#transcribed
#TRANSCRIBED The U.S. warned that it is going to use “tools at its disposal” to hold Rwanda accountable, a "spoilers to peace”, referring to both Rwanda and M23. READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE UNITED STATES' DURING TODAY'S UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING The United States is profoundly concerned and deeply disappointed by the renewed outbreak of violence in Eastern DRC. Today, I want to share additional information on the scale and sophistication of Rwanda’s involvement in the region. Since its re-emergence in 2021, Rwanda has maintained strategic control over its proxy armed group, M23, as well as M23’s political wing, the Congo River Alliance, also known as the AFC. Rwanda has deployed M23 and the AFC to further its geopolitical ambitions in Eastern DRC. Kigali has been directly involved in planning and executing the war, providing both military and political direction to M23 and the AFC. For years, the Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) have supplied material, logistical, and training support to M23, and have fought alongside them in the DRC with approximately 5,000 to 7,000 troops as of early December — not accounting for any additional deployments during the recent escalation. In recent months, Rwanda has deployed multiple surface-to-air missile systems and other heavy, sophisticated weaponry into North and South Kivu to support M23 in its ongoing conflict with the DRC. Just this past weekend, M23 and Rwandan forces launched an offensive to seize Uvira, with RDF forces co-located on the frontlines with M23 fighters. We also have credible reports of increased use of suicide drones and artillery by both M23 and Rwanda, including artillery strikes into Burundi. Rather than a march toward peace — as seen in recent weeks under the leadership of President Trump through the Washington Accords — Rwanda is instead dragging the region back into greater instability and war. In light of the commitments made in Washington, we are deeply concerned about the continued presence of Rwandan military forces on Congolese soil in support of M23. The United States will use every tool at our disposal to hold accountable the spoilers of peace. We call on Rwanda to uphold its commitments and to fully recognize the Democratic Republic of Congo’s sovereign right to defend its territory, including the right to invite Burundian forces onto its land in response to aggression. We are engaging with all parties to urge restraint and to prevent further escalation — including calling for an end to hostile and ethnically charged anti-Tutsi rhetoric. As this Council continues to negotiate the renewal of the MONUSCO mandate, the United States will seek to ensure that the mission is empowered to support both the Doha and Washington agreements. While the parties themselves bear full responsibility for implementing these agreements, MONUSCO must have the freedom and capability to operate — including unimpeded mobility and logistical support. It is a sad hypocrisy that UN peacekeepers are under siege from forces backed by a UN member state — a state which also contributes troops to peacekeeping missions. The months-long M23 blockade on MONUSCO has severely impaired its ability to operate in and around Goma, as many have highlighted today. Furthermore, Rwanda continues to deploy surface-to-air missiles and conducts spoofing and jamming operations, effectively grounding MONUSCO’s air assets. Under such conditions, how can MONUSCO succeed? We demand the immediate cessation of these obstructions, which violate Rwanda’s and M23’s obligations under the Doha and Washington Agreements. The United States remains firm in its support for MONUSCO and its critical role in realizing these historic agreements, which we believe hold the potential to finally end decades of suffering in Eastern DRC.
Xtrafrica43,943 views • 8 months ago
#TRANSCRIBED | 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗥𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗗 🇷🇼 “Even though we don’t talk about it openly, let’s be honest — we, the youth of Rwanda, are damn broke and Poor. Look at me. I look good, right? If someone saw me walking in the market, they’d think I can afford something. But the truth is — if you looked at my account right now, it has only 300 Rwandan Francs. That’s like 2 US cents. I’m raising the alarm for Rwandan youth — things are tough out here. This is something the government should be paying attention to. We are broke. We are cooked. Everything is bad.” Your Comments on this?
