is a central actor
who will determine whether the region is characterized by peace or war.

Allowing more to die and add to the millions of Congolese already lost
to the war and instability of the last fifteen years is unconscionable. It is
time that the international community and Rwanda's allies, especially the United
States, hold the Rwandan government to account. A good start would be to
implement Section 105 of PL 109-456.

Sign
Petition
Sign
this petition and let President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
know that you stand for peace in the Congo and the Great Lakes region of Africa.
http://www.change.org/petitions/fully-implement-public-law-109-456

Contact
the U.S. State Department, The White House and members of Congress and request
that they hold the Rwandan government accountable for its actions in the
Congo.

Select Resources that document the Rwandan government's
destabilizing role in the Congo

DR
Congo: Rwanda Should Stop Aiding War Crimes Suspect
Human Rights
Watch

Crisis
in the Congo: Uncovering The Truth
Documentary Film
Friends of the
Congo

Kagame
Admits that Rwandans Led Revolt in Congo
Washington Post, July
1997

Kagame's
Hidden War in the Congo
New York Review of Books
Howard
French

United
Nations Mapping Exercise Report
Navanethem "Navi" Pillay,
United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR)

UN
Group of Experts Report
December 2008

The
Six Day War, Rwanda and Uganda Battle in Kisangani, DRC

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up for Congo Week V, October 14 – 20, 2012

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Congo