The Pentagon in Africa: Humanitarian Excuse and Abuse
ProjectCensoredAfrica.mp3
On Friday, June 10th, I spoke to Project Censored Directors Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips about my essay in progress for the 2011 Yearbook, on the most censored or mangled stories and disinformation campaigns in Africa, most all about humanitarian abuse and excuse for the militarization of the African continent by AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command.
Here's a photograph and caption that expresses much of what I had to say on KPFA Project Censored, and in my Project Censored essay on humanitarian excuse and abuse used to justify AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command:
General William "Kip" Ward, the first commander of AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command, October 1, 2007 to March 8, 2011, with Rwandan Defense Force Commander James Kabarebe in Kigali, Rwanda, June 2010, to plan Africa Endeavor 20 Communications Interoperability Text Exercise in Accra, Ghana, in August 2010.
Just before he retired, General Ward traveled to Kigali one more time, in January 2011, for a final conference and farewell to Defense Minister Kabarebe.
Kabarebe has been indicted, by the French court of Jean Louis Bruguiere, and by the Spanish court of Fernand Andreu, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Here is one passage of what the UN Mapping Report on Human Rights Abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo had to say about his history as a commander of both Rwandan and Ugandan troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
329. On 4 August 1998, hundreds of Rwandan troops and a small number of Ugandan troops placed under the orders of James Kabarebe arrived by plane at the military base in Kitona, in Moanda, having travelled from Goma. Some ex-FAZ soldiers stationed at the Kitona base for several months rallied to join them. During the days that followed, the Rwandan-Ugandan-Congolese military coalition was reinforced by several thousand men and embarked on its conquest of the Bas-Congo via the road between Moanda, Boma and Matadi. Some elements in the FAC, which included numerous children associated with armed groups and forces (“child soldiers”) (known as “Kadogo” in Swahili) tried to resist, particularly in Boma and Mbanza Ngungu, but were swiftly overwhelmed; many died during the fighting.
330. Throughout their advance on Kinshasa, the Rwandan-Ugandan-Congolese coalition, referred to in the remainder of the report using the acronym ANC/APR/UPDF, killed numerous civilians and committed a large number of rapes and acts of pillaging.
