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DRC: Sake battle reveals how Tshisekedi breached African Union Convention
According
to the African Union Convention for the elimination of mercenaries, when the
representative of a state is responsible for criminal acts, he shall be
punished.
Article
05 , Para 1 of this convention say “When the representative of a State is
responsible by virtue of the provisions of Article 1 of this Convention for
acts or omissions declared by the aforesaid article to be criminal, he shall be
punished for such an act or omission”.
Congolese
President Felix Tshisekedi breached the Union's contract by hiring mercenaries
involved in organized crimes, in violation of the African Convention on
Mercenaries signed in Libreville in July 1977 and entered into force on April
22, 1985.
The
simmering conflict in eastern DRC has roped in Romanian mercenaries two of whom
died and four were injured in the fighting in Sake, a locality about 25
kilometers from the Provincial capital Goma. The Romanians are part of a
Congolese government coalition including the Congolese army, or FARDC, the
Rwandan genocidal militia called FDLR, SADC forces mainly from South Africa,
Tanzania and Malawi, and Congolese militia groups such as Wazalendo, all
against the M23 rebels.
The
battle in Sake epitomizes the indifference and a hand of the international
community to the DRC’s track record of using armed groups seeking to annihilate
the Congolese Tutsi community in eastern DRC.
The
escalating insecurity has exposed the complicity of the international community
which lends a hand, through MONUSCO and SADC, to FARDC, and its coalition.
The
presence of mercenaries is also detailed in a UN report, which cited Romanians
with more than 1,000 troops, among those spotted in DRC.
They
were taken to DRC by Horatiu Potra, a 53-year-old man from Sibiu, a city in
central Romania, with a controversial past. Potra was a fighter in the Foreign
Legion,
He
knows his way around DRC. In 2002, he contacted Congolese rebel leader
Jean-Pierre Bemba, who helped former president Ange-Félix Patassé in the
neighboring Central African Republic, according to reports.
The Romanian
National Anticorruption Directorate, the DIICOT, detained Potra in September
2010 for drug and weapon trafficking. He was also investigated after allegedly
threatening the former director of the states natural gas company, Romgaz. The
two reconciled and the case was closed.
In
December 2022, the mercenaries arrived in Kinshasa. Initially
Tshisekedi tried to cover his deal with mercenaries, pretending that they are
instructors. However, the claim does not hold as bodies of European mercenaries
seen on the battlefield are a testimony of their involvement in the fight.
They
disguised as operators of the fighter jets that Kinshasa has invested in to fight
the M23 rebels who are fighting for their people’s rights after being disowned
and persecuted by their own country.
According
to sources, 20 former Romanian soldiers who arrived in Kinshasa would have
received Euros 5,000 per month each. Tshisekedi is well aware that he is dealing
with criminals fighting alongside, FDLR, FARDC, and SADC, who are driving his
plan of ethnic cleansing.
It is
unfortunate that the International community is helping Tshisekedi who is
committed to eliminating and disowning his own people, including through use of
mercenaries in violation of AU convention on the elimination of mercenaries
