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CHRISTIAN MUTEBA ON KABILA & THE DRC JUNE 2015

----- Original Message ----From: ANDRE DEGEORGES


To: Christian Muteba
Cc: BRIAN TUT REILLY ; Nimmi Seoraj ; ARMAND BIKOO CAM ; GEORGES MOUNCHAROU
CAMMINEF
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 5:22 PM
Subject: HELLO CHRISTIAN

Christian - thanks for the insight!


I just got back from the mountains helping my Cousin Nancy thin out some groundhogs on her farm
(Google Map Smithsburg, Maryland) - the old ones are a bit gamey tasting but edible - better to eat
younger ones. I am on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (Google Map Greenbackville, Virginia).
So Christian - what are you doing now you are back home. I am hopeful your generation will bring
about change in how "business is done" in Africa! My Father was born in Africa - Pieds Noir - and
during my 30 years in Africa I met some of the finest people I have ever known. I pray every day - if
there is a God - why is he allowing things to happen as we know them on your Continent. As an
American I am more than embarrassed by how my country deals with Africa and the World in general.
Our people are fed propaganda by the press/media. They don't know the truth. If there is a Heaven
and a Hell - many of our politicians and bureaucrats will not make it into Heaven. Many should be at
the Hague for human rights violations - but we know that is only for people like al-Bashir of Sudan,
certainly not Billy Clinton, George W or Barak - we all know they are choir boys!
Regards Andre
----- Original Message ----From: Christian Muteba
To: ANDRE DEGEORGES
Cc: BRIAN TUT REILLY ; Nimmi Seoraj ; ARMAND BIKOO CAM ; GEORGES MOUNCHAROU
CAMMINEF
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 4:50 PM
Subject: Re: #2 DRC

Hi Andre,
I trust that you are all alright?
Sorry for late response; I was in a remote area.
Right now; the situation in DRC is a bit confuse.

Legally, Kabila can not present himself for another run. He tried last
January to condition the elections by the organisation of a census. In fact
it was a way to legally go over his term because a census would have
taken roughly two years. As a result the opposition and population went
on the street which lead to the withdrawal of the project of the law in the
parliament.
Kabila created a situation where technically we can not have elections in
2016 for the following reasons:

The government was supposed to finance the elections but up to


know nothing has been done, I think that they only sponsored up
to 5% the National Independent Electoral Commission, I guess

Secondly; the time table proposed by the NIEC; They proposed to


run in less than a year elections for governors; senators and
president. Technically this calendar is not doable.

He then pretend open himself with the opposition by organizing national


consultation to discuss the feasibility of the elections. At this stage; the
opposition refuses to be part of it as they see the main goal of those
consultation is to play against the time and remain in power after the
legal term.
We all know how Chinese; French and western leaders operate. Right
now; Kabila is no longer an option for them. They have other plans and
right now; they just keep an opened eye in DRC to jump on the next
opportunity to bring us another puppet and carry on with the business as
usual.
Regards,
Chris
On 13 June 2015 at 20:14, ANDRE DEGEORGES <andredeg@verizon.net> wrote:
Christian - Museveni and Kagame - America's puppets both changed the constitution so they could
run for more than 2 terms. Why would Kabila not be encouraged to do the same - so the whole
region run by American puppets?

However, is Kabila jumping in bed with the Chinese?? And are you seeing France/USA teaming up
now China is coming on so strong?

Regards Andre
----- Original Message ----From: ANDRE DEGEORGES
To: Christian DRC Muteba
Cc: BRIAN TUT REILLY ; Nimmi Seoraj ; ARMAND BIKOO CAM ; GEORGES MOUNCHAROU
CAMMINEF
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2015 4:31 PM

Subject: Absent in Central Africa


Christian: See attached from Foreign Affairs - Am I missing something? The U.S. put Mobutu in
power & then used Kagame and Museveni to push the French out of the DRC and then put in the
Kabilas. Meanwhile, various rebel groups backed by Uganda and Rwanda in the Eastern DRC mine
the strategic minerals that are sold at a discount to various multi-nationals.

What is the reality today and what nations are involved and how are the linked to each other, to Kabila
and to Rwanda/Uganda and their rebel groups/militias ? How does this play out as it appears to me
past foes - The USA & France are now teaming up against the onslaught of China?

Christian - you have your boots on the ground - so how do you see it?

