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DAILY 03-09-10 MD RE A6 BLACK
A6 The World
R KLMNO TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010
Gates sees progress
Abusive Congolese colonel got aid
in Afghanistan war
U.N. says it no longer
About 6,000 of the 30,000 addi- supplies officer accused
But defense secretary
tional troops approved by Obama
of overseeing massacres
in December have arrived in Af-
plays down prospects ghanistan. “I would say it is very
for reconciliation
early yet and people still need to by Stephanie McCrummen
understand there is some very in ngungu, congo
hard fighting and very hard days
by Greg Jaffe ahead,” Gates said. The United Nations peacekeep-
McChrystal said the coming of- ing mission in eastern Congo pro-
kabul — Defense Secretary fensive in Kandahar would look vided food, fuel and logistical
Robert M. Gates said Monday that significantly different from the re- support to a Congolese colonel
recent military offensives against cent effort in Marja. U.S. Marines overseeing soldiers accused of
the Taliban in southern Afghani- and Afghan forces mounted a gang rapes, massacres and other
stan had gained momentum but large assault on the town, which abuses, months after U.N. human
that a reconciliation effort pro- was dominated by Taliban forces. rights investigators included him
posed by Afghan President Hamid There was essentially no Afghan on a list of the army’s most abu-
Karzai was unlikely in the near government presence in Marja sive commanders and in further
term to cause senior Taliban lead- before the assault. internal warnings.
ers to lay down their arms. By contrast, there is already a The U.N. decision to support
Such defections will not hap- government presence in Kanda- Col. Innocent Zimurinda and oth-
pen until senior insurgent leaders har. Instead of U.S. and Afghan er commanders on the list has
begin to “realize that the odds of forces pushing directly into the been part of the mission’s backing
success are no longer in their fa- city, U.S. officials plan to focus on of Congolese military operations
vor,” Gates said in a joint news the region around Kandahar, targeting a notorious rebel group.
conference with the Afghan presi- where the Taliban has been able The 10-year-old U.N. peacekeep-
dent. to exact significant casualties on ing mission, deployed to keep an
Karzai has proposed a major U.S., Afghan and NATO troops. elusive peace following two dev-
BY MIGUEL JUAREZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
conference this spring to begin “Kandahar has not been under astating Congolese wars, is the Villagers say Congolese Army Col. Innocent Zimurinda lords over Ngungu as his personal fiefdom.
the process of reconciliation with Taliban control, [but] it has been most expensive in the world and
dissident ethnic and political under a menacing Taliban pres- receives a quarter of its budget
C.A.R.
SUDAN
for Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambas-
leaders, including the Taliban. ence, particularly in the districts from the United States. CAMEROON Uele sador to the United Nations. But
Gates arrived in Kabul to dis- around it,” McChrystal said. In October, a top U.N. investiga-
G
O NORTH KIVU A the United States stopped short of
Congo
cuss Karzai’s plans for his confer- The campaign to take back the tor cited “credible evidence” that publicly demanding the removal
ence and to get a better sense of city is likely to proceed far more Zimurinda had led a massacre of
GABON
U
G
A
N
D
of the abusive commanders.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s gradually than the recent move civilians that included the gang
P
.

O
F

C
O
N
CONGOGO
R
E Kennedy said U.N. officials
plans for a large offensive in Kan- into Marja. “There won’t be a D- rape of 10 women, some of whose Kinshasa
RWANDA
Goma
“routinely” discuss the problem
dahar, Afghanistan’s second-larg- Day that is climactic,” McChrystal breasts were hacked off. In No-
TANZ.
of abusive commanders with
est city, which will probably take said. “It will be a rising tide of se- vember, U.N. officials said the
ANGOLA
their Congolese army partners.
place this summer. curity.” In the weeks before the mission would halt support to
ZAMBIA
“But,” he said, “at this stage, we
His visit comes about three summer offensive, the United units implicated in human rights
Europe
are not in a position to tell the
weeks after McChrystal, the top States will significantly bolster its violations, after U.N. lawyers had
Asia
Africa
Congolese what they must do
U.S. and NATO commander in Af- presence in the province with warned that support of abusive with any particular commander.”
