As the world awaits military intervention in Syria and we are treated to idle theorizing about how the Ghouta chemical massacre was a "false flag" attack by the rebels, comes a grimly amusing analogue from Central Africa. Rwanda on Aug. 29 accused government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo of shelling its territory, killing a woman and wounding her baby. (BBC News) Open war between Rwanda and the DRC suddenly looms, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to Rwanda's President Paul Kagame for restraint. (BBC News) The shelling comes as DRC troops and the UN's new "intervention brigade," dubbed MONUSCO, have been battling the M23 rebels in Congo's east. (BBC News, Radio Australia) The DRC government has denied responsibility, and says it was actually the rebels that shelled Rwanda's territory—a claim backed up by MONUSCO. (Reuters) Now, since the M23 is said to be intimately directed by Rwanda's defense minister, Gen. James Kabarebe, who has apparently even sent military commanders to lead the rebel force, this basically means that Rwanda is bombing itself. Indeed, Congo Planet tells us the DRC is charging that Rwanda's government used the M23 rebels to shell its own territory, as a provocation to justify a direct military intervention in eastern Congo.
Could be, but… If "false flag" attacks were really that obvious, why would they work?
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Rwanda’s ex-spy chief found dead
The body of Rwanda's former spy chief Patrick Karegeya was found, possibly strangled, in a hotel in South Africa, police said Jan. 2. Rwandan dissidents accused President Paul Kagame of ordering his assassination. Karegeya was a former Kagame ally who turned against him. Theogene Rudasingwa of the opposition Rwandan National Congress said his death follows a pattern of assassinations ordered by Kagame. The Kagame government vehemently denies it has targeted dissidents. (CTV)