Regards Andre

Absent in Central Africa

How the United


States Risks Reigniting Chaos in Congo Foreign Affairs June
2015
By Stephen R. Weissman, John Prendergast, Anthony W.
Gambino, and Sasha Lezhnev
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/democratic-republic-congo/2015-06-08/absentcentral-africa?cid=nlc-twofa20150611&sp_mid=48858218&sp_rid=YW5kcmVkZWdAdmVyaXpvbi5uZXQS1

878
Fifteen years ago, the United States, in concert with African regional organizations, helped facilitate
political settlements of wars that killed millions of people in Central Africa. The overwhelming majority
of victims were citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where, beginning in 1996, the decay
of President Mobutu Sese Sekos corrupt and incompetent regime spawned what would become
known as Africas World War. The conflict embroiled two successive Congolese governments,
several African countries, and a jumble of armed groups. By 2002, however, the United States helped
facilitate a peace accord that provided for the withdrawal of foreign forces and a democratic transition
based on a new constitution and free elections. During the same period, U.S. and South African
diplomacy, backed by states in the region, helped end a potentially genocidal civil war in neighboring
Burundi by mediating a new democratic constitution.
Today, however, those agreements are unraveling as Congolese President Joseph Kabila and
Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza attempt to bypass their two-term limits and cling to power. In
Burundi, Nkurunzizas last-minute decision to run for reelection this month touched off a constitutional
crisis, with street protests, a military coup, and a counter-coup. The Obama administration has made
diplomatic efforts to address that crisis, taking a strong anti-third-term position and reacting to
violence on the part of the Burundian government with cuts in security assistance and visa
restrictions. But Washington is missing a crucial opportunity to prevent the situation from deteriorating

in the far more strategically consequential Congo. The country is the largest by size in sub-Saharan
Africa, and third biggest in terms of population. It is extremely rich in natural resourcessuch as
copper, cobalt, tantalum, and the world's second largest equatorial rain forestand it shares borders
with nine countries.
Ever since Belgium, the United States, and the UN engineered the fall of its first democratically
elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, in 1961, Congo has been the place where Africans have looked first
to judge U.S. foreign policy toward the continent. As President Barack Obama prepares for his fourth
and possibly final official trip to Africa in July, he should act aggressively to sustain past American
successes (including his own) in advancing democracy and peace in the heart of Africa.
DEMOCRACY ON THE DECLINE
Like Congos infamous kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko, Kabila has chosen to govern through a system
of patronage that has spawned massive corruption and a dysfunctional public service. According to
the political scientist Pierre Englebert, the Congolese government and people lose as much as $4
billion in revenue every year due to state agents manipulation of mining contracts and payments,
torturous budget practices, and outright theft. The degree of corruption has deeply undermined costly
international efforts to strengthen and reform the countrys security and economic institutions. Donors
acknowledge the problem with a euphemism: lack of political will. In 2011, when Kabila manipulated
a constitutional change and rigged voting in order to assure his reelection, the United States and
African regional organizations looked away.

Saul Loeb / Courtesy Reuters


President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila listens to U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry at the Palais de la Nation in Kinshasa, May 2014.
With the approach of the 2016 presidential elections however, Congo has experienced a political
earthquake. After Kabila tried to remove the two-term limit, he was faced with unexpected resistance
not only from the parliamentary opposition but also from elements within his own coalition. So he
shifted to demanding a nationwide census, which was estimated to take three years to conduct,
before federal elections could be held. In January, that demand provoked mass demonstrations
initiated by the opposition but powered by activist youth. Even though the protests were largely
nonviolent, Kabilas security forces killed at least 40 people and jailed hundreds.
Congo has been the place where Africans have looked first to judge U.S. foreign policy toward the
continent.
When his allies in parliament succumbed to the public pressure, Kabila produced yet another strategy
to remain in power. He outlined an electoral calendar for a plethora of local, provincial, and national
elections between October 2015 and November 2016, which most Congolese and foreign experts
view as an impossibly ambitious number to actually hold. Furthermore, the elections are to be
conducted by an independent election commission that is widely viewed as pro-government. At the
same time, Kabila decreed an expensive, cumbersome, and politically controversial breakup of the
countrys 11 provinces into 26. He promoted loyalist hard-liners into key security positions and
stepped up political intimidation, including the arrest and continued detention of youth leaders who
attended a conference on democracy sponsored by the U.S. embassy. Kabilas strategy is a recipe
for chaos. It will inevitably delay presidential elections, and it will vastly increase the risks of
widespread violence, repression, coup attempts, and renewed interference by neighboring countries.
AN ABSENT AMERICA?
For nearly two years, under the able leadership of Russ Feingold, the U.S. special envoy for the Great
Lakes, the Obama administration and a team of envoys representing the EU, the African Union, and
the UN championed a no third term policy. They also emphasized the political importance of timely
presidentialas opposed to local and provincialelections. But in March, Feingold left his post to run
for the Senate, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has inexplicably delayed replacing him with a
worthy, high-level successor. The foot-dragging harks back to 2013, when the United States had no
special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan as the latter was hurtling toward war. These positions
simply cannot be left empty for months at a time without potentially disastrous consequences.