CONGO
ghanistan, launched an assault on Army troops. Afghan and U.S. commanders could leave the mis-
Atlantic
0 500 For now, the United Nations is
the southern town of Marja, the leaders will begin reaching out to sion vulnerable to charges of
Indian
Ocean
Ocean
MILES
BY MIGUEL JUAREZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
deferring to Congolese army offi-
first major U.S. military operation tribal elders in the area in an ef- complicity in war crimes.
GENE THORP /
Zimurinda said it would be a cials, who say that removing com-
in the country since President fort to win their support for mili- But in rare interviews here, Zi- THE WASHINGTON POST “big mistake” to remove him. “I manders could cause the fragile
Obama announced his revised tary action and an enduring Af- murinda and one of his deputies only answer to God,” he said. army — a mishmash of rebel and
war strategy late last year. The ghan government presence. said they were still receiving sup- Top U.N. officials have said hu- militia groups integrated after
Obama administration’s ap- If U.S. and Afghan forces can plies in December and January. A man rights abuses by the Congo- although the operations have various peace deals — to break
proach is built around the addi- drive the Taliban from the region U.N. spokesman, Kevin Kennedy, lese military would have been pushed the rebels out of mines, up. “It is a good practice, justice —
tion of 30,000 U.S. troops and an and reestablish an Afghan gov- said he could confirm that sup- worse without their participa- for instance, they are quickly be- but it must be practiced in a real-
increased focus on building Af- ernment presence, senior U.S. and plies already “in the pipeline” had tion, and they stressed the larger ing replaced by rogue army offi- istic way,” said Col. Seraphin Mi-
ghan governance at the district NATO officials said it could swing continued to flow as the mission import of ridding the area of reb- cers such as Zimurinda. A small rindi, an officer in the east. “Jus-
and provincial level. the momentum of the war in favor waited for legal guidance from els, whose presence has helped U.S. military team is assisting the tice is separate.”
Although Gates seemed less of the struggling Karzai govern- U.N. headquarters, and he said of fuel conflict for years. Among the Congolese army with intelli- Zimurinda said that other
sanguine than Karzai about the ment. “If we are able to succeed in Zimurinda that “there may have most recent reports being re- gence- gathering in its operations. army officers were pushing for his
immediate prospects for reconcil- Kandahar and really ensure Kan- been units under his sector com- viewed by U.N. investigators are The U.N. list that included Zi- removal in order to get their
iation, he said that as U.S., Afghan dahar is stable and sustainable, in mand that received support.” allegations that Zimurinda had murinda’s name, titled in part hands on the lucrative mines in
and NATO forces pushed the Tali- my view the historians will look At a news conference last week, given orders to execute 13 civil- “Officers Involved in Crimes Un- his territory. “During the war, it’s
ban out of havens in the south and back on it as one of the decisive the United Nations’ head of ians, including a baby, who were der International Humanitarian the time the big generals make
east, it was likely that some Tali- moments of this campaign,” said peacekeeping, Alain Le Roy, said shot in the back of the head and Law or Responsible for Gross Hu- money,” he said in a recent inter-
ban leaders would feel pressure to Mark Sedwill, NATO’s senior civil- the mission is not currently sup- tossed into a river. man Rights Violations Serving in view, adding that any attempt to
switch allegiances and support ian representative to Afghanistan. porting units with which Zimu- Zimurinda, 38, who controls Operation Kimia II,” was drawn remove him would be “a big mis-
the Afghan government. jaffeg@washpost.com rinda is associated. several mineral mines in this up around June 2009, according take.”
lush, hilly farming area, has de- to people familiar with it. It was a Sunday afternoon, and
nied any involvement in human “The policy was evolving all the commander seemed re-
rights abuses. He calls his accus- through last year,” Kennedy, the freshed and relaxed, sipping cof-
ers “the enemies of peace.” U.N. spokesman, said. “Essen- fee at a sprawling lakeside hotel
“We cannot say we are happy tially, we had to drive the bus, fix in the eastern provincial capital
with the level of support,” Zimu- the bus and write the highway of Goma. Zimurinda wore a crisp,
rinda said in the interview. “But code all at the same time. It took a striped Fred Perry polo and a navy
anyway, we want to say ‘thank long time to work out this policy, blue baseball cap bearing the logo
you’ to the U.N.” there’s no question about that.” of a Westin resort and spa, and as
The U.N.-backed operations The military operations were he spoke, another dimension to
were the result of a major rap- suspended in December. By that the complex story became clear:
prochement between Congo and time, more than a million civil- Rwanda.