XTRAfrica Media Group19,651 views • 7 months ago
#TRANSCRIBED 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗢𝗙 𝗨𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗔 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗘𝗗 𝗞𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘’𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗜-𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗘 𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗬 𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗨𝗧𝗦𝗜𝗦 You know, another thing that this occupation of Uvira is revealing to me, It's starting to convince me that Paul Kagame has finally instilled this anti Congo ideology into his followers, especially the Tutsis. Because tell me why I come online and I see people celebrating, dancing, making songs about a Congolese city being invaded. Just for context, in the space of this Uvira being taken. Hundreds of Congolese people have lost their lives. An estimate is 400 people have lost their lives. Hundreds of thousands of Congolese people have fled their homes. Why do I come online and see people dancing to Uvira falling in the hands of the M23? What are you celebrating exactly? Are you celebrating the deaths of those people? Are you celebrating the occupation of that town? Are you celebrating the hundreds of thousands of Congolese people leaving their homes? And then you guys will come tomorrow and start asking Congolese people, Why do you guys not like Kinyarwanda speaking then? Seriously, for so long, so many Congolese people have been separated the Rwandese state from the Rwandese people. But quite frankly, it's becoming very very blurry now to separate the 2. via tiktok by #yafelieglobal
Xtrafrica12,956 views • 8 months ago
#TRANSCRIBED : (UNTOLD STORY) 𝗞𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗔 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗔 𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗖𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗡𝗦 In an explosive and deeply personal address, Canadian investigative journalist Judi Rever took to the stage on the Oslo Freedom Forum to dismantle what she calls “one of the biggest lies of modern times”: the global myth of Rwandan President Paul Kagame as a hero. Rever, who has spent nearly 30 years documenting war crimes in the Great Lakes region, delivered an unflinching indictment of Kagame’s violent legacy, one she claims has been deliberately buried by world powers, global corporations, and the media. READ FULL TRANSCRIBED UNTOLD STORY BELOW. I'm here today to tell you about one of the biggest lies of modern times, and about someone who's been posing as a hero for a very long time, someone who's everywhere in plain sight from Davos to the Olympics, when in reality he's been taking you for a ride. That person is Rwanda's dictator, Paul Kagame. In 1996, as a young Canadian journalist, I landed a dream job in Paris covering the African continent. At the time, I was hungry for life experience and eager to learn. It turned out that Africa was the best teacher. Almost immediately into that job, I was drawn into covering the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. Paul Kagame, who had been hailed a hero for supposedly stopping the genocide against Tutsis committed by Hutus, was now launching a military invasion of Congo. Ostensibly, his objective was to root out Hutu genocidaires who were living in the refugee camps inside Congo's border. But for those of us who were paying attention, we realised the Paul Kagame's Tutsi troops were systematically massacring Hutu refugees in Congo. In May and June of 1997, I went to Congo, a country the size of Western Europe. With the help of Congolese aid workers, I went into the forest and what I saw was devastating. Hundreds of thousands of Hutu civilians had been chased across the country and hunted down like animals by Paul Kagame's Tutsi forces. I met wounded, traumatised and starving women in the forest. I saw catatonic children emaciated and covered in scabies. The testimony that I collected from the forest of Congo and the pictures I took of mass graves convinced me the Paul Kagame's forces had committed a genocide against Congolese and Rwandan Hutus in 1996 and 97. The United Nations would later classify these crimes as a possible genocide. After Congo, I crossed over on foot into Rwanda and interviewed more Hutu survivors who had just come home. I essentially asked them two questions, the same questions I had asked Rwandans in Congo. Why did you flee Rwanda in the first place in 1994 and decide to stay in Congolese refugee camps, enduring brutal conditions instead of going home, where Paul Kagame had reportedly stopped the genocide in 1994, stopped the violence, and was restoring peace and prosperity to Rwanda? These Hutu survivors told me one after the other that in fact, Paul Kagame's Tutsi army had slaughtered Hutus during the genocide. Their relatives had been massacred. They were afraid of Kagame's army. They also told me that many Hutus who returned from Congo to Rwanda were disappearing. This was astounding to me. Remember, these were early days. I'd never heard these stories before, but I knew that I had to keep researching this story. These interviews were very dangerous to do inside Rwanda. But I realised that the official genocide narrative of one category of perpetrator, one category of victim, was a sham and Kagame was no saviour. I have since spent almost 30 years of my life investigating the crimes that Kagame's forces committed before, during, and after the genocide. I've interviewed hundreds of victims, witnesses, defectors from Kagame's own army, UN officials, and whistleblowers. And one of those whistleblowers leaked to me a confidential UN document which revealed that Kagame's Tutsi commandos actually slaughtered Tutsis during the genocide. These were false flags, staged operations. This evidence, and other types of evidence like