T
homas Mukoya / Courtesy Reuters
U.N. peacekeepers drive their tank in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, August 2013.

And so U.S. policy toward Congo has eroded. For one thing, the Obama administration has failed
to follow up on the special envoys recommendation for the UN to facilitate an inclusive and
transparent dialogue between all stakeholders on the overstocked calendar and related issues, such
as updating the voter roll to include the millions who have come of age since 2011. For the opposition
in Congo, what Kabila has recently proposeda dialogue led purely by the governmentis a
nonstarter. Whats more, unlike the EU and the UN, Washington has provided modest funding for the
local elections, which are widely rejected by the Congolese opposition and civil society groups. The
United States should instead be earmarking substantial support for the crucial national ones on
condition that they are conducted in a free and fair manner.
At the same time as Washington is failing to protect democracy in Congo, it is not doing enough to
sustain the regions peace process.
Meanwhile, the State Departments public condemnations of unlawful detentions and non-credible
charges against dissenters have been sporadic and failed to highlight specific cases. And even
though political parties need to be strengthened in order to compete in the elections, the U.S.
government has offered a pittance of assistance on this frontjust $1 million per year for all parties,
well below what it spends in other important African countries. U.S. policy should change on all these
fronts. And if Kabila continues to deform the election process, the United States and other countries
should consider placing targeted sanctions on senior members of his regime.
To make matters worse, at the same time as Washington is failing to protect democracy in
Congo, it is not doing enough to sustain the regions peace process. In part due to the absence of a
dynamic special envoy, past progress toward ending military conflict between Congo and its eastern

neighbor Rwanda is in danger of grinding to a halt. In 2013, a special intervention brigade of UN


peacekeepers, supported by the United States, worked with the Congolese army to defeat the
Rwandan-backed M-23 rebels in eastern Congo. As Feingold was leaving the stage, the UN was
planning a joint campaign with Congolese forces against 1,000 armed members of the Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (known by its French acronym, FDLR), an anti-Rwandan
rebel group that occupies portions of eastern Congo and has massacred civilians. But Kabila
sabotaged the effort by appointing Congolese commanders he knew were unacceptable to the UN,
given their alleged past human rights violations.
As a result, the joint military operation has stalled, and Rwanda, which had held up its end of the
bargain by withdrawing support from the M-23 rebels, is upset. Although Obama, to his credit,
raised this issue along with the critical electoral ones in a telephone conversation with Kabila in
March, there has been no effective follow-up on the ground.
What the United States needs to do now is reinvigorate its Congo policy by appointing a bold new
special envoy, pushing for a peaceful transfer of political power in 2016, and insisting that Kabila
cooperate with a comprehensive UN campaign against the FDLR. Otherwise, the country could slip
back into political decay, chaotic violence, and regional war.
----- Original Message ----From: Foreign Affairs This Week
To: andredeg@verizon.net
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2015 12:01 AM
Subject: Absent in Central Africa
If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view.

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Absent in Central Africa


How the United States Risks Reigniting Chaos in Congo
By Stephen R. Weissman, John Prendergast, Anthony
W. Gambino, and Sasha Lezhnev

Ever since 1961, Congo has been the place where Africans
have looked first to judge U.S. foreign policy toward the
continent. As U.S. President Barack Obama prepares for
his fourth and possibly final official trip to Africa in July,
he should act aggressively to sustain past American
successes in advancing democracy and peace in the heart
of Africa.

Watch the Throne


The Battle over Indonesias first Female Sultan
By Jon Emont

When Indonesias Sultan Hamengkubuwono X made


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throne, he dismantled a 400-year-old gender barrier in
the nations only kingdom that still retains political
power. Whether he will get his way, however, is up in the
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Putin on the Brakes


EU Sanctions are Set to ExpireHere's What to Do Now
By David Horn and Marik String

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expiration date and the Minsk II ceasefire in
eastern Ukraine comes under increasing strain. Russian
troops are reportedly massing near Ukraines borders,
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violations, including a separatist offensive last week.
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Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, the chances of a new [Russian] offensive
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-Best Regards
Chris MUTEBA K
Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.
Henry Ford

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