Who will listen to M23?

Author: Josephine Kalembe

• 2023-03-01 05:40:00

On February 22, Ned Price, the US State Department Spokesperson, issued a statement saying Washington welcomed the February 17 Communiqué of the 1140th meeting of the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) on the situation in eastern DRC.

“We join the PSC in expressing concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, condemning the human rights abuses committed by armed groups, particularly the M23, ISIS-DRC, CODECO, and FDLR, and demanding that all armed groups cease hostilities and unconditionally withdraw from the eastern DRC,” reads part of the statement.

In addition, the US government statement reiterated their “call on Rwanda to cease support for the M23 armed group and to withdraw its troops” from the DRC to facilitate implementation of these commitments in accordance with the timeline endorsed at the February 17 EAC mini-summit.

Without ever producing any persuasive or compelling evidence, Washington continuously backs Kinshasa’s allegations that Rwanda is supporting the M23 rebels.

This statement, like others before, is evidence of how unhelpful external interference in the regional and continental processes by Washington shields Kinshasa from accountability for its unresponsiveness in dealing with the root causes of the precarious situation in eastern DRC, and especially of the M23 rebellion’s resurgence.

Unlike other militia, the M23 is a rebellion fighting against a government that has deprived its communities, the Congolese Tutsi, of the right to citizenship. Yet no one seems to care about their plight.

At the end of the day, who will listen to the M23's grievances?

To date, the M23 has seized swathes of territory in North Kivu province and is near the regional capital of Goma. Most of the territories captured by the rebellion are occupied by Rwandophones and Congolese Tutsi who feel safe in the hands of the rebels, their liberators. The sole purpose of the M23 is to protect a community being persecuted.

A genocide against the Rwandophones is gradually being implemented.

But, without a care, "the immediate withdraw of the M23 rebels" from occupied areas, is a statement that will never miss from any communique after meetings regarding the security crisis in eastern DRC.

Unfortunately, the regional bloc, the US, and even the AU, did not genuinely examine why the M23 rebels took up arms in the first place.

Congolese Tutsi and Rwandophones are being killed and, this has reached a Genocide stage. The only protection they get is from the M23 rebels. Yet no one is willing to listen to them.

On two different occasions; in November 2022, and January 2023, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, issued statements, expressing her concern on the deterioration of the security and human rights situation in eastern DRC that included multiple attacks against civilians along ethnic lines, especially the Tutsi Congolese.

Both statements reiterated the indicators and triggers of a simmering genocide in the country.

In November 2022, the M23 issued a statement denouncing the plans for genocidal violence against Congolese Tutsi communities, where Congolese citizens of Tutsi ethnicity were being asked by Congolese leaders to gather in medical centres and parishes or be killed. This statement was followed by many others proving the atrocities being committed against their community. But all their pleas for help fell on deaf ears.

It is high time the international community listened to the grievances of the M23 rebels rather than depending on Kinshasa’s propaganda and lied which are meant to worsen an already bad situation.