this, completely disrupted the established doctrine of the Rwandan genocide. My research reveals that both Hutus and Tutsis were victims of genocide in 1994, and both groups were perpetrators. What's more, powerful insiders at the United Nations knew about these massive atrocities committed by Kagame's army and covered them up for years. I've asked myself, why is it that Kagame's record has been sanitised? Why has he gotten away with committing crimes over 3 decades, egregious crimes? And why has the United Nations granted him de facto immunity? The answer, I believe, lies in Congo, a country that is rich in strategic minerals that are essential for our global economy. Chances are that the cell phone you're using or the Tesla you're driving is made from Congolese minerals that have been laundered by Rwanda. One of the most trafficked and strategic minerals on the market today is tantalum. Tantalum metal is valuable because it can be extremely resistant to high temperatures. Tantalum components are able to store a tremendous amount of energy charge in a small space. Tantalum is used in rockets, satellites, missiles, smart cars, and smart cities. Canada and Australia have reserves of tantalum, but their tantalum is very expensive and they're not producing much of it. Brazil is an exporter and a producer of tantalum, but not in the quantities needed for the global economy. Congo has the richest grade of tantalum. It has the cheapest tantalum; it's the biggest producer. And Congo is Kagame's playground. Kagame and his international mafia launder vast quantities of tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold from Congo into Rwanda, onto Rwanda's Switzerland-like paved roads, and into the lucrative global supply chain. And when I examined this global supply chain in detail, I discovered that all the major suppliers to big tech and weapons companies source their tantalum in Rwanda. So what's happening is that Paul Kagame is ensuring a cheap, steady supply of strategic minerals that are needed for the global economy. And our thirst for technology is ensuring his criminal longevity. If there's one thing you take away from my talk today, it's that the technology that we're using is tied to Kagame's violence, and the laundered minerals themselves constitute criminal property. Anyone who acquires, possesses, uses or profits from that criminal property is laundering. So, we as consumers, when we purchase devices that contain that criminal property, we are engaging in laundering as well, whether we know it or not. Kagame is currently tightening his grip on Congo. His latest invasion is illegal and a violation of Congolese sovereignty. But unlike Russia's invasion of Ukraine, where the world rallied to condemn Vladimir Putin and sanction him, Kagame has gotten off scot-free, and he is still a rock star and treated so by global elites. We've seen football teams such as Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain continue to sign sponsorship deals with Rwanda. We've seen international sporting bodies such as FIFA and the NBA continue to do business with him. Imagine how Kagame's victims feel. I refuse to be part of this global criminal project. Lobbyists and governments can prop up his regime. Businesses can live the lie because they profit from it. The media can amplify his propaganda. And Kagame can impose his lies on people he controls. But he cannot control me. Paul Kagame, I know who you are, and I know what you've done. In fact, Paul Kagame's regime's crimes and his agents' campaign against me have actually emboldened me to continue this work. More than a decade ago, his agents threatened me and threatened my family. I kept going anyhow because the fear of dying galvanised me into finishing what I had started. In 2018, after my book was launched, I was a victim of smears. I was blacklisted, essentially, and labelled a genocide denier. Remember, I acknowledge that two genocides occurred in Rwanda, one against Tutsis and one against Hutus. I have not buried history with the Rwandan's help, I have unearthed it. None of what I've experienced has compared to what his regime has done to the Congolese and Rwandan people. The rebellions that Kagame has sponsored over 30 years have left more than 6,000,000 Congolese dead. These wars have eviscerated the Congolese nation. Rwandans, meanwhile, live in an open-air prison where history is state property. Any discussion of Hutu suffering is criminalised. Hutus in general, even Hutu children, are branded irredeemable perpetrators. Tutsi genocide survivors are persecuted and, at times, are killed. Kizito Mihigo was a beloved Tutsi genocide survivor and gospel singer who preached reconciliation and denounced crimes by Kagame's regime against Hutus and Tutsis. He was arrested and later found dead in custody. Aimable Kalasira, Yvone Idamange and Deo Mushayidi, all Tutsi genocide survivors who have denounced human rights violations in a country led by Paul Kagame. They have been arrested. They are languishing in jail and effectively silenced. We must break the silence. If you believe that all victims matter. If you believe in the truth, demand accountability. Demand that Paul Kagame once and for all be tried for the crimes he's committed over 3 decades. Demand he be tried in an international court. Demand that corporations stop buying strategic minerals from Rwanda where they are soaked in the blood of Congolese people. I am tied to Paul Kagame. He has made me who I am today. He has brought me here. We are all tied to Paul Kagame, but that doesn't mean we have to be his accomplices. We need to be accountable. We need to be responsible for our consumer choices and ensure that those choices are not fueling wars in Central Africa. I urge accountability, not only for the sake of Rwandans and Congolese, but for our collective integrity. Thank you by Judi Rever
Xtrafrica12,701 views • 8 months ago
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