Lots of Fucked-Upness in the DR of Congo
20 million africa are starving; there’s a huge drought right now
in Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia & Kenya, Ethiopia
The gruesome murder of 2 reporters; the Murders of Michael J.
Sharp, an American citizen, and Zaida Catalan, a dual citizen of
Chile and Sweden happened in DR of Congo; Michael J. Sharp &
Zaida Catalan were both appointed by the Security Council to an
independent panel of experts to investigate atrocities in the vast,
conflict-scarred country.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed that the remains of the two investigators missing since March 12 had been found in Congo and said the world body would conduct an inquiry. It is the two investigators. The 3rd body in the grave with them as their Congolese interpreter;;;
Kamuina Nsapu militants pose an increasingly serious threat to President Joseph Kabila, whose decision to stay on beyond the end of his elected mandate last December has sent ripples of unrest across the vast mining powerhouse.
U.N. figures indicate that over 400 people have been killed in violence in which militants have been blamed for atrocities and government forces are accused of targeting civilians.
Local officials said on Saturday militiamen decapitated about 40 police officers in the deadliest attack on the security forces since the uprising began last year.
Along with a Congolese interpreter, they had traveled to a part of Kasaï-Central Province to investigate a new rebellion that had saturated the area with suspected mass graves. Their own bodies were found in a shallow grave two weeks later. Ms. Zaida Catalan had been decapitated;;
the US wants regime change in the DR of Congo, &;;;
Congo President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, refused to step down after his mandate expired in December 2016. Under a deal struck with his opponents, an election must take place by the end of 2017 but the process remains stalled due to delays registering voters. Security forces killed dozens of protesters during anti-Kabila demonstrations in 2016, raising fears of a slide back toward civil wars of the turn of the century that cost millions of lives. Last year, the U.S. sanctioned five Congolese officials for alleged human rights violations, including the head of national intelligence and the then interior minister.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila is following in the recent footsteps of his neighbours – Pierre Nkurunziza in Burundi, Denis Sassou Nguesso in the Republic of Congo, Paul Kagame in Rwanda – in manipulating laws and technicalities to extend his time in the Presidential Palace.
Apparently, there are human rights abuses being carried out by armed groups and the D.R.C. government against the Congolese people;;; Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for Mr. Guterres, said the secretary general could not appoint a criminal investigation without authorization from an intergovernmental body like the Security Council..
xxx
Gecamines, the DRC’s state-owned mining company, had signed away the royalties on its most lucrative mine to an offshore company. The deal was concluded last year, in secret, and is worth in the region of $880-million over the deal's 25-year lifespan. It is unclear what, if anything, was received by Gecamines in return. And here’s the kicker: the offshore company is linked to Dan Gertler, a close friend of Kabila’s who has been repeatedly linked with massive corruption in the DRC. Most recently, a US Justice Department investigation found that Gertler paid $100-million in bribes to DRC officials, including Kabila, on behalf of a US hedge fund. Let’s repeat this, in case you missed the enormity the first time round: the president of one of the poorest countries in the world just gave his buddy nearly a billion dollars worth of mining royalties. In secret. “It’s outrageous that the state miner Gecamines has signed away rights to huge sums of money that should go towards building Congo’s future. It’s even worse that it has handed them to this unknown, anonymous company that is linked to an individual with a track record of suspicious deals,” said Pete Jones, a campaigner at Global Witness. “The state mining company should be trying to make money for the Congolese people, but here it is signing away its rights to huge royalties.”
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on the top military adviser of Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila, increasing pressure on his government over election delays and alleged human rights abuses. The move follows travel bans and asset freezes announced on Monday by the European Union against nine Congo nationals and aimed at pushing Congo's government to hold an election to replace Kabila by the end of 2017. Congo has repeatedly denounced sanctions by the EU and U.S. as unjustified and illegal, and has threatened diplomatic retaliation. The U.S. Treasury Department placed General Francois Olenga on a list of "specially designated nationals", freezing any assets he has in the U.S. and barring Americans from engaging in financial transactions with him.
unidentified assailants stormed a jail in Democratic Republic of Congo's northeastern town of Beni, the provincial governor said. The attack is at least the fourth prison break in Congo in the last month and underscores how insecurity has grown since President Joseph Kabila refused to step down at the end of his mandate last December. the assailants had used heavy weapons, killing eight prison guards.
