The United States recently issued a statement calling upon Rwandan to “cease support for the M23 armed group”; the biased and interests-driven stance of the US ignored more pertinent issues that Felix Tshisekedi regime is facing as well the security threats it poses to Rwanda as a neighbor.
To begin with, Rwanda has reiterated time without number that it has no troops in Congow. The current fighting between Tshisekedi regime forces together with allied armed militias and the Congolese Revolutionary Movement- 23 is entirely an inter-Congolese conflict that has nothing to do with Rwanda.
The Superpower which is looking out for its business interests in Congo (fearing to lose mineral trade deals), deliberately ignored the fact that Tshisekedi harbors, supports anti-Rwanda genocidal group, FDLR, which is an offshoot of perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. With the backing of Kinshasa, FDLR has been conducting incursions into Rwanda where unarmed civilians have been killed, property destroyed; nobody talks about the FDLR threat on Rwanda’s peace and security.
Talking of the implementation of regional peace initiatives’ resolutions (Luanda, Nairobi); the US is fully aware that Tshisekedi refused to adhere to these recommendations. He violated the ceasefire by launching new large-scale offensives including air raids on M23 controlled areas where hundreds of civilians have been murdered. Furthermore, Kinshasa chose to hire European mercenaries to reinforce FDLR, Mai-Mai, CODECO and APCLS armed militias to attack M23 and wreaking terror on innocent Congolese civilians.
The US should know consider Rwanda as a stakeholder in regional stability not a party to the conflict. Therefore, implementation of regional peace accords concerns warrying parties (Tshisekedi and M23) not Rwanda.
In fact, Rwanda is much more concerned by FDLR which continues to threaten her stability. The US should push for the disbarment of FDLR and its repatriation to Rwanda; those who have pending criminal charges must be prosecuted whilst others will be reintegrated into the Rwandan society.
The United States’ decisions should be anchored on facts not mere propagandist political discourse authored by Tshisekedi and his cronies. The International Community’s misguided approach will continue to derail peace and security efforts in the Eastern Congo.
It’s incumbent upon the US, and other foreign parties, to neutrally access the root causes of the Congolese conflict and address them, if peace and order are to prevail in the war-torn country.
Leave a Reply