Comments for Revisiting 'Operation Lightning Thunder' at http://www.independent.co.ug , comment 1 to 4 out of 4 comments http://www.independent.co.ug Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:12:44 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.independent.co.ug/column/insight/1039-revisiting-operation-lightning-thunder-#comment-15911 MJPC blames the Congolese Government for the Deteriorating Situation in East Congo(DRC) "There is no excuse for missing to pay salaries to soldiers in lawless eastern Congo for six months" Following the deteriorating situation in east Congo, the MJPC called today for the Congolese Government to urgently pay the salaries to thousands of soldiers who have not been paid for over six months in eastern Congo, take swift action to enforce the International Criminal Court's (ICC) warrant against Bosco Ntaganda and to hold accountable perpetrators of sexual violence against women for their acts. "Failing to hold accountable individuals who commit war crimes and crimes against humunity continues to be the leading cause of widespread and systematic sexual violence acts against girls and women in the easten Congo" said Makuba Sekombo, Community Affairs Director of the Mobilization for Justice and Peace in the DR Congo (MJPC). Mr. Sekombo again criticized the government of Congo for not only the continuing failure to protect women and young girls from sexual violence, but also for "encouraging conditions that create opportunities for sexual violence to occur". "There is no excuse for missing to pay salaries to soldiers in the lawless eastern Congo for six months" said Sekombo. The MJPC has also renewed its call for the Congolese government to take urgent needed action to end human rights abuses in east Congo, hold perpetrators accountable and ensure reparation for the victims of sexual violence. The MJPC has been urging the Congolese government to compensate the victims of sexual violence in order to also help combat impunity in eastern part of Congo where sexual violence against women and children has been widely used as weapon of war for more than decade. The MJPC online petition calling for for help to put pressure on Congolese Government to compensate victims of sexual siolence in Eastern DRC can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/26180.html About MJPC MJPC works to add a voice in advocating for justice and peace in the DRC particulary in the east of DRC where thousands innocent civilian including children and women continue to suffer massive human rights violations while armed groups responsible for these crimes go unpunished For more information about the MJPC and its activities, visit http://www.mjpcongo.org. or call Makuba Sekombo @ 1-408-8063-644 or e-mail: info@mjpcongo.org. The online petition calling on the Congolese Government to put urgently in place a comprehensive program of compensation for the victims of sexual violence in eastern Congo can be signed at http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/26180.html - Paul T Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:35:46 +0100 http://www.independent.co.ug/column/insight/1039-revisiting-operation-lightning-thunder-#comment-15608 I find this article rather suspect and not quiet sure what to make of it. what appears apparent however, is some relative peace returning to Northern Uganda, albeit not at the level one would want. let Ugandans focus on defending the peace jealously and not allowing the north to regress back to the dark years that have cost too many lives. It is my hope that editor in chief of the Independent has full confidence that the sources quoted in the article are indeed reliable and the paper is not participating in sensational tabloid journalism just to make money without consideration of the negative impacts such stories could have. - Arthur G Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:01:22 +0100 http://www.independent.co.ug/column/insight/1039-revisiting-operation-lightning-thunder-#comment-15531 Prof. RR Atkinson has clearly served his role as one of the propagandists for LRA, thanks to whoever approached him for hiring. He has the audacity to rely on "former UPDF" officers and "former LRA", well knowing nobody will challenge him to name them. So the whole article is a hoax called 'investigative' jounalism. If Atkinson has reason to disbelieve the UPDF, he should have sought tour guides into the Garamba. If 800 soldiers died in a single ambush, then how many had actually been deployed? When were those former soldiers retired? There have been no known retirement exercise since the Garamba operation ended. Whatever the intentions of the so called commentary, it is all in bad taste and full of lies meant to give the terrorist LRA a human face. Unfortunately, the whole Prof. Atkinson of an American University is standing on the wrong side of history as he writes. All he wrote in this article is pure imagination. The truth lies elsewhere the good professor tries to divert his readers from. - Mate Magwara Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:36:39 +0100 http://www.independent.co.ug/column/insight/1039-revisiting-operation-lightning-thunder-#comment-15500 "There are serious dangers in continuing to allow Congo defy the ICC arrest warrant against Ntaganda; it sends a wrong message and could have disastrous effects in other countries" Citing the importance for the newly-created International Criminal Court (ICC) to remain an impeccably impartial institution, the MJPC reiterated its call on the ICC to refer the DR Congo to the Security Council for possible sanctions. The MJPC (Mobilization for Justice and Peace in the Congo) warned that in the Congo as elsewhere, the ICC as a new international instrument to promote the rule of law and ensure that the gravest international crimes do not go unpunished could quickly lose its moral value if it does not take concrete steps to start enforcing its own issued arrest warrants. "Frankly the ICC cannot put off forever bringing the DR Congo before the Security Council for its continuing refusal to execute the outstanding ICC arrest warrant against Ntaganda," said Makuba Sekombo, Director of Community Affairs of the MJPC, an organization that strongly denounces defying ICC arrest warrants in Congo. "There are serious dangers in continuing to allow Congo defy this arrest warrant, its sends a wrong message and could have disastrous effects in other countries," added Sekombo. Ntaganda is accused of several war crimes and crimes against humanity including: the massacres of 150 people in the town of Kiwanja in 2008 in his duties as military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), torturing and ****ing of hundreds of civilians of Lendu and Ngiti ethnicity between August 2002 and March 2003 when he was chief of military operations of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), slaughtering of at least 800 civilians on ethnic grounds at Mongbwalu, including the first priest ****ed in the Ituri conflict, Abbe Boniface Bwanalonga, ****ing of a Kenyan UN peacekeeper in January 2004 and kidnapping a Moroccan peacekeeper later that year, and recruiting child soldiers in the eastern region of Ituri. The MJPC is strongly urging the Congolese Government and MONUC to execute the arrest warrant issued by the ICC against Ntaganda. According to Mr. Sekombo, the failure in the arrest of Bosco Ntaganda to date highlights the lack of seriousness in enforcing arrest warrants issued by the ICC and strongly urges the ICC to refer the case of Ntaganda to the UN Security Council to find solutions in accordance with Article 87, paragraph 7 of the Treaty of Rome. The MJPC is calling for Congo to be taken to the Security Council, as it claims Kinshasa is in clear violation of the ICC treaty which Congo ratified in 2002. The ICC cannot afford to ignore its statutory responsibility to report this matter" to the Security Council," he said, adding that the Security Council would have the authority to require Congo to take all necessary corrective measures to enforce all ICC arrest warrants immediately. An online petition has been set up asking concerned citizens around the world to demand the UN Mission in Congo known as MONUC and the Congolese Government to act decisively to enforce the ICC outstanding arrest warrants against Ntaganda. The petition can be signed at www.gopetition.com.au/online/24459.html Click here www.arrestntagandanow.org/may112009.aspx to read a full article on referring Congo to the UN Security Council if it continues to defy the execution of the Arrest Warrant of the ICC Against Ntaganda by Makuba Sekombo About MJPC MJPC is a non-profit organization working to add a voice in advocating for justice and peace in the DRC particulary in the east of DRC where thousands innocent civilian including children and women continue to suffer massive human rights violations while armed groups responsible for these crimes go unpunished. Press Contact: Makuba Sekembo MJPC Sacramento, CA 1408-8063-644 info@mjpcongo.org www.mjpcongo.org - Rizik P. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:19:37 +0100