By Kambale Musavuli
They did not realize that by making Mamadou Ndala the commander of the operations in the East he would become a hero…
One elder reminded me that what we see is never really what is truly happening. Like I learned a year or so ago, I should always ask myself “what happened and what is my interpretation of what is really happening.”
Since December 29th, 2013 there have been lots of killings in the Congo connected to the Congolese government but it has been covered up so well that people will not really see what has been going on.
I reviewed the video of Mukungubila’s supporters take over of the National TV Station and saw no guns… I reviewed the pictures of these supporters who were gunned down and bodies laying all over the place and I noted that some did not have clothes on… I kept looking more about info on what took place that day… I grew up in Congo and remember very clearly Camp Tshatshi as a family member was in the military. You can’t go in there just like that… it has a fence around it and an entrance gate… I asked myself, how did the Mukungubila supporters go in there?
I kept digging and talking to people who are in the known and some on the ground… What I came up with is that what we are really seeing is not what is happening.
Some insights:
1. I do know the day of the take over of the national tv station, there was an altercation between soldiers at Camp Kokolo and the Republican guards aka Bana Mura.
2. The force to kill these young men who were mostly armed (at least the video and pictures I saw) with sticks was disproportionate with the existing threat. I still wonder why some of them did not have clothes on… did someone remove their clothes? and for what purpose? to hide what? This definitely feels like the massacre of the Bundu Dia Kongo supporters a few years ago. While I disagree with BDK and Mukungubila’s supporters tactics, I am even more outrage of the killings by security forces on what appeared, to me, as ill or even unarmed civilians.
3. What about what happened in Camp Tshashi? Information received is that there were Congolese soldiers killed in the camp… by whom? Is it true that religious fanatics can simply run into a military camp like Camp Tshatshi, pass the gate and shot soldiers there?
4. Who is doing the investigation on what has happened in Congo re:killings since December 2013 involving the Congolese government?
5. Finally, Congolese Colonel Mamadou Ndala Moustapha was not killed by ADF-NALU. There needs to be an independent investigation about his assassination. One of his bodyguards who is still alive needs to be questioned… and the journalists who were with that convoy who survived the ambush and filmed the situation must also share information about what they saw.
One would think with the United States flying drones over the Congo that they would have information about what happened to Mamadou Ndala…
Your homework:
1. Watch the hostage taking video
2. Review the pictures of the people killed by the Congolese security forces
3. Try to find information about Camp Kokolo and names of colonels killed in Camp Tshatshi the day of the hostage taking at RTNC.
4. Review the video of the killing of Mamadou Ndala… too many eyewitnesses…
From at least what I am able to read, I believe that the Congolese soldiers of Camp Kokolo rose up due to the issue of pay… came out in the streets and exchanged fire with the Republican guard of Kabila… I think also in Camp Tshatshi, there were assassination of military officers and it has been covered up with the incident of hostage takers and confused with other dynamics of conflict in the east. I also believe there is tension within the Congolese military and tactics of the Congolese government is to silence any and all dissents to make sure that come 2016 the current regime stays in power.
I would like to share more… but I need to check more info first… but what is making me very hopeful is that through all of this mess, the Congolese population has been able to make their plans fail… They did not realize that by making Mamadou Ndala the commander of the operations in the East he would become a hero…
I still believe that #2016NewDawn is coming… and in the final analysis, the Congolese people will TRIUMPH!
Note from the editor:
People create their heroes. The fundamental question which persists that the like of Nkrumah, Sankara, Lumumba and many others across Africa could not unfortunately take advantage of its answer is how do people protect their heroes? So they could benefit much longer of their heroism. Your comments are highly recommended. If there could be a sound strategy for such protection, Africa could be a different continent as we see it today.
With the new millennium, Africa is emerging gradually from its limpness. A global awakening of Africans as a people is taking shape. Of course the challenges against such emergence are as tough as the ambitions which animate the new generation of leaders who could change the continent. The essential element that will make the real difference from the past will be the capacity to navigate effectively through the particular conditions of the world today, and one single aspect of that process will be protection.