A mall example, but it is indicative of the distortions present in media accounts.
M23/CRA seems willing to hand over Ntaganda, who, up until now, has been protected by the government of Congo.
"If the international community supports us, I guarantee you that in one week Bosco Ntaganda will be before the ICC." M23/CRA spokesman Colonel Vianney Kazarama told the reporter from Blomberg News.
If only the international community would support M23/CRA and remove the threat of Bosco Ntaganda once and for all. If today's flash report to OEN bears fruit, the hunt for Ntaganda will finally end without international support.The revolutionary movement will move forward on the strength of its own resolve.
Timeline
In 1998 Congolese President Laurent Kabila broke with his Rwandan allies and ordered the Rwandan army out of the country. Congolese Tutsis who were in the army were considered foreigners and ordered to leave with the Rwandan army. This resulted in the creation of RDC Goma (Congolese Rally for Democracy)
A 2003 peace agreement between RDC and the Congolese government failed to address and resolve the issues that were the underlying causes of the recurrent wars in the country; the continuous persecution of Congolese Kinyarwanda speaking people. These unresolved issues led to the creation of CNDP (National Congress for the Defense of the People) lead by Laurent Nkunda.
In 2009 General Laurent Nkunda, leader of the rebel National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), was ousted in a bloodless coup perpetrated by Bosco (The Terminator) Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Ntaganda was paid $250,000 by the governments of Rwanda and Congo to marginalize Nkunda, who now languishes in a no-man's land of detention without criminal charges in Rwanda.
The elevation of Ntaganda to General in the Congolese army coincided with the signing of a peace accord between the Congolese government and the CNDP that promised status as a political party. The agreement was never realized beyond signatures on a piece of paper. There were, in effect, two CNDP organizations; those who remained loyal to former commander Nkunda and those who accepted the military authority of Ntaganda. It is a significant and critical distinction and offered severe consequences.
Sultani Makenga, the current military leader of the M23/CRA joined the CNDP in 2005 and remained loyal to Nkunda even after Nkunda was detained in Rwanda and placed under house arrest in 2009.
The Goma Peace Accord was signed in March 2009 in response to the ouster of Nkunda and the persecution of Tutsi soldiers within the ranks of the Congolese army.
The failure of the Congolese government to implement the tenets of the Goma Peace Accord, led to the formation of the M23 political movement in April 2012.
Last week, interim spokesman Bertrand Bisiimwa of the M23/CRA confirmed that the M23/CRA military High Command under Makenga had relieved political spokesman Bishop Runiga of his duties after finding him guilty of high treason, embezzlement of the movement's funds, divisions, ethnic hatred, political immaturity and the inability to "define and provide general policy guidance to the different structures of the Movement."
Bishop Jean-Marie Runiga by M23/CRABishop Jean Marie Runiga In response, Bishop Runiga fled the charges of high treason and joined forces with war criminal Bosco Ntaganda.
Today, Saturday March 2, the London Evening Post reports that Ntaganda has fled to the forests of Virunga National Park.
Ntaganda's soldiers attacked General Makenga's residence in Icyanzu near Bunagana but were unaware that the M23 had already received prior information about the planned attack and staged an ambush for them. A battle ensued and Ntaganda's soldiers were pursued up to Virunga National Park where Ntaganda has now gone into hiding. The M23 then took over control of Ntaganda's residence in Runyoni. Throughout the day yesterday, small groups of Ntaganda soldiers were fighting to regain control of strategic locations surrounding Runyoni and Rutshuru centre.
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