tv Inside Story Al Jazeera March 15, 2023 3:30am-4:00am AST
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isn't knocked down temperatures in places like woo hahn wednesday to thursday by almost a good 10 degrees. or we've had our 1st blooms and the cherry blossoms in tokyo, that's of late temperatures, while above average, and a beauty of a day on wednesday. 17 degrees the high for you. that's it. got a jet. ah, the water scarcity has become a major global issue. the demand is going straight up and the supply is going straight down, turning an essential natural resource into a commodity traded for profit, just precaution, floor. i mean, it cannot be priced. what about the guy that can't afford it? that guy told me it's water. mm. al jazeera examines the social, financial, and environmental impact of water privatization loads of water on al jazeera, a decades long conflict, and a region which with natural resources. millions of people have been killed in east
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and democratic republic of congo, and millions more have been displaced from this region ever find a lasting piece. this is inside story. ah. hello there and welcome to the program. i'm laura kyle. these and democratic republic of congo has been in the state of conflict for more than 20 years. more than $100.00 armed groups, so fighting government and regional troops in the area. 5.6000000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes. and united nations security council team has just concluded a 3 day visit to the country. it called for a political solution to and the fighting dozens of people were killed. and the most recent attack by one main group could be allied democratic forces,
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which is reportedly linked to iso and fights us from another major armed group. m $23.00 have been taking territory and inching closer to the regional capital goma. we'll get to our guests in just a moment. first, let's take a closer look at this region. resource rich democratic republic of congo is ordered by rwanda and uganda, which are both accused of backing armed groups fighting the congolese government. they. these are charges, they deny me. am $23.00 and the allied democratic forces are 2 of the most prominent armed groups in the area. well, an 8000 people have been killed in the last 5 years. regional mediation efforts have failed to stop the conflict, and some un troops have also been accused of killing civilians. will begin our discussion in just a moment. first, malcolm web reports from nairobi and 23 as continued advancing in recent weeks. and it's effectively encircled the provincial capital of goma. as it fighters news through the cc territory, tens of thousands of people have fled,
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reporting the m 23 fighters of round. they don't the villages and executed them clearing out entire community to the now joining the already 800000 people. displaced by this conflict and 23 is widely understood to be back by neighboring wonder. well, they were one that denies it to the north, around the city of benny. thousands of civilians have been killed in the last week . the allied democratic forces adf is widely plain as it has been for killing thousands of civilians in that area. over the last 10 years now, group that originate from neighboring uganda and the 1990 gun, the army pushed it into the forest. the beast and congo, where it base ever since a recent and ongoing ugandan military operation extensively with a few and defeat the adf hasn't stopped divided against civilian. regional peace efforts so far haven't worked. and 23 hasn't of aid regional called for
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a fighter to withdraw and disarm it has withdrawn from a couple of small towns and none of them as strategic. important. meanwhile, the east african regional forth also hasn't yet made any difference kenya and burn the have said troops other countries in the region. and you follow that. it's not clear if any of the true contributing countries have either the political will or the resources to actually fight and $23.00 or even rwanda in hong kong guys, due to whole presidential parliamentary elections at the end of the conflicts in the eastern provinces may prevent polling meanwhile on goes opposition, says that there are already massive irregularities with the voter registration process. malcolm web, the inside story. ah, let's bring in our guests now and in the eastern connolly city of goma. reagan may
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vary a conflict analyst at a blue tele, that's a company's research institute in johannesburg, stephanie walters, a senior research fellow, specializing in the great lakes region at the south african institute of international affairs. and in kancheta angel to conway, a tango the you and refugee agency ref, representative in d r. c. a very warm welcome to all of you, reagan, let's go to you 1st. you want that in go me at the latest reports, all that m 23 is advancing on that regional capital city. what's the situation? yes. and there is a fear i'm $33.00. can you join the city? but this has been ongoing for. busy the last 4 weeks now, so yes there is these are. 5 so there is an economy crisis because that gets a on the north side into the west side. and you know,
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i've said it's off the who and been there is rhonda side. so go my looks to be, you know, a place where they don't have access to a, a t n in the situation in that case, which is a very close to go, there is a fight. so people for their lives in columbia is that the belief and goma that am 23? well over run the city? yes, i'm not sure that they have been getting investigated, but the thing they have interest in closing all that good. 1 the city mesh,
