Regime blasts EU for backing rebellion coalition

The Rwandan military is commanding and supporting the rebel force that overtook a major city in eastern Congo this week, a United Nations report released Wednesday said.

The highly anticipated report said, "The government of Rwanda continues to violate the arms embargo by providing direct military support to the M23 rebels, facilitating recruitment, encouraging and facilitating desertions from the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and providing arms, ammunition, intelligence and political advice."

The report also says, "The de facto chain of command of M23 includes Gen. Bosco Ntaganda and culminates with the Minister of Defence of Rwanda, Gen. James Kabarebe."

The report also accuses Uganda of involvement. Uganda has said it would pull its troops out of U.N. peacekeeping operations if it was named in the report.

Both Rwanda and Uganda have denied supporting the M23 rebel movement, which took the city of Goma, which has a population of more than 1 million, on Tuesday.

Thousands of Congolese soldiers and policemen defected to the M23 rebels Wednesday as rebel leaders vowed to take control of all Congo, including the capital, Kinshasa.

The U.N. accuses the M23 of grave crimes including recruiting child soldiers, summary executions and rape.

The U.N. report says, "Senior officials of the Government of Uganda have also provided support to M23 in the form of direct troop reinforcements in Congolese territory, weapons deliveries, technical assistance, joint planning, political advice and facilitation of external relations."

The report adds, "Both Governments have also cooperated to support the creation and expansion of the political branch of M23 and have consistently advocated on behalf of the rebels. M23 and its allies include six sanctioned individuals, some of whom reside in or regularly travel to Rwanda and Uganda."

The M23 is made up of hundreds of officers who deserted the Congo army in April this year.

Earlier Wednesday, the U.N.'s special representative for Congo said the 19,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force there is being stretched thin by multiple rebel militias in the eastern part of the country, including Goma.

Roger Meece made the assessment in a live videoconference linkup to the Security Council from Kinshasa.

The council is assessing the performance of the MONUSCO peacekeeping force after 1,500 of its troops stood by Tuesday and let M23 rebels take Goma without resistance.

U.N. helicopters over the weekend fired hundreds of rockets at the rebels in a bid to slow their advance on the city of 1 million.

But U.N. officials say the U.N. force commander in Goma ordered the peacekeepers not to shoot Tuesday in order to avoid provoking a major firefight in the city after Congolese troops retreated.

Meece said the M23 rebels were "well provisioned," uniformed and supplied with weapons, including night-vision goggles, which clearly came from some outside party.

He did not name Rwanda or Uganda.

Rwanda has been elected by the U.N. General Assembly to serve a two-year position on the 15-member Security Council beginning in January, which will complicate efforts by the council to come to grips with the country's intervention in neighboring Congo.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/11/20/4430240/un-congo-peacekeepers-wont-start.html#storylink=cpy

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The Rwandan military is commanding and supporting the rebel force that overtook a major city in eastern Congo this week, a United Nations report released Wednesday said. The report also said Uganda is providing more subtle but nonetheless decisive backing support to the M23 rebels.
The report's release, just one day after the violent takeover of Goma, is sure to increase pressure on the international community to confront the two eastern African countries over their role in neighbouring Congo's conflict. Both Rwanda and Uganda have repeatedly denied supporting the M23 movement and have faced little international criticism over the allegations.
The highly anticipated report from the U.N. Group of Experts said both Rwanda and Uganda have "co-operated to support the creation and expansion of the political branch of M23 and have consistently advocated on behalf of the rebels. M23 and its allies include six sanctioned individuals, some of whom reside in or regularly travel to Rwanda and Uganda."


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/congo-rebellion-is-stretching-peacekeeping-force-thin-un-official-1.1047585#ixzz2D1qW3N2s

