Channel 4 News: Congo Killings

Conference Call #17

Muamba
Nadine
Tania

Sunday, November 23, 2008, 5:00 PM -5:15 PM PST

- No new topics
- $36 from first group purchase for key chains...who will put us over
the top?
-Tania to put out communication of possible new position. LB YAO
Secretary. Propose 1 person to track meeting notes, put out conference
call agenda prior to weekly call, etc. More from Tania
-Tania also had ideas for generating more donors for solar initiative.
Again she will put out to group via email or on another call

Anonymous Commentary:
Unfortunately we are acting real Congolese as a group. Just because
there were more people on the call last week, seems folks think it's
time for a break. The whole EC is watching us. We will have an executive
summit in SD....Comm Chair, Chief of Staff and Chairman over Heineken
and turkey to get ready for end of the year agenda items. If we hope or
wait for a result we can expect to fail. If we plan and execute we will
win. We need to get this through to each person who claims LBYAO....some
rep,some are straight frontin....

Analysis:
Are we going to make history or be history? We must challenge ourselves everyday!

LB Conference Call 11-23-08


Agenda:
 Other electricity options
 See if any more people have shown interest for the group trip in 2010
 LB items
 Direction of the executive committee

I. Electricity options
A. Does anyone know where I can obtain an itemized format of the $10,000 budget for providing electricity for the clinic?

B. There were some other organizations that I found on-line
 EEF (Switzerland)
 Infra-Consult (Germany)
 Medis (Belgium)
 World Bank
 European Investment Bank
 Solar Energy for Africa http://solarenergyforafrica.com/index.html
 Have done a lot in Uganda already
 Based out of Silver Springs, MD

 Solar Light for Africa http://www.solarlightforafrica.org/
 Based out of Norcross, GA
 A non-profit Christian organization whose mission is to transform lives and empower the people of Africa by providing light and energy using the natural power of the sun
 Established in 1997
 Intention to install approximately 1,000 solar units annually
 Helped provide clean water and electrification to Kakuuto hospital, where the AIDS virus was discovered
 Their site states that $1500 provides 1 complete system for a clinic, school, or public facility
 A 501(c) (3) organization

 Jewish Heart for Africa http://www.jhasol.org/
 A 501 (c) (3) organization
 Provided electricity to a clinic in Uganda for $4300
 Most of their clinic projects cost between $4000-$5000
 Their mission is to bring Israeli solar technology to Africa
 They had a great pic of Africa at night; there is barely any light in DRC (truly the DARK Continent)
 Ambassadors attend their events


C. Some interesting facts about electricity in Africa
 The sun can provide up to 12 hours of light each day
 There is an increase in deforestation because of the other energy sources that are used (i.e. sticks for firewood; coal; paper; etc.)

II. Is there anyone else interested in the Back to Africa trip 2010?
A. So far the people who are on board are:
 Tshilumba Kabongo
 Thierry Tubajika
 Muamba Kabongo
 Nadine Kasongo
 Kalonji Kadima
 Marco Nkashama
 Tania Kasongo

B. I would really like to make this a well-organized trip so the earlier I have a ballpark idea of how many people would like to come along; that would be great

C. I have spoken with one of the leaders that planned the service trip I took to NOLA b/c they also take international service trips; this year they went to Ghana. So she can provide me with further information


D. Also, I will dedicate more time to this later but right now I am on Tubman time at work!

E. So far what I know about dates is this:
 If LB is during the first weekend of July then it will be from Friday: July 2nd to Sunday July 4th.
 Maybe since we will all be in the same city we can depart from there?
 The FIFA dates:
 July 4th & 5th  Rest days
 July 6th & 7th  Semi-finals
 July 8th & 9th  Rest days
 July 10th  Quarter final
 July 11th Final match
 I was thinking that we could depart on the 4th or 5th; it would be cheaper on the 5th since it is not a holiday




III. LB items
A. Key chains
 We are $36 away from making the keychain purchase
 If I do not have the full contribution by the end of this month; I will go ahead and purchase the key chains

B. T-shirts
 I am waiting for Ndaya to send me the re-sized format of the Leopard logo
 Ndelo has asked me about it and he is very excited to get started on them!


IV. Direction of LB executive committee
A. New position proposal
 I think that we should have a secretary
 This person will be responsible for sending out the agenda BEFORE the conference call
 This person must also be dedicated to making each conference call so that they may take attendance and send out meeting minutes to everyone the same day or following day

B. How we can be successful in providing electricity to KMHC
 Utilize each other’s skills
 We have a lot of beautiful minds in this group; with diverse skills. We should take advantage of that and use each person in the field where they are strong
 We need to be in close contact with someone who knows a lot about electrical engineering so that we know exactly what we will need to set up a functioning electric system in the clinic
 We also need to have someone who has experience in proposal writing
 This will be beneficial in possibly getting an electric system with little to no cost for us!