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both the government, you position that they, that we have to ship it to a shouldn't be very, which was one, but we just didn't tell me what is it exactly that people are faring are they faring m $23.00 themselves or they faring the fighting more generally. so i think that you know much when you come to get and did you say everyone's going to see for the suppression fleming and they did not know what a lot of russian by right now and 23. and then one of the solution to, to make sure that the company is waiting be is 5 in the new 40. some are both really accepting
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nicholas fish and dogs as well as about government has been saying that she had been they asked for some press. busy to, to free should from the control as they should fire, but his then within a belly they had the beds and there is no e in the, in this got me that we have them. that's good to move on. that are yes. so i think the still a challenge, the crisis, but we'll certainly look more at these failed efforts to stop the fighting a little later in the program. just for the moment angela want to focus on gomer on this particular area. it's a city of 1000000 people were talking about a lot of people had the gates a close to the city,
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the roads have been cut off. what's your concern for the people that? yes, thank you jennifer. yes, we did. deeply coach confirmed by the tone of the country on hundreds of displaced persons. this conflict which had resumed for the past year. nearing the 28th of march when there was a functional quantity. they have been more than 800 how the new displaced passions, and these are literally destitute. they are leaving nowhere. they lack busy needs, including drink, of water, food, shelter, everything. and they are truly at risk of their life because some of them paying, you know, by the highways whisking the to be killed by a cough,
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but the traffic and exposed to the natural elements. these are made mostly by women and children who are complete, living what, not leaving a normal life. we've no dignity, nor safety at all. this is just a situation that has been ongoing for too long. we need to seize, we really call it in the more just we would like to continue with these persons, including just basic shereka and busy amenities of every game. we literally actually do not have access to most of them or you can that's what you want to because we're hearing that aid agencies already overwhelmed by the numbers of
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people who are needing a many of these agencies the operate house of dome or the regional capital if the roads blocks to and from goma, how can they then access any body? what precisely, what i will say we already are not able to access the few biology because it has literally been all right, especially the you who to zones. and even we with them by air on to you not too long when awful. busy you have any kupta was fired up painfully. we've a little dumb bridge, but indeed that also signal and not a heck of the com where by the heavy cop to off the minute i'm no longer spec. so we are, we will be attending whereby we court to decrease the
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council was just yet last week to see we need humanity to your soul for lasting peace. to be baby in go math in is 10 d actually in the sub region because that is really what would be beneficial for you, marty. and stephanie, stephanie way, it seems that her dire situation is about to get very much worse. why is m 23 advancing at the time when the congress army has just been boosted by east africa and force as you've got kenyon truth specifically brought in to fight and 23 rebels seem to have made any difference. well, i think one of the things that we've seen this time around and we, it's important to remember that the last and 23 crisis was almost as bad. and that was in 2012. what we've seen this time around and what you and has also acknowledged, is that the m 23 is stronger than it's ever been before. and we had been to cato,
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who's the head of the un peacekeeping mission in the d. r. c, saying that it's almost operating like a conventional army. so clearly the support that's being provided by rwanda is substantial. and i think that we have known for many years at the colonies army itself is a very weak army. it's facing, of course, a number of different armed groups and the new newly deployed kenyan forces are only one of the troop contributing countries. i think that it's unrealistic to expect them to push back the m 23 on their own. of course, they are working with the un and with the force intervention brigade. but one of the arguments are one of the, one of the criticisms of the, of the canyon forces and of the east african community forces, is that they are in fact creating buffer zones between the colonies. army and the m $23.00, which are effectively allowing the m $23.00 to continue to gain territory. that's very interesting. let's take a step back from this for a moment. stephanie, just to look at who the 23 are because as you said,
