[Firestarter]

M23, Susan Rice

The M23 rebel group was supported by Rwanda and Uganda since 1997, when they conspired to remove Mobutu Sese Seko from power of Zaire and install Laurent Désiré Kabila as dictator of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
M23 was the most active mercenary group in Congo until it was forced to leave and retreat to Rwanda and Uganda in November 2013.

In June 2012, the UN released a shocking report detailing Rwanda’s and Uganda’s support to the brutal M23 terrorist group operating in Congo, including arms and training.
It details that Rwanda’s defence minister commanded M23.

Former Congolese general Bosco Ntaganda controls the ground operations, while M23 leader Sultani Makenga was in charge of operations and coordination with allied armed groups.
Both Ntaganda and Makenga receive direct military orders from RDF (Rwandan army) Chief of Defense staff General Charles Kayonga, who in turn acts on instructions from Minister of Defence General James Kabarebe.

Xavier Chiribanya, who was reportedly involved in the killing of Laurent Kabila, on 9 May 2012 declared that his UCDD movement is an ally of M23 and subsequently held a series of meetings during which he claimed full support from the Rwandan Government of Kagame.

According to this UN report:

Senior Rwandan officials have also been directly involved in the mobilization of political leaders and financial backers for M23. Based on interviews conducted with M23 members, ex-CNDP officers and politicians, intelligence officers, FARDC senior commanders, the Group established that Rwandan officials have made extensive telephone calls and organized a series of meetings with Congolese politicians and businessmen to promote and rally support for M23.

http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/images/...7_2012.pdf
(http://web.archive.org/web/2016040505304...7_2012.pdf)


Four Rwandans have told that the Rwandan army forcibly recruited them for the M23 terrorist group fighting in neighbouring eastern Congo. One of them described Rwanda's President Paul Kagame as the commander-in-chief of M23.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that they had also received reports on Rwandan officers providing military training to M23 recruits that included Rwandan children.
HRW didn’t explain why they waited with reporting on this till after the UN report...

Some 800,000 people were displaced in Congo since the M23 launched its rebellion in April 2012 (written in July 2013): https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-23519330
(http://archive.is/kQzCJ)


The following describes sections 61-69 as the most important. These sections do NOT appear in (the version of) the report on the internet…

It documents a whole economy build around the CNDP-controlled territory in eastern Congo; bank accounts in Rwanda filled by ‘pools’ of Rwandan exiles, CNDP tolls on roads, its control of the lucrative charcoal trade, land purchases and cattle ranching, ‘front’ companies and even the control of the main Congo/Uganda customs post. The money – and this is resource rich area – flows through Rwanda. The report also names senior members of the Rwandan government and military who have had close personal and telephone contact with CNDP. And it details the supply of weapons and uniforms by the Rwandan government to the rebel movement. It is hard to imagine what further proof is needed.

https://africanarguments.org/2012/07/17/...rd-dowden/


Kagame strongly denied the allegations in the UN report, even though these are well documented.

After the June 2012 UN report, in December 2012 US President Barack Obama warned President Paul Kagame to stop supporting M23. The US suspended (only) $200,000 in military aid to Rwanda.
Kagame ally Britain announced it would withhold $34 million in aid to Rwanda.

For some reason, Uganda wasn’t included in the suspension of aid...

Then, on 1 January 2013 Rwanda took a prestigious seat on the United Nations Security Council: https://www.blouinnews.com/43625/story/r...image-dips
(http://archive.is/2OfOJ)


In 2012, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice tried to have the UN report suppressed. She explained to Gerard Araud: “Listen Gerard, this is the D.R.C. If it weren’t the M23 doing this, it would be some other group”.
Rice did achieve in having some of the most extreme accusations against Rwanda deleted from the report.

In 1993, Susan Rice was appointed to President Clinton’s National Security Council and involved in orchestrating the Congo genocide (and Rwandan genocide?).
In 1997, Rise was promoted to assistant secretary of state for African affairs at a time that Rwanda and Uganda were invading eastern Congo, taking control of mineral resources in a sea of blood.

Rice has even worked directly for Kagame’s government, when she worked for strategic analysis firm Intellibridge (in Washington DC).
Other former Clinton administration officials at Intellibridge include: David J. Rothkopf (under secretary in the Commerce Department); Anthony Lake (Clinton’s national security adviser); and John M. Deutch (CIA director).

In another one of those strange coincidences, Susan Rice and her husband have profited from President Donald's approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, in which they invested.

M23 is used by Anglo-American proxies Uganda and Rwanda, to expand their control over Eastern Congo.
HRW has reported on M23's "widespread war crimes" in Congo, including executions, rapes and using child soldiers.

According to Jason K. Stearns (in 2012):

The M23 would probably no longer exist today without Rwandan support.
It stepped in to prevent the movement from collapsing and has been providing critical military support for every major offensive.

https://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2012/...nd-his-m23
(http://archive.is/uUVI7)