Rwanda and were considered by ians had been displaced and 1,400 Until recently, Zimurinda said,
the United Nations, United States deliberately killed, about half by he was part of an ethnic-Tutsi reb-
“Pella came. and others as a crucial step the army, according to a recent re- el group backed by the Rwandan
toward resolving one of the port by the group Human Rights government to fight the rebels —
Pella installed.
world’s deadliest conflicts. The Watch. A new U.N. policy will gov- mostly ethnic Hutus — currently
rebel group targeted in the opera- ern the mission’s role during the targeted in the military opera-
I saved!”
tions includes leaders accused in next phase of the operations, set tions. He and other former Tutsi
the 1994 genocide in neighboring to begin within weeks. This time, rebels were folded into the Con-
Rwanda. Kennedy said, support will be golese army following the deal be-
But the campaign, initially limited to about 1,600 soldiers tween Rwanda and Congo last
backed by Rwandan soldiers, has from units with a clean human year.
been a disaster for civilians, with rights record. Some analysts say that keeping
soldiers and rebels accused of Still, a preliminary list of those commanders such as Zimurinda
committing brutal rapes, massa- units includes two under Zimu- in place accomplishes the larger
cres and other abuses designed to rinda’s command. And human political goal of satisfying Rwan-
punish villagers deemed uncoop- rights activists say the new U.N. da, a huge exporter of eastern
erative with their side. When the policy should make much stron- Congo’s minerals. Asked about
Rwandan military departed in ger demands on the army, condi- any current Rwandan ties, Zimu-
February 2009, Congolese offi- tioning support on the removal of rinda said: “I only answer to God.”
cials asked the United Nations to all known abusive commanders In this dirt road village, people
step in, placing the peacekeepers from the operations, which in- called Zimurinda a warlord. They
in the position of partnering with volves about 60,000 soldiers. said that he extracts exorbitant
one of the most abusive armies in “MONUC utterly undermines taxes and forces them to carry sol-
the world. the chances for peace by keeping diers’ supplies, and that U.N. food
Nearly a year later, the contin- these individuals who have these and fuel often show up in local
ued support of commanders such track records in senior positions,” shops. Of the United Nations, one
as Zimurinda has left the mission said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a villager said, “They are not inter-
open to criticism that it has senior researcher with Human ested in talking to the population
helped perpetuate a brutal status Rights Watch, referring to the about their problems.”
quo in the east. At worst, human U.N. mission by its acronym. “I One of Zimurinda’s officers,
rights activists say, the mission don’t think it will be easy to re- Maj. Gakwerere Dieudonne, said
knowingly assisted commanders move them. But there are ways to he had not heard any news that
as they committed atrocities and do this.” the United Nations was cutting
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set up personal fiefdoms across The United States pushed for supplies. “Anytime we ask them to
eastern Congo. the stronger U.N. policy going for- supply us, they supply,” he said.
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Survivors: Nigerian attacks planned
On Sunday, hundreds of no- the mainly Muslim north and
by Robyn Dixon madic Fulani herdsmen launched largely Christian south.
and Aminu Abubakar coordinated attacks on the Chris- Violence in the region has eth-
tian villages of Dogo Nahawa, nic as well as religious overtones.
NO INTEREST UNTIL
lagos, nigeria — The victims Ratsat and Zot, just south of Jos. Many clashes have involved ram-
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of Sunday’s sectarian massacres The killers planted nets and paging mobs of the indigenous$
in central Nigeria were buried in animal traps outside huts of the Christians and of Muslim settlers
mass graves on Monday, as survi- villagers, mainly peasant farm- — the Hausa, who started moving
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nets and hacked to death by Mus- rights lawyer Shehu Sani of the who move through the area with
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Lewes, DE
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about 200, and others reported “People came out of their volved a more sinister pattern:
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Casualty figures in the Muslim- the animal traps and mosquito with hundreds of villagers killed
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inflates its losses. Scores died in the past decade in Plateau State, the lawyer.
attacks in January. which lies on the divide between — Los Angeles Times
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