Hi Qwerty,
Not I, as I said before it's a wee bit too far for me, here's todays latest from NCN ,looks like the Ugandans et al want out rather quickly now ,the end is nigh
regards
John
Regional
Ogen Kevin Aliro, reporting for the May 25 edition of The Monitor in Kampala, has presented some interesting views about the trends he sees in the current DR Congo war. His observations are highlighted as follows:
The Congo campaign by Uganda and Rwanda is "a military adventure badly gone wrong." Ugandans and Rwandans are shooting at each other, and the DR Congo rebels are at a loss about what to do.
There is a chance that Uganda and Rwanda could find themselves confronting each other. Rwanda has the military advantage. General Kagame is more committed, he ran Uganda's intelligence network for many years and understands how Uganda works, and Ugandans know very little about Rwanda and how it works.
Uganda's participation in the DR Congo war has achieved almost nothing. Rebel militia operating from the DR Congo against targets in Uganda continue to do so and arguably the war has actually energized the militia.
Rwanda has achieved her minimum objectives. Rwanda has dealt some hard blows to the Interahamwe and has tightened her borders. Further, the war has not adversely affected Rwanda's economy. Instead, Uganda has foot most of the bills and is now under intense international financial community scrutiny. Rwanda is profiting from Congolese minerals and timber sales. Rwanda has been flowing the resulting revenues into the treasury, while similar sales by Ugandans have flowed into the pockets of Ugandan military officers and businessmen. The Congo war has brought out the worst in the Ugandan military.
For better or worse, General Kagame is on a mission, a mission he considers to be the survival of his people. Uganda has no such mission and its motives in the Congo are unclear.
Returning Ugandan soldiers, some of whom should not have been admitted to the Ugandan military in the first place, are going to present the government with problems. They are poorly disciplined and used to living largely at their own direction in the Congo. Some are known criminals. They are likely to cause domestic unrest on their return.
President Museveni faces some serious diplomatic issues. It will be hard to withdraw from the Congo until some kind of arrangement is concluded with Sudan. The threat of Sudanese bombing raids against Uganda from the Congolese base at Kisangani is real. In addition, Museveni must make some kind of agreement with Zimbabwe's Mugabe. Former Tanzanian President Nyerere has advised both Messrs. Mugabe and Museveni that they should come back together, that the Congo's Kabila is not worth their fighting against each other.
Museveni's best option appears to be to withdraw, and there are reports a battalion is already withdrawing, and maintain a narrow buffer zone on the western border (Editor's note: NCN recommended this a long time ago)
The debate about what happened at Kisangani between DR Congo rebels, Ugandan and Rwandan military forces is clouded in obfuscation:
James Tumusiime attempted to piece the story together for the May 25 edition of The Monitor:
Ugandan Minister of State for Defense Kavuma said there was no shootout in Kisangani involving Ugandan soldiers. Kavuma was quoted as recently as May 25 saying, "I can tell you that none of our soldiers was injured or killed in any shootout."
A Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) spokesman, Lt. Colonel Rutayisire, said Rwandan troops were not involved and therefore suffered no casualties. The Rwandans said they do have information from the Congo that said the fight was between Ugandan soldiers and RCD rebels, resulting in two Ugandan soldiers being killed with three Congolese rebels captured.
New Vision reported on May 26 that four soldiers were killed in the shootout at Kisangani. New Vision said that Ugandan soldiers intervened and foiled a plot to assassinate Congolese rebel leader Wamba, a plot hatched by the Goma-based DR Congolese RCD rebels and their new leader, Emile Ilunga. There were two assassins, one a RCD rebel, the other a Rwandan soldier, and they were both killed in the melee. An Ugandan soldier was injured and treated at a Kisangani hospital. The Ugandans also arrested the Congolese leader of the hit-squad and another soldier. Two Toyota pickup trucks belonging to the Rwandan army and RCD in Goma were found at the scene by the Ugandan military. The arrested soldiers have confessed.
Hrvoje Hranjski reported previously for AP that RCD rebel leader Ondekane said that the death toll from the intra-faction shootout in Kisangani was six, four Congolese and two Ugandan soldiers, with two Ugandan officers captured by the rebels and four rebels captured by the Ugandans.
UN IRIN reported that Rwandan Foreign Minister Ismail Amri Sued visited Kisangani on May 24 to assess the situation. Sued was quoted by Uvira radio saying the losses were minimal and had "trimmed Wamba dia Wamba to size."
Angola
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