DRC: MPs pressure Tshisekedi to embrace peace

Author: Annet Nabakooza

• 2023-03-03 08:01:00

Despite the deployment of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) to bring peace in eastern DRC, fighting still continues between a coalition of the government forces-FARDC, foreign mercenaries, FDLR, Mai Mai versus the M23 rebels who have gained more territory after they captured the Bunagana border post on June 13, 2022.

In a new twist of events, it appears that DRC politicians are beginning to realize the mistakes of president Tshisekedi who refused to talk peace, believing that war is the ultimate option that can bring peace in eastern DRC.

In an open letter to President Félix Tshisekedi, dated February 28, 17 provincial members of parliament in North Kivu asked the Congolese leader to address the root cause of the insecurity in eastern DRC.

The lawmakers also asked Tshisekedi to support “a peaceful resolution” of the crisis to avoid further suffering.

The fact that the MPs resorted to writing an open letter to their president shows some degree of frustration and an indication that there is no other channel of communication between the North Kivu MPs and their own President.

Normally in any functioning governance system, an open letter by MPs to their president is a disgrace.

Under normal circumstances, the MPs would seek for an audience with the president and then discuss political issues in their constituencies since they know better what happens there since they are more connected to the people.

In one of their recommendations to Tshisekedi, the lawmakers asked him to “analyze the root causes of the prolonged presence of the FDLR and ADF in order to return them to their countries of origin.”

The FDLR is a militia group formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It has ever since been given a safe haven in eastern DRC where it corroborates with the Congolese army, FARDC, especially in their current persecution of Rwandophone communities in the region.

Rwanda has long exposed and denounced the collaboration between the Congolese army and the FDLR. Their plan is to return to Rwanda to continue their genocidal agenda. The MPs  are concerned that the war provoked  mistrust that is likely to derail all efforts by national, regional, African and international institutions to bring peace to eastern DRC.

The refusal by Tshisekedi’s government to recognize the M23 rebels as legitimate Congolese but instead brand them as “terrorists” will prolong the war and suffering of people in eastern DRC. 

Congolese leaders, civil society actors and security officials are propagating hate speech and inciting discrimination, hostility and violence against Rwandophones.

In January 2023, the UN special advisor on genocide prevention, Alice Wairumu Nderitu, warned that in eastern DRC civilians are killed based on their ethnic identity, which serves as a warning in a region with genocide history. It goes without saying that the genocide ideology was brought by the FDLR into DRC.

Despite the fact that FADRC and its allies have proven to be militarily weak against M23 rebels, Tshisekedi does not seem to be interested in peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern DRC. He wants the crisis to continue to serve his political interests.

In a recent public statement, the DRC deputy chief of General Staff in charge of operations, General Chiko Tshitambwe said that he was in talks with some member states in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) under a bilateral arrangement asking them to deploy forces in DRC to fight M23 rebels and Rwanda.   

All efforts aimed at solving the crisis in eastern DRC have recommended the peaceful path as opposed to a military solution. But Tshisekedi refused to listen.

While speaking on the sidelines of an African Union event in Nairobi in February, the EAC Secretary General, Peter Mathuki, said that the bloc would not relent on peaceful means of resolving the DRC crisis.

On his part, the commander of EACRF Maj-Gen Nyagah said that: “The first priority is the political process including the Luanda and Nairobi processes. Sometimes war does not necessarily bring peace. There is disarmament and demobilization. Only if both options fail can we move to an offensive and military option. It’s not just focusing on the M23. We have over 120 armed groups here.”

And M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa also said that they are committed to dialogue to resolve the crisis.

But if Kinshasa chooses war, it must assume the whole logic of war where, “the strongest wins. As a result, Kinshasa will no longer have to claim withdraw from territories lost.”

Ironically, Kinshasa says it no longer thinks of the possibility of reintegrating the M23 rebels into the national army, meaning that political negotiation is not an option.  

If Tshisekedi has refused to listen to advice from regional leaders, will he listen to his own Members of Parliament?