Syrian warplanes bombed Damascus suburbs and rebel-held areas in the country’s north Wednesday, as the government blasted the European Union for endorsing a newly formed opposition coalition.
The raids struck several eastern suburbs of the Syrian capital and the strategic northern city of Maaret al-Numan, a key supply route linking Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo, said two activist groups. Both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees also reported violence elsewhere in Syria.
The state-run news agency SANA said the army continued its pursuit of “terrorists” — a government term for rebel fighters — in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen, inflicting casualties on the enemy.
The report also said that attackers targeted a mosque in Daraya suburb.
Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with an uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime, inspired by other Arab Spring revolts.
The crisis has since morphed into a civil war, with scores of rebel groups across the country fighting government troops. Nearly 40,000 people have been killed in the 20 months of unrest, according to activists.
In violence late Tuesday, a mortar round landed near a park in the upscale Abu Rummaneh neighborhood in Damascus, wounding at least three people, the pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV said.
Mr. Assad’s regime blames the revolt on a foreign conspiracy and accuses Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the United States, other Western countries and Turkey, of funding, training and arming the rebels.
Damascus on Wednesday blasted the European Union for recognizing the newly formed Syrian opposition coalition as a legitimate voice of the Syrian people.
State-run daily Al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece, derided the coalition formed earlier this month as a “deformed” newborn baby in a front-page editorial, saying all possible “cosmetic surgeries do not bode well for the evolution of this monster.”
Foreign ministers of the 27 EU nations recognized the Syrian coalition during their monthly meeting this week.
The National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was formed Nov. 11 in Qatar, under pressure from the United States for a stronger, more united opposition body to serve as a counterweight to the more extremist forces fighting Mr. Assad’s regime.
The endorsement was a major step forward in the West’s acceptance of the group, even as fast-moving events and fluid alliances have cast doubts on the direction of the rebellion.
The international support comes at a difficult time for the new coalition, as Syria’s disparate opposition groups have been long plagued by divisions and in-fighting.
A group of extremist Islamist factions in Syria on Sunday rejected the new coalition, saying in a video statement they have formed an “Islamic state” in the embattled city of Aleppo to underline that they want nothing to do with the Western-backed bloc.


Read more: Regime blasts EU for backing rebellion coalition - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/21/regime-blasts-eu-for-backing-rebellion-coalition/#ixzz2D1qPn0Kh
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Syrian warplanes bombed Damascus suburbs and rebel-held areas in the country’s north Wednesday, as the government blasted the European Union for endorsing a newly formed opposition coalition.
The raids struck several eastern suburbs of the Syrian capital and the strategic northern city of Maaret al-Numan, a key supply route linking Damascus and the commercial hub of Aleppo, said two activist groups. Both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees also reported violence elsewhere in Syria.
The state-run news agency SANA said the army continued its pursuit of “terrorists” — a government term for rebel fighters — in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen, inflicting casualties on the enemy.
The report also said that attackers targeted a mosque in Daraya suburb.
Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with an uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime, inspired by other Arab Spring revolts.
The crisis has since morphed into a civil war, with scores of rebel groups across the country fighting government troops. Nearly 40,000 people have been killed in the 20 months of unrest, according to activists.
In violence late Tuesday, a mortar round landed near a park in the upscale Abu Rummaneh neighborhood in Damascus, wounding at least three people, the pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV said.
Mr. Assad’s regime blames the revolt on a foreign conspiracy and accuses Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the United States, other Western countries and Turkey, of funding, training and arming the rebels.
Damascus on Wednesday blasted the European Union for recognizing the newly formed Syrian opposition coalition as a legitimate voice of the Syrian people.
State-run daily Al-Thawra newspaper, a government mouthpiece, derided the coalition formed earlier this month as a “deformed” newborn baby in a front-page editorial, saying all possible “cosmetic surgeries do not bode well for the evolution of this monster.”
Foreign ministers of the 27 EU nations recognized the Syrian coalition during their monthly meeting this week.
The National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was formed Nov. 11 in Qatar, under pressure from the United States for a stronger, more united opposition body to serve as a counterweight to the more extremist forces fighting Mr. Assad’s regime.
The endorsement was a major step forward in the West’s acceptance of the group, even as fast-moving events and fluid alliances have cast doubts on the direction of the rebellion.
The international support comes at a difficult time for the new coalition, as Syria’s disparate opposition groups have been long plagued by divisions and in-fighting.
A group of extremist Islamist factions in Syria on Sunday rejected the new coalition, saying in a video statement they have formed an “Islamic state” in the embattled city of Aleppo to underline that they want nothing to do with the Western-backed bloc.


Read more: Regime blasts EU for backing rebellion coalition - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/21/regime-blasts-eu-for-backing-rebellion-coalition/#ixzz2D1qPn0Kh
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter