Chronology of Gaza problems

A chronology of Israel's relationship with Gaza

• June 1967: Israel captures the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip during six-day Mideast war. An Israeli census put the population at 380,000, at least half of whom were refugees from Israel. Today the population stands at about 1.5 million. The U.N. lists just over 1 million as refugees and their descendants.

• December 1987: A clash in the Jebaliya refugee camp sets off Palestinian uprising, which lasted until 1993 and claimed the lives of more than 2,000 Palestinians and 192 Israelis. The militant Islamic Hamas is formed early in the uprising.

• September 2005: Israel withdraws its troops and all of its 8,500 Jewish settlers. It retains control of Gaza's airspace, coastal waters and border crossings.

• June 2007: Hamas violently seizes control of Gaza after routing forces loyal to rival Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas.

• June 2008: Hamas and Israel reach truce to halt the cross-border rocket attacks and end Israeli offensives in Gaza.

• November 2008: Palestinians resume rocket and mortar fire into Israel after Israeli incursion.

• Dec. 19, 2008: Hamas formally declares the truce over, rocket fire on Israel intensifies. Daltons Comment - this did happen first everyone. For all the people screaming and yelling at Israel, Hamas threw the first punch and now I don't think they like the fact that Israel is coming back at them. IMHO, time for Hamas to be disbanded.

• Dec. 27, 2008: Israel launches a fierce air offensive, killing more than 200 Palestinians in the first day. - AP

View from Palesine journalist

"Shabbat Shalom" in Gaza
Rami Almeghari writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 27 December 2008

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli air strike in the town of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 27 December 2008. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages)

Shabbat Shalom! "Peaceful Saturday." I don't believe that Israeli leaders appreciate the meaning of this Hebrew greeting given at the start of the weekly Jewish day of rest. No more "Shabbat Shalom," as on Saturday, 27 December 2008, just a few days before the start of a new year, Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on different parts of the Gaza Strip.

Update: I'm watching the Twitter Feed for Gaza live this morning, and trying to comprehend a complex but horrible situation. One that goes back 2,500 years or more. Let me go a little spiritual this morning, it is Sunday.

First, we know that Israel are God's chosen people. Not because they follow Christ, no in fact they spit on him and had him cruxified ... no, they are chosen because God decided he wanted to choose them, and doesn't need our approval to do what he wants. By the way, there are a lot of Christians in Palestine and they are really confused by Americans who support Israel's socialist brand of democracy over Palestinian.

Second, we know that the forces aligned against God want Israel and Jews destroyed or neutered to the point that they really aren't even Jewish any longer. Secular humanism and communism did part of the job by turning most Jews into non-practicing securlarists. Hitler did some more of the job by just plain murdering. Muslims have vowed to continue this assault and want Israel pushed into the sea and destroyed.

Third, the battle with Palesinians goes back for centuries, with both people groups claiming to have been there first or longer. The truth is, they were both there for a long long time and there's not going to be an easy answer.

Fourth, if both people's want to be countries, so be it. Palestine should pack up the Hamas terrorists and affilitated mobsters and send them packing to ruin another country. They should agree to sovereingty and work out a solution that allows Israel and Palestine to co-exist next door as neighbors and friends and trading partners and perhaps even one day as allies. Wouldn't that just frost the Arab and Muslim fanatics that have been using the Palestinians as a wedge issue for 50 years, if Palestinians allied and traded and worked alongside Israelis.

Fifth, one day this peace will be secured and guaranteed by 10 nations. We may not know when that happens, it may be in secret. But we do know that things are going to get very crazy soon thereafter.

President Peres (Israel) on Gaza

Here is the transcript from Huffington Post

President Peres:
It is the first time in the history of Israel that we, the Israelis, cannot understand the motives or the purposes of the ones who are shooting at us. It is the most unreasonable war, done by the most unreasonable warriors.

The story is simple. Israel has left Gaza completely, out of our own free will, at a high cost. In Gaza there is no single Israeli civilian or soldier. They were evacuated from Gaza, our settlements, which called for a very expensive cost. We had to mobilize 45,000 policemen to take out our settlers from there. We spent $2.5 billion. The passages were open. Money was sent to Gaza. We suggested aid in many ways - economically, medically, and otherwise. We were very careful not to make the lives of the civilian people in Gaza difficult. Still I have not heard until now a single person who could explain to us reasonably: why are they firing rockets against Israel? What are the reasons? What is the purpose?

And I must say also that the phenomenon about Israel is the restraint of the army and the unity of the people. The army waited and waited; the Palestinians asked for a ceasefire, and we agreed. They themselves have violated the ceasefire. Again, we didn't know why, until it came to a point where we were left without a choice but to bring an end to it. The operation was planned carefully and the army was true to its principles: namely, to be precise in its targets and careful not to hit civilian life. There is a problem because many of the bombs were stored in private houses. We have contacted the owners of the houses, the people that dwell there, and told them leave it. You can't live with bombs. We have to bring an end to the source of the bombs.

Israel doesn't have any ambition in Gaza. We left out of our free choice. We have never gone back to the idea of returning to Gaza. It's over. But we cannot permit that Gaza will become a permanent base of threatening and even killing children and innocent people in Israel for God knows why. I feel that in our hearts, we don't have any hatred for the Gazan people. Their suffering doesn't carry any joy in our hearts. On the contrary, we feel that the better they will have it, better neighbors we shall have. Now that Hamas is turning to the Arab world for help, the truth is that the Arab world has to turn to Hamas for the help of Hamas. If Hamas will stop it, there is no need for any help. Everything can come again to normalcy. Passages: open; economic life: free; no Israeli intervention; no Israeli participation in any of the turnarounds in Gaza.

As a nation, we feel united. As a nation, there is wholehearted support for the army, the way they handled it, their restraint, their discrimination, and their responsibility. The great winner can be reason, and reason will lead to peace. We are very serious, in a serious mood. Many of our children are still in the shelters, and we would like them, like the children of Gaza, to breathe fresh air again. This is the story, and whoever asks us to stop shooting - they have to change the address. Let them turn to Hamas and ask them to stop shooting, and there won't be shooting. Thank you very much.

END OF TRANSCRIPT

Pakistan and India escalation

About two hours ago posts to twitter announced to the world that Pakistan had cancelled military leaves and was beginning to move troops away from the Afghan border and toward the Indian border.

Obviously this is a continuation of the story which began over Thanksgiving when terrorists attacked Mumbai and killed and blew up many before being killed by Indian authorities. In the ensuing weeks it was released by India that the terrorists had direct connections to terror groups which are based and train in Pakistan.

My thoughts - first, Pakistan is playing a bit of a game with the world. They say they are fighting terrorism in the mountains next to Afghanistan but the truth is they don't want to break up the tribal regions for fear of a civil war. They say they aren't funding terror operations to attack India, but similar to the Afghan terror world prior to 9-11 they are allowing it to continue.

For the first time in years the nation of Pakistan has a democratically elected President, our chosen one during the initial thrust of War on Terror, was not elected. How therefore do we balance our desire to support freedom and democracy, with our desire to destroy Terror and those who support it?

Real Estate Recovery predicted for 2009

Watch for a massive and rapid recovery in housing and real estate in 2009 according to blogger (me) Steve Dalton and a list of Carnival writers

clipped from synergyhomes.blogspot.com RE.covery Carnival of Real Estate clipped from exitrealestate540.com I LOVE A PARADE - Especially a PARADE of REAL ESTATE POSTS about a RECOVERY! THE 2009 REAL ESTATE RECOVERY ... RE.COVERY Real Estate Recovery in 2009 from The Real Estate Bloggers has the Governor of California predicting that 2009 will see the real estate recovery. I for one agree. This post wasn't submitted but I took some liberty and included it to start things off.

Tension in Gulf of Aden escalates

With tensions in the Gulf already quite high, Iran sends warship to "protect" their shipping. Now quite a few countries featuring warships all in the same gulf. This has the potential for problems and mistakes.

Iran sends ship against pirates

World leaders have called for more action to tackle piracy

Iran has sent a warship to the Gulf of Aden to protect its merchant shipping from attacks by Somali pirates, Iranian state media has reported.

Pirates have attacked more than 100 ships, including two Iranian vessels, in the gulf in the past year and at least 15 are still being held.

Several countries now have naval forces operating in the region.

#TCOT targets Pigs wanting gov't cash

GM, Chrysler and UAW still want cash handouts even though Ford says it can make it thru 2009

clipped from michellemalkin.com Operation Three Little Piggies Top Conservatives on Twitter have launched a new action project targeting the “three little piggies” — UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, GM CEO Rick Wagoner, and Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli. I know I’ve got a lot of fabulous Photoshoppers out there. This one sounds fun. So go and check out Operation Three Little Piggies here. And if you haven’t opened a Twitter account (or haven’t figured it out yet), make sure to join TCOT.

Obama will be tested - DR Congo

Remember only 90 days ago when Joe Biden predicted that President Obama would be tested and we may not like what he does, and he may seem weak? That appears to be well underway ...

In DR Congo, a place far closer to Pres. elect Obama's hometowns in Kenya than Chicagoland corruption, he will be tested by a series of events that characterize many of the corrupt and tribal governments of Africa. If he is to be the first African President, he'll be tested to come up with a solution to centuries of poverty, corruption, disease, and government ineptitude. Basically, although colonial powers were thrown out, the citizens of these countries have yet to enjoy true democracy or rule of law.

From the Washington Post today:

Expectations for the president-elect are high not just in America. And eastern Congo will be an early foreign policy test for the administration -- its suffering not only engages our conscience, it is the most urgent expression of a difficult question: What does America do with failed states and regions?

After generations of mismanagement, the vastness of eastern Congo has become a vacuum of sovereignty. And the chaos has attracted some very bad elements -- Rwandan genocidaires, Lord's Resistance Army terrorists, militias of every ideology and description.

Talk to Ford about auto bailout on twitter

Lots of talk about the auto bailout, and whether the Congress or President will give them cash. This guy has engaged on Ford Exec himself and is hosting a public exchange on twitter this morning

clipped from kirkpete.blogspot.com Lobbying in Plain Sight: The Auto Bailout on Twitter Update: Operation Ford Motor now has its own hash tag, #OFM, if you want to follow the action today. I don't know what if anything will come of this, but it's fascinating -- beginning at about 10:30 a.m. today, Scott Monty, the head of social media for Ford (yes, there is such a function now), began a Twitter conversation with Michael P. Leahy, head of a new Twitter-powered conservative group called Top Conservatives on Twitter (#TCOT). Even if you don't have a Twitter account, I believe you should be able to follow this search link, which currently shows the "Tweet" below as the first result:

Potential DR Congo breakthru

DR Congo and Rwanda agree to disband Hutu militia that seems to be the source of the greatest anger to the rebels.

DR Congo, Rwanda agree plan to disband FDLR militia

By Joe Bavier

GOMA, Congo, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Congo and Rwanda have agreed a military plan to try to disband a Rwandan Hutu militia whose presence in eastern Congo is seen as a root cause of enduring conflict there, the Congolese Foreign Minister said on Thursday.

Alexis Thambwe Mwamba said the plan to tackle the FDLR armed group was drawn up by officers from the Great Lakes neighbours and agreed with his Rwandan counterpart Rosemary Museminali.

The two ministers met in Goma, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province, where weeks of fighting have displaced a quarter of a million people.

The conflict pits Tutsi rebels led by renegade General Laurent Nkunda against the Congolese army and Rwandan Hutu fighters from the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

Nkunda cites the presence in east Congo of the FDLR, which includes perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide of Tutsis by Hutus, as the main justification for his Tutsi rebellion, which has conquered fresh territory in recent weeks.

Mwamba said the joint plan, whose details he refused to reveal, would be signed on Friday.

"The FDLR must either go back to Rwanda or become non-combatant in Congolese territory," he told reporters.

The Congolese minister said implementation of the plan could involve friendly outside forces, such as the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) or soldiers from the southern African SADC bloc, which has offered troops to help pacify east Congo.

Nkunda has declared a ceasefire with the Congolese government army, but his Tutsi fighters are still battling the FDLR, whose existence many regional experts believe is at the heart of the persisting fighting in North Kivu.

"They (the FDLR) are actually the root cause of the insecurity that we see around," Museminali said.

United Nations peacekeepers in Congo fear that without a political settlement the violence could escalate into a repeat of the wider 1998-2003 regional war that devastated Congo.

Hutus in DR Congo want war

FDLR's goal is to return to Rwanda and topple President Kagame - Murwanashyaka's Hutu FDLR and Nkunda's Tutsi CNDP will remain enemies forever

The gunmen who executed the Rwandan genocide and now fight in the Democratic Republic of Congo will "always" kill Tutsis because the two sides "cannot mix", according to Major Vincent Habamungu, who commands the Hutus FDLR "Tiger" unit. Read more at link above

Update: This situation is not as cut and dried as we're being told. The "rebels" think they are protecting the Tutsis, who are being killed by Rwandan Hutus from across the border. The DR Congo government may be working with the Hutus because they are fearful the rebels will try to overthrow the government. The UN is basically in the way, with little guidance and no ability to protect citizens.

Muslims and Christians riot in Nigeria

Once again, I'll be the first to admit I have to do some digging to find "the rest of the story." But the barest details suggest that there was an election in Nigeria and one side disagreed with the results ... and riots broke out today.

Over 300 appear to be dead already.

Here's some thoughts on Gateway Pundit ... who quotes Reuters and adds: In 2001, more than 1,000 people died in religious clashes in the city of Jos.

Sectarian Violence Claims Hundreds in Nigeria

The city is situated in Nigeria's "middle belt," where members of hundreds of ethnic groups commingle in a band of fertile and hotly contested land separating the Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south. Authorities imposed an around-the-clock curfew in the hardest-hit areas of the central Nigerian city, where traditionally pastoralist Hausa Muslims live in tense, close quarters with Christians from other ethnic groups.

The fighting began as clashes between supporters of the region's two main political parties following the first local election in the town of Jos in more than a decade. But the violence expanded along ethnic and religious fault lines, with Hausas and members of Christian ethnic groups doing battle.

Angry mobs gathered Thursday in Jos after electoral workers failed to publicly post results in ballot collation centers, prompting many onlookers to assume the vote was the latest in a long line of fraudulent Nigerian elections.

Indy tweetup - huge success today

Was able to meet some twitter friends, who are excited about ways that God is using online social media to connect missions, churches, and those of us interested in both

One project that I've considered is finding as many online social missions personalities as I can

clipped from ubbloggin.blogspot.com A number of 'tweeps' showed up today for a 'tweetup' -- don't ask. LOL. We heard 'names' like... Y0mbo DaltonsBriefs DrThomasHo LauraHo JimAckert IndyChristian ...and a girl named Tabby who has a dog named Bruce. ...and a guy named Bruce who has a cat named Tabby. Go figure. We discussed how Twitter, Facebook and other social-networking sites can help missions and global awareness in general.... eg. the recent Mumbai story... being reported minute by minute among tweeters onsite at the hotels under seige. [Visit the UBcafe's photostream.] clipped from ubbloggin.blogspot.com

Mumbai and the WAR on TERROR

I'll be the first to admit, as I have when discussing Kosovo or DR Congo here on this site, that I really don't get the whole Paki-Indian historical conflict. But that sure doesn't mean it's not real.

As the terror crisis in Mumbai unfolded over the last 48 hours there were quick comments to attempt to tie Pakistan to these attacks. So far, I think this is totally unfounded. There's surely a possibility that Al Queda or other groups inside Pakistan could have taken part ... with other rumors suggesting Russia, China, Iran, or Somali terrorists. Time for a deep breath, and let the intelligence professionals sort things out.

• First, the situation is not even over yet. Go to live search on twitter for minute by minute updates, some from people standing outside one of the hotels.
• Second, we know from our own experience that terror is not necessarily a country and can be entirely borderless. It's time to return to George W. Bush's philosphy, if you work with us great, if you work against us then we will assume you are harboring terrorists and will take steps to pre-emptively protect the free world.
  
• Third, we know that Israel has the capability to knock out Iran's nuclear capability, this may be the right time to make that happen and get rid of one massive potential problem.

I know that some of you will disagree, great, give me your best shot.

Photos from Mumbai today - fires raging

Use this link for live updates

A well written photo diary of the events of the last 24 hours from an eyewitness

clipped from arunshanbhag.com OMG! One of the domes of the Taj is on fire; It is burning like a bonfire! I can actually see the structs/frameworks under the tiles in full blaze. OMG! NO! This can’t be happening! ~ Hand held; rested my elbow on the sill!; Sorry for blurry images from ~ 10:45 pm But when I saw this image of the Taj dome burning, my heart bleeds! It is all in knots! I am overwhelmed! Finally tears, … in torrents! NOW! I am … very, very sad!

Are terrorists watching twitter for information?

Report: Indian Government asking eyewitnesses not to post detailed information on twitter today, for fear that terrorists are on twitter and using the #mumbai hashtag just like the rest of us are

An unconfirmed report out of India has the Indian Government urging Twitter users to not share specific on the scene information, and further that the Government may be trying to block Twitter in India, or is asking Twitter to block Mumbai related tweets.

Twitter has become an international talking point today following its use by many on the scene witnesses in Mumbai after the multiple terrorist attacks there Wednesday evening local time.

The interesting side of the report, read out on ABC Radio Melbourne at 3:10pm AEST (so no hard link, I just happened to be in the car at the time) is the notion that terrorists may be reading Twitter for intel; it’s not impossible, but notably someone in India thinks Twitter offers a bigger risk than traditional blogging or even heritage media.

Mumbai has a strong Twitter community, which as shown by the logo in this post, even has its own regular Twitter meetups.

We’ve asked Twitter for comment and we’ll update the post if we get a response, or hear anything more. If you’re on the ground or have any further details tips at inquisitr.com or direct duncan at nichenet.com.au

International Roundup

• It sure looks like Binyamin Netanyahu will be the Prime Minister of Israel: A new poll published on Channel One television Tuesday night projects Likud party chairman Binyamin Netanyahu as the next prime minister with a commanding 37-25 lead over Kadima. This gives credence to worries that he will move to knock out Iran's nuclear capability quickly too.

Opinion: He's the right man for the time. Israel needs someone strong with the US featuring weak liberals in the White House.

Russia continues their courting of evil empire types: Venezuala, Zimbabwe, Cuba, rebel groups in South Ossetia, and basically anyone who doesn't like the US. Down deep I think Russia like the tough kid down the street who can see that he's falling out of all the important groups, so he aligns with all the bad gang types so he can have someone to hang with. Eventually those gangs get arrested and broken up, and that kid is still standing there with a foolish grimace.

Russian warships approached Venezuela Monday for upcoming joint maneuvers -- Moscow's first military presence in the region since the Cold War -- as Washington closely monitored the situation.

Venezuelan defense officials said the ships, including the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great and destroyer Admiral Chabankenko, would arrive on Tuesday.

The joint exercises were to coincide with a two-day visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Venezuela, the strongest US critic in the region.

Medvedev was due to arrive Wednesday and meet fiercely anti-liberal President Hugo Chavez on Thursday, before heading to communist Cuba.

Analysts see Medvedev as bringing a defiant message to Washington's doorstep, in the wake of Russian outrage at US plans to install a strategic missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and support for the brief Georgia war in August.

Are Somali-Americans sneaking back to become pirates?

Gates of Vienna does a nice job of asking the questions, with some source material:

The Missing: Somali Men Off Twin Cities Streets, Back in Somalia

Somali community fears young men leaving to fight holy war

MINNEAPOLIS — Young Somali men are vanishing off the streets of the Twin Cities. More than 20 have left in the last few months, and the community fears they’ve gone back to Somalia to fight in a holy war.

They’re known in the Somali community simply as The Missing. More than 20 young Somali men, between the ages of 17 and 22, who have left the Twin Cities in the last few months, without a single word to their families.

The families and community leaders believe the men have gone back to fight in a bloody civil war, in which Al Qaeda is a major player.

With tongue in cheek the author at the end commends the Horn of Africa for drawing some gang members out of the US. But this is much more serious, if ethnic groups who risked their lives to come to the US leave to go fight jihad and eventually attack US interests.

Hugo Chavez suffers embarrasing setbacks

Venezuelan Opposition Makes Solid Gains

To follow up on Anastasia Moloney's WPR preview of the Venezuela elections, the NY Times is reporting that the opposition indeed made significant gains, but according to the WaPo, it apparently lost Sucre which would have signaled inroads into Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's core base urban poor. Chávez also managed to avoid some of the more significant symbollic defeats that had been forecasted, like the governorship that his brother was trying to inherit from their father. Still, the defeat is a substantial one for Chávez, and comes despite a good deal of pre-election government interference. How he responds to the outcome will go a long way towards determining the truth to his claim that the elections prove the strength of Venezuela's democracy.

A small detour from our DR Congo coverage, but when a dictator from the Soviet-Islamacist block takes it in the teeth from real voters ... we want to spotlight. He won't care much for their votes though, and it still may require an uprising to eliminate him.

Actor Ben Affleck in DR Congo

Touring the devastation of human crisis levels in DR Congo, actor Ben Affleck commenting on the Darfur crisis (with huge Hollywood concern) and the rather lackluster interest in similar or even worse problem in DR Congo

clipped from news.yahoo.com Ben Affleck visits refugee camps in eastern Congo Ben Affleck is trying to draw more attention to the conflict in eastern Congo, touring refugee camps and consulting with aid workers in the region where at least 250,000 people have been displaced by recent fighting. The actor, who has visited the Central African country four times since 2007 and has made a documentary about its problems, is also encouraging people to donate more to aid agencies working there. "I'm not an expert in international affairs or diplomacy, but it doesn't take that to see the tremendous suffering here," he told The Associated Press on Thursday in Goma, the regional capital. "It's not something that we as human beings can, in good conscience, ignore." Some fear the current crisis could once again draw in neighboring countries. Congo's devastating 1998-2002 war split the vast nation into rival fiefdoms and involved half a dozen African armies.

Congo Rebel Stronghold

There's a story to be had on both sides of this civil war in DR Congo. Fighting has died down a bit, but could flare back up at any time.

clipped from www.iht.com Life in the capital of the Congo rebels From the cracked concrete steps of an expropriated government building, Jules Simpeze Banga looked out at a mass of hundreds of freshly displaced people on Wednesday morning and delivered one of his first speeches as the new, rebel mayor of this town. Most of the fighting has died down since the rebels declared a cease-fire last month after routing government troops in several strategic towns. On Wednesday, the rebels lived up to their word. They began pulling back troops from a few towns to allow aid workers better access to the hundreds of thousands of displaced people huddled in huts made out of banana leaves. The flimsy shelters are no match for the tropical rains that brew all morning and dump down every afternoon in sheets.

Zimbabwean Blogger reports troops will go to DR Congo

Again, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a ton about the whole story in Congo this week, but reports that economically ravaged Zimbabwe may well be sending troops back into DR Congo can't be good for the region. Zimbabwean soliders will only be protecting junta interests.

Wouldn't it be far better for Zimbabwe to focus on following the will of the people in democracy and basic human rights. What's next, will Iraq start sending troops into Israel or Palestine? Of course not, they are trying to build a democratic nation and won't be ready to take part in their neighbors disputes for years to come.

The truth is, and this is easy to pick out of the clutter of news reports, there are massive mineral resources in DR Congo, and the nations surrounding it would like to get their hands on those riches.

DR Congo talks with all sides

UN mediators beginning to see some openess on both sides to talks in impending crisis in DR Congo. It's my uninformed opinion that the groups that started the Rwandan massacres, snuck into DR Congo years ago and like Al Queda in Afganistan they are the true problem. Remains to be seen if my guess is close to true

clipped from english.aljazeera.net DR Congo rebels ready for talks General Laurent Nkunda, the Congolese rebel leader, has said he is ready to negotiate with the government in Kinshasa without any pre-conditions to end fighting in the east of the country. Ahead of a planned meeting with Olusegun Obasanjo, the UN envoy visiting DR Congo, Nkunda told Al Jazeera on Saturday that he was "asking only for direct negotiations". Nkunda's remarks came as Obasanjo met Joseph Kabila, the country's president, in a bid to stop fighting between government troops and rebel forces. After meeting Kabila in the capital Kinshasa, Obasanjo, a former Nigerian president, travelled to Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, where he said he would hold talks with Nkunda,  who heads the National Congress for the Defence of People (CNDP).

Is democracy enough for Africa?

Oh my, this article is so well written, and with obvious regret, but once again I'll merely excerpt and hope you take the time to read the whole thing and even comment here or there.

Post-election crisis and instability - still no international solutions :

Hasty polls can make things worse as Congo’s case shows By Paul Collier

LONDON: Much of my work has been on conflict in Africa, so the latest catastrophe in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has unsurprisingly generated questions of the form ‘What now?’ My buck-dodging answer is: ‘Don’t start from here’. We are where we are because of the persistent failure of the international community to face reality. Part of that reality is that the UN is ill-suited to a reactive mode of operations: reaction requires decisions and logistics that are usually stymied by a lack of consensus and resources.

So what is the alternative to the reactive mode? It is to pre-empt these situations by changing the approach that has been adopted in post-conflict societies.

The international community has based its pre-emptive strategy on a naive faith in the restorative power of elections. The theory has been that elections usher in an accountable and legitimate government and so bring peace and prosperity. In the DRC, elections were duly held on October 29. 2006, costing the aid donors $500mn. So confident was the international community in this model that the date set for the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers was October 30. Instead, the elections provoked a full-scale shoot-out between the forces of the defeated candidate, Bemba, and the victorious Kabila, while manifestly failing to resolve the problem of eastern Congo.

Compelling opinions on DR Congo

African leaders to blame for Congo crisis

"I recently watched a Congolese man break down while watching footage of children with distended tummies begging for food in the DRC following the recent outbreak of fighting in the country. With ironic nostalgia, the man reflected on life in his home city Kinshasa, noting how in almost every street, for every three blocks, there is a Church. It is a pattern, he said, that is easily replicated in much of the country."

Having been chastised for re-printing entire articles, and this one is well worth reading, I will merely make comment that the author puts the blame for the atrocities squarely on Africans. Not on Chinese for contracting for resources, not on colonialists for dubious crimes in the past, not on Islamo-fascists though there is talk in this article of the Christian community. Real closely, at least the writer seems to have a strong opinion.

Are Zimbabwe and Angola sending troops into DRC?

The saddest part of all this is how much it resembles the 20th Century wars in Eastern Europe. Did we merely fight wars in Europe so that we can watch the same thing happen in Africa? Rival tribes and ethnic groups, some legitimate others dubious, cleansing and attacking one another across all national boundaries. Age old allies being drawn into fight, for what? For freedom? For democracy? For speech or religion?

No, so far it would appear that the fighting is over who gets to control mineral resource profits, and which tribe was most ravaged 13 years ago in the last major ethnic outbreak.

Update: Eliminate former Interahamwe/FDLR who caused Rwandan massacres and the rebellion will go away

OK, I'll admit it, just like I have many times with regards to Kosovoan Independence, this situation has more than one side to the story. This write obviously takes a pro-Rwandan perspective that this group, supposedly being harboured by DR Congo, is the root of the problem.

I'm open to all opinions and data and news, just as the Taliban and Al-Queda should be totally disbanded and disarmed, so also any group that caused the Rwandan massacres should as well.

11-12-08 Update on DR Congo

Today some links with updates, but needless to say the situation is fluid and the emotional tension is surely high. Remember this country borders Rwanda and shares the same tribal problems that engulfed Rwanda in civil war and mass murders. Those same tribal groups live side by side in DR Congo, and the incivility has flared back up.

Reportedly the United Nations will send 3,000 more troops in to the region, to join an existing 17,000 troops in a group called Monuc.

Similar to many hot spots in the world, the United Nations sends in troops, gives them little ability to actually defend or fire weapons, the troops are sitting ducks. Sorry to be so blunt but this isn't the solution. Where exactly are the thousands of African nation troops that should be protecting these civilians and forcing both sides to cease fire? Where exactly does Rwanda stand, are they encouraging this recent violence to foment problems in their neighbor's country.

The following is a longer than normal exerpt from PBS, well written, to give a background on the Rwandan and DR Congo problems, the tribal tensions, and the players in what could become the world's next major emergency.

From PBS:

	In the Central African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo, a conflict largely financed by mining the metals that make video games and cell phones has driven hundreds of thousands from their homes and spread death and destruction in what the United Nations is calling one of the most dangerous crises on Earth.
		The latest conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has displaced 250,000 people, and caused conditions for the spread of disease.
	Rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda and his army invaded eastern DR Congo (another neighboring country is called the Republic of Congo) in late August, overrunning towns and taking up positions near the city of Goma. Cause of the conflict The fighting in the Congo is tied to the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, where members of one ethnic group, the Hutu, killed hundreds of thousands of members of the Tutsis, another group. General Nkunda, a Tutsi, says he is invading the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to protect other minority Tutsis from Hutu militia that fled to the region after being ousted from power in Rwanda. Freelance journalist and fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University Mvemba Dizolele said the Hutu militia has been used to justify past invasions by Rwanda, which may be supporting Nkunda. “(The Hutu militiamen) are ruthless. They live in the mountains. They threaten the population, oppress the population, rape women, run a lot of trade. I'm talking about minerals and any other riches that you find in the region. Those are specifically the cause of this war,” Dizolele told the NewsHour. Nkunda threatens takeover President Joseph Kabila refuses to meet with Nkunda, and his government considers the rebel leader a criminal. General Nkunda has threatened to take over all of the DR Congo, which is the size of the entire eastern United States, if the democratically elected leader, Joseph Kabila, refuses to negotiate with him. The DR Congo’s government considers Nkunda a criminal. The United Nations is concerned that other southern African countries, which support the DR Congo, will enter the mix. Leaders from the Southern African Development Community said Nov. 9 that they were willing to send peacekeeping troops to the region if necessary, and there are reports that soldiers from neighboring Angola are already in DR Congo. The United Nations also has 17,000 peacekeepers in DR Congo, its largest troop commitment in the world, but the country is too large to protect, Mvemba Dizolele told the NewsHour. The situation is similar to the civil wars in the region during the 1990s, when several African states backed different warlords fighting for control in the wake of the Rwandan genocide, according to the BBC. Important natural resources The rebel army funds itself by mining and selling coltan, a mineral needed to make computers, cell phones and video games. While many in this area of Africa are poor, the DR Congo has valuable natural resources that armies use to buy weapons and uniforms. Eastern DR Congo in particular has 80 percent of the world’s supply of coltan, which is needed to make video games, cell phones and computers. “(DR Congo) is a poor country on the surface, but underground it's one of the richest countries in the world. Congo today holds largest deposits of copper, coltan, gold, diamond, and so on and so forth,” Dizolele said. Militias control the areas with coltan and then sell it in Rwanda and Uganda to buy equipment for their soldiers. Upwards of four million people have died in the region since 1998, mostly due to hunger and disease as a result of the chaos, the New York Times reported.