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they were around in 2012. they were disarmed 10 years ago. why have they we surface last year and we groups and come back so strong. well, i think the real question is why has, has we're wanda chosen to reactivate the m 23 and the m. 23 is a group also of course of congolese fighters. they themselves will say that this is a domestic agenda that they are not backed by rwanda. and then they have aspects of ease agreement that were that, that were, that was signed in 2013 have not been met. for example, d, d r and their return to to the eastern d r c. and that they also have concerns about the congolese tootsie community. but the reality is that the m 23 is this strong and was reactivated at a time in late 2021 by rwanda because of a variety of a number of different regional developments. we had uganda and d r. c. agreeing on a road construction project that reached down towards the rwandan border. this was considered a threat by rwanda. we also had the entry into the d. r. c. as shortly thereafter,
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in march 2022 of the d r c into the east african community, a community that rwanda has been part of for many years. and we also had the deployment to eastern congo of ugandan troops in but as part of operation judah to go after allied to democratic forces. so a number of regional developments that in many people's views, threatened rwanda's had demonic standing in the region. and were one to has responded by, by essentially supporting the m $23.00 and relaunching this of this offensive, which is now closing on to 18 months. yeah, very interesting. indeed, reagan, when we talk about this east and democrat, lisa, east, an african force coming in without any talking about kenya as stephanie says, look about ugandan forces on golden forces. now saying that going to come in south to don forces veridian forces as an awful lot of countries coming into this region . what do you think of that? what are people in goma? think of all these other nationalities come in to join this fight. yeah,
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i think at the beginning there were some, i hope that the sub peer now we know that the original or you know, t up to fight and they made that clear that made that not to fight against. wow. that's one of the big government asking for another reason why you can given that so much. can you shut our billing because there is everyone you ask you something that yeah, that one can't do. come on government asking for the regional government. decide on he's he's side a guess and you guess rhonda and kinda ready to do that but one does not ready to do that. you band is not ready to do. so that's make this initiative to be something that will not have any results go that you are here to
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job me said the but the buffer zone, it means that there will be, have been going to pre, that's what people all see in it, in gamma. so that's all you can use is a bit different, difficult to get as people ask for different things. and right now when we saw the negation from the us, they asked exactly. that's been said that the government should think about nicholas shipping with m 23 the, the government's not ready for that. and also we know that we looked at our growth in electoral europe and the government is not ready for that as, as the, the big part of that will be listed. he's a guest and he negotiation against m 23 we've we've, we did some,
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we saw the india and mall done well, 70 percent of kimberly's. don't think that's a good idea to have it should cause this has been going on for so long. and the m 23 has been evolving but all different dogs in these didn't. busy the situation and didn't prevents the current position to happen again. i mean, so many failed pe finished his in the past. the angelic real tragedy here is that this is a region that is so rich in natural resources. resources that the people that should really be benefiting from yes, indeed, a total parable. and for me, i say this has been going on for 2 non 3 or more dictates of unrest off
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may mean of healing. if you believe that between 10000000 to whatever the median has some pop savaged in this a long conflict and sense most violence, more than i round 5.8. maybe other person please. not literally living a normal life for us. we call for how many more kids and move, named and more displeased would that you might have to wait for before can speak in the sense that byron and i would like to ask you a question. when you say humanity, you mentioned humanity a number of times about who you actually referring to. when you say humanity, i call it 1st i need to do next. i have the
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security council international community as it was just a year. and besides the role is to foresee or to preserve international peace and security the, the conflict, we know it's very complex. call about the crime folks, the stakeholders inside this big core of around it and the thick of the why fi? so that's where i call you money to because i believe in for this country to all of you find a solution it takes about a little but resolution talking with the next best and those 5 the be including not to be the security council. ok. well, let's count is they have just been to visit the region and they've called for a political solution. but as reagan says, most people don't believe that
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a political solution is possible because no one is willing to sit down. what are your thoughts on that? well, i think there are different actors who should be involved in a political solution. for my perspective, i think what we need is a dialogue at a regional level. we need dialogue between uganda, rwanda burgundy, and the d. r. c. the for core, great lakes countries who have been part of this conflict for the last 3 decades. we've seen persistent interference by the neighbors and eastern congo variety of reasons, economic, political, to some extent security. but the, the, the brunt of the suffering that is happening is happening in the eastern congo is civilians and eastern d r. c, who are the, who are living the consequences of these regional tensions, of these regional rivalries and of these unresolved political issues. so for me, we need to have a dialogue at a political level. we also need rwanda at some point to acknowledge that it is supporting the m $23.00. otherwise we're not going to get out of this acute crisis and the crisis might become even worse. now what we did see this weekend was the un