Message From the Executive Committee

Happy Thanksgiving



As we all approach the Thanksgiving, let’s think of those who are not fortunate as we are. Muadi Mukenge had recently made a call for action in her heart rending report. Let’s not forget her challenge. As we share the meals and friendship, there are people of Cibomba Cimuanyi, the internally displaced people that we have adopted to help. Instead of an extra helping of Turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes or pumpkin pie, put a small donation aside to help us complete we started. Send your donation using your credit card on Leja Bulela website.



KHMC Update.
By now, you might have heard the KMHC building structure is completed (recent photos will be posted on our website). There are, however, several finishing touches that remain to be completed; i.e. painting, glass windows, landscaping, and furnishing. Recently our treasurer made another payment toward the balance owed for the work already completed. The following are the breakdown of the expenses on the construction. Initial contracted construction costs were estimatedat $44, 283.56 K. With adjustment of price of materials, the final cost: $54665.32. We have so far raised and paid $33, 243.85. Congratulations!



We owe a balance approximately of $14,881.76 for the completed work. This reflects the high cost of construction materials in Mbuji-Mayi. The executive has requested the contractor, Ingenieur Samy Tshibangu, to stop further work until we are able to pay off what we owe him.



Ingenieur Tshibangu has accepted to be our guest speaker at the next meeting in Dallas in July 2009. We would like to hear from the members any suggestions on how to raise the rest of these funds. Any active member (who has paid his dues) who wishes to get detailed account of LB finances should call directly our treasurer.



Politics of Rapprochement.
The executive committee is planning to adopt as one of its agenda a policy of rapprochement; i.e. it extend olive branch to any past members, foes or friends, to join LB in efforts to complete our mission; i.e. participate in projects that will benefits our people. We need a grass root movement targetingto recruit anyone that believes in “helping LB become aware a great advocacy organization for the plight of people of the Congo; especially those in Cibombio Cimuanyi, in Mbuji-Mayi. I challenge the youth to use technology at hands to start this movement.



Most older people who voted for Obama were influenced by their own kids. LBYAO, here is your chance!



Happy Thanksgiving
The executive committee wishes you happy Thanksgiving celebrations, and we remain committed to support and carry the mission of LB. It needs your support by your timely paying your dues, by recruiting other members to our organization and by your generous contribution to the projects that will serve our people



For the executive committee,



Martin L. Kabongo

Chairman

Muadi Mukenge: What the World Must Know About the Congo

As I watched President-elect Barack Obama deliver his victory speech and lay out his philosophy of leadership, I immediately thought of what is possible around the world. It is my hope that the "Yes We Can"motto that inspired millions of Americans will spread to the Congo and its neighboring countries to stop the atrocities fueled by inhumane leadership and sales of arms by Western nations.

Fresh from a two-week visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, I watch on television the escalation of war, one that has already claimed five million lives since 1998. There is deep despair,especially among women and girls, who have already suffered unspeakable violence.

I am Congolese and have lived in the United States for most of my life. As the head of the Africa program at the Global Fund for Women,I help support women's groups in Africa working on development and advancing human rights. But Congo's human rights have been violated for too long and the weak international response makes us wonder whether our lives matter.

Congo's violence will end when the countries rushing to send humanitarian aid after millions of innocent lives have been massacred stop sending and selling weapons to rebel movements in the Congo.Congo's violence will end when African leaders, elected or imposed,stop using these weapons on innocent civilians. Congo's violence will end when the international community refuses to roll out the red carpet to a rebel movement that claims to protect a Tutsi minority in Congo. This rebel army, rather than engaging directly with the Interhamwe that escaped into Congo after committing the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, takes the easier route of terrorizing Congolese civilians that have nothing to do with the Interhamwe. The international community, guilty for just standing by during the Rwandan genocide,continues to be hoodwinked by Rwanda as it arms this rebel movement in neighboring Congo and fuels another genocide.

It is not coincidental that rebel forces armed with sophisticated weapons are in regions where minerals are most abundant. The country has been plundered for more than 100 years by explorers, colonial governments, multinational corporations from every continent, African opportunists, and a small circle of Congolese. Sadly, profits from armed conflict and the exploitation of natural resources in the Congo are more alluring than any human rights agenda. Meanwhile the majority of 66 million Congolese don't have access to food, sanitation,education, transportation, sustainable livelihoods, or justice.Another major problem Congolese face is the U.N.'s slow response to protect them from armed groups. Thousands of Congolese have organized many demonstrations throughout the Congo against the UN Mission for their apparent inaction. When will we see bold action to protect Congolese people, especially women?