"Only the army and the police have the right to circulate to bring under control the enemy, who started to flee at 3:30 p.m. (1330 GMT)," Paluku said. About 30 prisoners remain inside the facility and a curfew is now in place in Beni and surrounding areas, he added.
Teddy Kataliko, a local activist, said it was not yet clear who had carried out the attack because many self-defense militias, known as Mai-Mai groups, operate around Beni. About 4,000 inmates escaped the capital Kinshasa's main high-security prison last month after an attack blamed on a separatist sect, and at least three more escaped from another jail in Kinshasa on Saturday, the police said. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-06-11/eleven-dead-hundreds-escape-in-congo-jail-attack
Mitch McConnell said the worst bill ever passed in his 50 years in the Senate is the Dodd-Frank financial regulations, but apparently, it was reducing violence in the Congo;
Republican legislation to roll back the Dodd-Frank law, expected to pass the House in coming weeks, would repeal the conflict minerals rule.
Armed rebels and criminal gangs have been funded for decades by the illicit trade in Congo's minerals, estimated to be worth $24 trillion, according to the U.N. The minerals are essential ingredients in smart phones, laptops, tablets and other high-tech products.
When the regulation was introduced in 2012, many U.S. companies pulled out of Congo.
"All sectors of our economy were suffocated or very nearly ground to a halt," wrote a group of 31 civic organizations in eastern Congo to the SEC. But eventually the rule helped to cut off funds for armed groups and reduce child labor in mines, according to the coalition, the Thematic Working Group on Mining and Natural Resources.
More than 16,000 U.N. peacekeepers are based in the Congo with one of the world's most aggressive mandates to defeat militia groups.
The conflict minerals rule "undoubtedly contributes to reducing the rate of crime and human rights violations, including rape of women and exploitation of children in mining areas,"
the US SEC aren’t requiring companies to report their use of conflict minerals anymore; the conflict minerals rule played a critical role in reducing violence in Congo, said US Sen Chris Coons…
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/risks-warned-us-dropping-conflict-minerals-rule-47883194
Congo; so crazy shit
is happening in the Congo; Amerika, get prepared for another African
war, on top of the 30 or so wars the US is already conducting; in the
Phillipines, in Yemen, in Somalia, etc
June 5, 2017, NY
Times reports:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/world/africa/united-nations-investigators-killed-congo-nikki-haley.html
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed that the remains of the two investigators missing since March 12 had been found in Congo and said the world body would conduct an inquiry. It is the two investigators. The 3rd body in the grave with them as their Congolese interpreter;;;
Kamuina Nsapu militants pose an increasingly serious threat to President Joseph Kabila, whose decision to stay on beyond the end of his elected mandate last December has sent ripples of unrest across the vast mining powerhouse.
U.N. figures indicate that over 400 people have been killed in violence in which militants have been blamed for atrocities and government forces are accused of targeting civilians.
Local officials said on Saturday militiamen decapitated about 40 police officers in the deadliest attack on the security forces since the uprising began last year.
Along with a Congolese interpreter, they had traveled to a part of Kasaï-Central Province to investigate a new rebellion that had saturated the area with suspected mass graves. Their own bodies were found in a shallow grave two weeks later. Ms. Zaida Catalan had been decapitated;;
the US wants regime change in the DR of Congo, &;;;
Congo President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, refused to step down after his mandate expired in December 2016. Under a deal struck with his opponents, an election must take place by the end of 2017 but the process remains stalled due to delays registering voters. Security forces killed dozens of protesters during anti-Kabila demonstrations in 2016, raising fears of a slide back toward civil wars of the turn of the century that cost millions of lives. Last year, the U.S. sanctioned five Congolese officials for alleged human rights violations, including the head of national intelligence and the then interior minister.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila is following in the recent footsteps of his neighbours – Pierre Nkurunziza in Burundi, Denis Sassou Nguesso in the Republic of Congo, Paul Kagame in Rwanda – in manipulating laws and technicalities to extend his time in the Presidential Palace.