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security council, recognizing for the 1st time as a body rwanda's role in supporting the m 23. that's certainly a step in the right direction. we've seen bilateral actors do that in the past. but what we haven't seen is any kind of mention of punitive or coercive efforts or measures that might deed rwanda to actually withdraw its support from the n 23, which is something that we did have in 2012. and that certainly contributed to resolving that question. so i think we have 2 different issues here. we have the acute crisis right now with the m 23. and then we have the longstanding drivers of conflict in the great lakes region, which mean that for the last 30 years, eastern congo has been the scene of ongoing conflict. and the pressure on rwanda can come from the international community at large reg, unless returned to can shasta, we got present just a katie, he's sitting 2000 some, 2000 plummeted away from the violence. the how engaged is he, how much of a priority is this for him to sort out? yes,
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we can say that right now about the main priority. i think the how does this work out on the ground? i think a party to got to get everyone every 40 to shenise speaking about the war. not enough people, but that's not the g that has been put down so far. i lose weight. there is the spirit of this age, which i'm going gotten enough keeble and you need tory but it didn't bathroom. there is also the operation on the me and you don't have enough in the region. i mean without that. so and the other thing is that the government only doing waiting man on the involvement of rundown, which i'm sure,
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but beyond that we've seen. a need to be done, but companies and everyone should have all responsibilities. the international community as we bed should have responsibility. the region has been called out. yes. without the full regional dialogue. i think in that which is really boring, but also the companies that men should try to resolve problems all. be the army you ok. i just want to remove the line from the moment because we have already have time and has an area that we haven't talked about. and that is the other 100 armed groups fighting in this region, and one that's all corresponded mountain web mentioned. the adf allied democratic forces, we also recently built very brutal attacks by them. stephanie, how have they become so strong and why are they operating in this region?
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well, they've been there for many, many, many years. i mean, they were there even before the war that overthrew mobutu, but largely they became a threat to the population in the area around benny dutempo in the last 10 years. now, there are many different theories about why and how the adf have become so strong. we don't know as much about that movement as we need to know. we do know that they've declared allegiance with, with iso. and that i still has provided them with some, some support, but not very much. fundamentally, they are able to live off of it and formal taxation, networks, smuggling and economic activities and areas that they control and, and certainly that, that would seem to be their objective is not necessarily conquering territory, but controlling the area that they are currently in. uganda has argued that they are a threat to the ugandan government. i think potentially that that is an exaggerated assertion, because the adf really hasn't been able to launch any kind of attack on ugandan
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territory for over 10 years. we did see some bombings happening late last year. we don't know to what extent, really, the adf was operationally involved in that. but certainly, prior to that, and still to day, the adf is a greater threat to calmly citizens again than they are to ugandan citizens. and we've seen this joint operation operative today between the colonies, army and ugandan army, which as reagan said, has not yet born much fruit. okay. as out of the norwegian, refugee counselors again and again, ranks d r c is the wells most overlooked under addressed refugee crisis. would you agree with that? definitely. yes. especially in regards to internally displaced persons. but also of course, we have close to $6000000.00 persons intended. yes, and we do have about a medium colleagues who have fought as loans in next county or all persons green is to go back to the area already due to act
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long. last positive, you leave a normal life and this might only become possible once the cons may have been silent, one piece lacking peace would have prevailed. that is why we really call and they court, we call on behalf of all the suffering. the space for lacking peace could prevent really, it is more than time that the war, the stakeholders would agree that peace is what is needed in the best interest of every one, including the suffering for out there. and indeed they felt the stakeholders. bandaid ok, well on that note we will leave at the many thanks to our guests. reagan may very stephanie walters and angel de conway, a tango. and thank you too very much for watching. you can see the program again
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