I have visited diamond mines and witnessed the slave-like working conditions and the context under which sexual abuse takes place. On the drive, we passed lines of people making the long trek to try their luck to dig for diamonds by hand. We passed rows of densely-packed,dilapidated wooden structures that double as diamond selling counters,homes, and fast-food eateries. We finally arrived at the deep excavations where hundreds of people dig by hand through the silt water working to find a speckle of hope. Women do most of the digging then the sifting is left to the men to find the nuggets to sell. The girls selling food there make about 20 cents a day, and sexual exploitation and trafficking of minors is rampant. There are terms to refer to girls aged 6-8 or 9-15. You can make an order just as easily as you can at McDonald's.

When I think of the women and girls who told us their horrifying experiences of sexual torture, I keep thinking of the modern weapons that make this torture possible, and the origins of these weapons.They are not made in Congo.

I am often asked what can be done to help the Congo. I let them know about the efforts undertaken by women's rights NGOs that are trying to rebuild their country. But these efforts will remain an uphill task as long as Western governments send arms deliveries to the rebel movements and the governments that support them. These efforts will remain in vain as long as the media courts armed rebel leaders that terrorize the people. No change will be made when there is no political will to respect past peace talks and accords. The Congolese people are waiting for a time when we will see action instead of empty proclamations. We know that 5 million deaths constitute a genocide; we are waiting for the rest of the world to agree and act with us.

Conference Call #16

Sunday, November 16, 2008, 5pm PST
56 minutes

Callers:
Southwest Chair- Marco Nkashama
East Coast Chair- Tania Kasongo
West Coast Chair- Kono Kadima
Chief of Staff- Muamba Kabongo
Communications Chair- Tshilumba Kabongo
LB YAO Chair- Thierry Tubajika

Summary:
Participation
Marco's Internet initiative
2010 Trip to the Continent
New Year's Newsletter Roll out

GOMA, Congo (Reuters) – Congolese rebel chief Laurent Nkunda said on Monday he would fight African peacekeeping troops if they attacked him, as concerns grew that east Congo's conflict could suck in neighboring armies.

Leaders from Africa's southern and Great Lakes regions have offered to send troops to try to help pacify east Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting between Nkunda's Tutsi rebels and the army has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people.

Aid agencies in Congo's North Kivu province are struggling to provide shelter, food and medical care for more than 200,000 refugees around the provincial capital Goma, but say tens of thousands more are cut off in the bush. They warn of the risk of cholera and measles epidemics in the camps.
DRC troops at a checkpoint (picture to the right)

African and Western governments are worried the recent upsurge in fighting in North Kivu, which borders Rwanda and Uganda, risks drawing in Congo's neighbors as occurred during a previous 1998-2003 war. That war involved six African armies and the conflict and its aftermath killed several million people.

Countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said after a regional summit in South Africa on Sunday the group would send military advisers to help the government of Congolese President Joseph Kabila.

SADC would send a peacekeeping force to east Congo "if and when necessary," its executive secretary Tomaz Salamao said.

Nkunda, whose Tutsi fighters are battling Congo government soldiers (FARDC) and their Rwandan Hutu rebel (FDLR) and Mai-Mai militia allies, said he would welcome African peacekeepers if they came as an impartial force to stabilize North Kivu.

But, speaking to Reuters by telephone from eastern Congo, he added: "If they come in and fight alongside the FARDC and the FDLR ... they will share the same shame as the DRC government.."

"If SADC engages like this, they will have made a mistake ... I am ready to fight them," Nkunda said.

Some military experts expressed doubts about how quickly a SADC security force could be dispatched to east Congo and how effective it would be against Nkunda's battle-hardened guerrilla army of 4,000, and against other marauding armed factions.

"This is good rhetoric, but I'm not sure it will happen," said Henri Boshoff, a military analyst for the Institute for Security Studies in Johannesburg, told Reuters.

Nkunda's Rebels (picture below)

The United Nations, which already has its largest peacekeeping force in the world, 17,000 strong, in Congo, is seeking up to 3,000 extra troops to reinforce its operations there. It says its existing force is thinly stretched across a country the size of Western Europe where armed groups abound.

It was not immediately clear whether the proposed African peacekeepers would operate under the U.N. mandate or separately.