Apparently, there are human rights abuses being carried out by armed groups and the D.R.C. government against the Congolese people;;; Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for Mr. Guterres, said the secretary general could not appoint a criminal investigation without authorization from an intergovernmental body like the Security Council..
xxx
Gecamines, the DRC’s state-owned mining company, had signed away the royalties on its most lucrative mine to an offshore company. The deal was concluded last year, in secret, and is worth in the region of $880-million over the deal's 25-year lifespan. It is unclear what, if anything, was received by Gecamines in return. And here’s the kicker: the offshore company is linked to Dan Gertler, a close friend of Kabila’s who has been repeatedly linked with massive corruption in the DRC. Most recently, a US Justice Department investigation found that Gertler paid $100-million in bribes to DRC officials, including Kabila, on behalf of a US hedge fund. Let’s repeat this, in case you missed the enormity the first time round: the president of one of the poorest countries in the world just gave his buddy nearly a billion dollars worth of mining royalties. In secret. “It’s outrageous that the state miner Gecamines has signed away rights to huge sums of money that should go towards building Congo’s future. It’s even worse that it has handed them to this unknown, anonymous company that is linked to an individual with a track record of suspicious deals,” said Pete Jones, a campaigner at Global Witness. “The state mining company should be trying to make money for the Congolese people, but here it is signing away its rights to huge royalties.”
xxx
DR of Congo; 11 people were killed & 930 prisoners escaped;
June 1, 2017;
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-imposes-sanctions-on-top-military-aide-to-congos-kabila-2017-6
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on the top military adviser of Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila, increasing pressure on his government over election delays and alleged human rights abuses. The move follows travel bans and asset freezes announced on Monday by the European Union against nine Congo nationals and aimed at pushing Congo's government to hold an election to replace Kabila by the end of 2017. Congo has repeatedly denounced sanctions by the EU and U.S. as unjustified and illegal, and has threatened diplomatic retaliation. The U.S. Treasury Department placed General Francois Olenga on a list of "specially designated nationals", freezing any assets he has in the U.S. and barring Americans from engaging in financial transactions with him.
unidentified assailants stormed a jail in Democratic Republic of Congo's northeastern town of Beni, the provincial governor said. The attack is at least the fourth prison break in Congo in the last month and underscores how insecurity has grown since President Joseph Kabila refused to step down at the end of his mandate last December. the assailants had used heavy weapons, killing eight prison guards.
"Only the army and the police have the right to circulate to bring under control the enemy, who started to flee at 3:30 p.m. (1330 GMT)," Paluku said. About 30 prisoners remain inside the facility and a curfew is now in place in Beni and surrounding areas, he added.
Teddy Kataliko, a local activist, said it was not yet clear who had carried out the attack because many self-defense militias, known as Mai-Mai groups, operate around Beni. About 4,000 inmates escaped the capital Kinshasa's main high-security prison last month after an attack blamed on a separatist sect, and at least three more escaped from another jail in Kinshasa on Saturday, the police said. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-06-11/eleven-dead-hundreds-escape-in-congo-jail-attack
Mitch McConnell said the worst bill ever passed in his 50 years in the Senate is the Dodd-Frank financial regulations, but apparently, it was reducing violence in the Congo;
Republican legislation to roll back the Dodd-Frank law, expected to pass the House in coming weeks, would repeal the conflict minerals rule.
Armed rebels and criminal gangs have been funded for decades by the illicit trade in Congo's minerals, estimated to be worth $24 trillion, according to the U.N. The minerals are essential ingredients in smart phones, laptops, tablets and other high-tech products.
When the regulation was introduced in 2012, many U.S. companies pulled out of Congo.
"All sectors of our economy were suffocated or very nearly ground to a halt," wrote a group of 31 civic organizations in eastern Congo to the SEC. But eventually the rule helped to cut off funds for armed groups and reduce child labor in mines, according to the coalition, the Thematic Working Group on Mining and Natural Resources.
More than 16,000 U.N. peacekeepers are based in the Congo with one of the world's most aggressive mandates to defeat militia groups.
The conflict minerals rule "undoubtedly contributes to reducing the rate of crime and human rights violations, including rape of women and exploitation of children in mining areas,"
the US SEC aren’t requiring companies to report their use of conflict minerals anymore; the conflict minerals rule played a critical role in reducing violence in Congo, said US Sen Chris Coons…
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/risks-warned-us-dropping-conflict-minerals-rule-47883194
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