On 26 June in Rome in Trastevere, there was an international meeting organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic lay movement of Christian inspiration dedicated to prayer and the Gospel.
The meeting was attended by the Special Envoy of the European Union Koen Vervachke, the special envoy of the United Nations for the Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson, and the head of the UN peace mission in Congo (MONUSCO) Martin Kobler.
The Theme of the meeting: the disarmament of the Rwandan armed group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, FDLR.
Since 1990 the Community of Sant’Egidio is engaged in international peace mediation, inaugurated in Mozambique when this Catholic movement reuse to open a negotiation between FRELIMO and RENAMO in 1992 that led to the signing of the Peace Accords in Rome, which put an end to a civil war that lasted for over ten years.
The June 26 meeting should be included in peace initiatives undertaken by the Community of Sant’Egidio, yet an aura of mystery and secrecy surrounding it.
The initiative has not been disclosed to the Italian media despite the presence of high personalities of the European Union and the United Nations. No press that clarifies the reason for the meeting was issued by the Community of Sant’Egidio.
The organization of this meeting, which began in Africa, is studded with serious questions. In reporting the news is the international radio station Radio France International (RFI) through an article published the same day on which the meeting was held. The article reveals in a neutral way, but clearly the reasons for such secrecy adopted by the Sant’Egidio Community.
FDLR and collaboration of International community
General Iyamuremye manages the huge mafia networks inherent in the illicit trade of minerals in eastern Congo in close collaboration with the Congolese president’s brother: Zoe Kabila.
It is also the most active commander of the FDLR in Kivu region.
Jyamuremye is the subject of a criminal investigation and an arrest warrant ordered by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and war crimes committed against the Congolese civilian population from 2001 to 2012.
His role during the genocide consisted in the coordination of the death squads and the relationships with the French troops of Operation Tourquoise. He is also included in the list drawn up in 2005 by the United Nations of the characters underwent complete diviteto of international travel, the list of people under economic embargo for violations of the arms trade in the Congo drawn up by the European Union in October 2001.
His name is also was included in the economic sanctions against the war criminals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, drawn up by the British Government (update 28 February 2013).
Despite all sanctions General Iyamuremye, made a peaceful stay in Rome June 22 to 30, 2014.
An investigation carried out by an Italian Newspaper L’INDRO reveals an intense collaboration between the Community of Sant’Egidio, the French Government and the peacekeeping mission of MONUSCO.
In January 2014 Father Matthew Zuppi and Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio Community, activate international diplomacy to ensure the presence of the Vice-President of the FDLR in Italy, in close collaboration with the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius and Martin Kobler of MONUSCO.
On 14 June 2014, the General Iyamuremye is transported on a military helicopter from Kanyabayonga of MONUSCO in Goma despite international sanctions issued by the UN.
On June 16, the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations Hervé Ladsous, of French nationality, lever temporarily ban on flights and international travel burden on General Iyamuremye so that he can participate in a “major initiative for peace in Rome.”
Ladsous acts without informing the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council. Thanks to the intervention of the Rwandan intelligence services.
General Iyamuremye on June 20, 2014 embarked on Etiophian Airline landing at Fiumicino airport with regular tourist visa. The reactions of Rwanda were immediate. The government in Kigali has branded the initiative is a clear violation of international law involving the two countries (France and Italy), branches of the United Nations and the Community of Sant’Egidio.
“It’s a shame that those responsible for the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 are still free to pursue their agenda of genocide,” said Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo.
The meeting had the clear aim of creating an image of respectability politics of FDLR, which is included in the list of international terrorist organizations of the U.S. State Department and place them on the international stage as legal partners, thus forcing the Rwandan government to open peace negotiations.
“Ask the Rwandan government to dialogue with the genocidal FDLR forces is like asking the Israeli government to recognize the movements of neo-Nazis and talk with former Nazis responsible for the Holocaust,” says General Carlos Alberto dos Santo Cruz, head of military operations missions of UN peacekeeping in Congo, MONUSCO.
A request sharply contrasting with the position of the Rwandan government, which includes: the immediate unconditional surrender of FDLR and the application of international arrest hanging over the heads of leaders guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Despite recent hopes of detente between France and Rwanda, Paris, participating in the organization of the secret meeting in Rome, looks set to continue the political support to FDLR achieved through two strategies delineated.
The first involves disarmament of the FDLR in exchange for political recognition by the government of Rwanda and the start of peace negotiations with the aim of sharing power.
The second is the organization of a mock unilateral disarmament of the terrorist group and its dissolution to reappear immediately under a new acronym. The two strategies are implemented at the same time.
The first through the meeting in Rome organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio and the second with the birth of a new Hutu Power movement to the east of the Congo, FPPH Forces (Protection of the Hutu People) already active militarily in the territories occupied by the FDLR in North and South Kivu.
Transactions of voluntary disarmament of the FDLR militias are already taking place to the east of the Congo with wide media coverage.
“These are symbolic gestures engineered by MONUSCO and Paris to decrease international attention on this terrorist group and the inability of the United Nations to eradicate. The militiamen who until now have surrendered do not exceed 105 units. The weapons delivered are old guns of World War II. The FDLR military structure remains intact and free to continue preparing for the invasion of Rwanda, “says a South African diplomat to the weekly ‘The East African’.
The French expert strategists are having serious difficulties for a year if you really understand the FDLR, stronger than 12,000 men in the east of Congo and Tanzania in 2000, represent really the trump card to regain Rwanda.
Despite the army at the disposal and modern weapons supplied by the Congolese government with the complicity of the UN peacekeeping mission and in stark contrast with the arms embargo by the United Nations in the Congo, the actual number of soldiers truly capable of fighting would not arrive at 4,500.
According to L’INDRO, France begins to understand that the FDLR have a structural weakness that prevents the Hutu population of Rwanda to take its parts.
The inability to understand the real military capabilities of the terrorist group, called to confront a classical war with the second regional army, well equipped, motivated, and paid with logistical support and satellite guaranteed by the CIA and MOSSAD, forcing France to take time removing the decision of the international community to eradicate seriously one of the main factors of regional instability that is damaging the interests of various corporations.
Some objectives have been achieved as the decision taken last week in Luanda, Angola, to grant FDLR a period of six months to arrange the surrender. After that time the United Nations should intervene militarily. Six months in the confused and tormented reality of the Great Lakes is an eternity where everything can happen.
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