ROOTS IN RWANDAN GENOCIDE

The North Kivu conflict traces its origins back to Rwanda's 1994 genocide of Tutsis by Hutus which helped trigger the 1998-2003 Congo war. Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of backing Nkunda, who says he is defending Congolese Tutsis from attacks by FDLR Rwandan Hutu rebels he says fight with the Congolese army.

Rwanda, which has twice invaded Congo before, officially to fight Hutu rebels there, denies this and in turn accuses the Congolese government of not acting to disarm the Hutu rebels.

Analysts say that to avert the risk of a wider regional war, world and regional powers need to exert firm pressure on both Congo and Rwanda to demobilize the rival rebel groups.

"The international community has already invested billions of dollars to build and maintain peace in the Congo. To not invest hugely in diplomatic terms right now would risk it all," Francois Grignon and Fabienne Hara, Africa program director and vice president of International Crisis Group, wrote recently.

African Great Lakes leaders, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, called at a summit in Nairobi on Friday for a ceasefire and a political settlement in North Kivu, but said they could also send peacekeepers if required.

Commenting on SADC's offer of troops, Rwandan Foreign Minister Rosemary Museminali said: "There should be a ceasefire and a political solution."

European foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday also called for a political settlement.

Congo's government has asked neighbor Angola, which backed it during the 1998-2003 war, for help. The appearance in North Kivu of Portuguese-speaking soldiers on the government side has fueled speculation Angola may have already sent troops. But Angola's Foreign Ministry denied this.

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)

(Additional reporting by David Lewis in Nairobi, Jack Kimball in Kigali, Henrique Almeida in Luanda, Ingrid Melander in Brussels; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

Welcome To the Congo

http://www.omekongo.com

http://www.myspace.com/omekongo

Conference Call #15

5 pm PST, Sunday, November 9. 2008

Callers:
Muamba
Tshilumba

Summary:
Noticably absent were the Regional Representatives
No new items to report

Dictionnaire Cilubà - Français

A link from Ghent University in Belgium in collaboration with L'Universite de Mbujimayi

http://www.ciyem.ugent.be/

The Shattering of A Nation

The deadliest war since Adolf Hitler marched across Europe is starting again – and you are almost certainly carrying a blood-soaked chunk of the slaughter in your pocket. When we glance at the holocaust in Congo, with 5.4 million dead, the clichés of Africa reporting tumble out: this is a 'tribal conflict' in 'the Heart of Darkness'. It isn't. The United Nations investigation found it was a war led by 'armies of business' to seize the metals that make our 21st-century society zing and bling. The war in Congo is a war about you.

Every day I think about the people I met in the war zones of eastern Congo when I reported from there. The wards were filled with women who had been gang-raped by the militias and shot in the vagina. The battalions of child soldiers – drugged, dazed 13-year-olds who had been made to kill members of their own families so they couldn't try to escape and go home. But oddly, as I watch the war starting again on CNN, I find myself thinking about a woman I met who had, by Congolese standards, not suffered in extremis.

I was driving back to Goma from a diamond mine one day when my car got a puncture. As I waited for it to be fixed, I stood by the roadside and watched the great trails of women who stagger along every road in eastern Congo, carrying all their belongings on their backs in mighty crippling heaps. I stopped a 27 -year-old woman called Marie-Jean Bisimwa, who had four little children toddling along beside her. She told me she was lucky. Yes, her village had been burned out. Yes, she had lost her husband somewhere in the chaos. Yes, her sister had been raped and gone insane. But she and her kids were alive.

I gave her a lift, and it was only after a few hours of chat along on cratered roads that I noticed there was something strange about Marie-Jean's children. They were slumped forward, their gazes fixed in front of them. They didn't look around, or speak, or smile. 'I haven't ever been able to feed them,' she said. 'Because of the war.'

Their brains hadn't developed; they never would now. 'Will they get better?' she asked. I left her in a village on the outskirts of Goma, and her kids stumbled after her, expressionless.

There are two stories about how this war began – the official story, and the true story. The official story is that after the Rwandan genocide, the Hutu mass murderers fled across the border into Congo. The Rwandan government chased after them. But it's a lie. How do we know? The Rwandan government didn't go to where the Hutu genocidaires were, at least not at first. They went to where Congo's natural resources were – and began to pillage them. They even told their troops to work with any Hutus they came across. Congo is the richest country in the world for gold, diamonds, coltan, cassiterite, and more. Everybody wanted a slice – so six other countries invaded.

These resources were not being stolen to for use in Africa. They were seized so they could be sold on to us. The more we bought, the more the invaders stole – and slaughtered. The rise of mobile phones caused a surge in deaths, because the coltan they contain is found primarily in Congo. The UN named the international corporations it believed were involved: Anglo-America, Standard Chartered Bank, De Beers and more than 100 others. (They all deny the charges.) But instead of stopping these corporations, our governments demanded that the UN stop criticising them.

There were times when the fighting flagged. In 2003, a peace deal was finally brokered by the UN and the international armies withdrew. Many continued to work via proxy militias – but the carnage waned somewhat. Until now. As with the first war, there is a cover-story, and the truth. A Congolese militia leader called Laurent Nkunda – backed by Rwanda – claims he needs to protect the local Tutsi population from the same Hutu genocidaires who have been hiding out in the jungles of eastern Congo since 1994. That's why he is seizing Congolese military bases and is poised to march on Goma.

It is a lie. François Grignon, Africa Director of the International Crisis Group, tells me the truth: 'Nkunda is being funded by Rwandan businessmen so they can retain control of the mines in North Kivu. This is the absolute core of the conflict. What we are seeing now is beneficiaries of the illegal war economy fighting to maintain their right to exploit.'

At the moment, Rwandan business interests make a fortune from the mines they illegally seized during the war. The global coltan price has collapsed, so now they focus hungrily on cassiterite, which is used to make tin cans and other consumer disposables. As the war began to wane, they faced losing their control to the elected Congolese government – so they have given it another bloody kick-start.

Yet the debate about Congo in the West – when it exists at all – focuses on our inability to provide a decent bandage, without mentioning that we are causing the wound. It's true the 17,000 UN forces in the country are abysmally failing to protect the civilian population, and urgently need to be super-charged. But it is even more important to stop fuelling the war in the first place by buying blood-soaked natural resources. Nkunda only has enough guns and grenades to take on the Congolese army and the UN because we buy his loot. We need to prosecute the corporations buying them for abetting crimes against humanity, and introduce a global coltan-tax to pay for a substantial peacekeeping force. To get there, we need to build an international system that values the lives of black people more than it values profit.

Somewhere out there – lost in the great global heist of Congo's resources – are Marie-Jean and her children, limping along the road once more, carrying everything they own on their backs. They will probably never use a coltan-filled mobile phone, a cassiterite- smelted can of beans, or a gold necklace – but they may yet die for one.

Sources: Johann Hari
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Independent. UK

Words of Inspiration

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Nelson Mandela

Perpetrator of Death in the DRC

This is why we are working for peace in the region.


CNDP-Rwanda has a big network worldwide including the U.S. Their agenda against the Congolese is very clear. Attached is the picture of Mr. Bigabo and the picture of what his brother are doing to the Congolese people.
Bigabo Patrick, a Rwandan and CNDP member, a resident of New Orleans had the courage to email to one of our Congolese brother the following when he heard that we were going to hold a vigil at the Rwandan Embassy on Oct 31 asking President Paul Kagame to withdraw Rwandan troops from the Congo.

He wrote:

"WE are not necessarily exchanging hot air. the biggest problem is u ethnicise the issue against the Tutsi. let the 6million die that's their own problem. when we died in 94 all of u guys were just laughing and shying away. u saw bodies of our relatives floating on River akagera into Lake victoria...the same UNAMIR was opportunistically in support of Hutu power, that's why we killed them too.
U GUYS EITHER ALLOW US TO CONTINUE DOMINATING YOU OR WE FORCE YOU TO COMMIT SUICIDE.
we need to accumulate resources from where they are in the region..we are already taking over large chunks of grazing land in uganda but this isnt an issue to you becos there is no hutu diying?*
how do you expect me to go the tutsi govt embassy to protest for the deaths of Hutu genociders dying in DRC? why dont you instead converge at the DRC embassy in US?
u guys remember there is noway you will return to power aslong as we are in power and accumulating wealth and defence strategies..we dont care killing u in masses, injecting you with HIV and also sending you to frontlines in DRC conflict to meet your deaths. this has to go on for 200yrs until u are wipedout in the region..."

Please pass on this message please, the world needs to know, the Congolese need to be aware and wake up. The crimes of his leader Nkunda have erupted once again. As long as there is fighting within our region, our work to bring peace will be threatened.

source:
Bahati Jacques
AFJN
Washington, D.C.

Conference Call #14

Conference Call #14

5 pm PST, Sunday, November 2, 2008
call duration: 46m44s

Tania
Tshilumba
Kono

Summary

Newsletter
Group pledges
$ for keychain
Follow up for J.Walker
Solar follow thru
NYE SD
SF show
Leadership positions
AFJN relations

For further information contact me with any questions.