Regional
DRC: Botenga’s views reek of European hypocrisy
It is no longer news that
the European Parliament is engulfed in a series of corruption scandals. It has
been the trend for some time now. This is always compounded by biased positions
on matters concerning areas far removed from their jurisdictions, like the African
great lakes region, mainly the situation in eastern DRC.
The latest comes from MP
Marc Botenga who is taking a similar direction in blindly accusing Rwanda for
the mess in DRC, despite being in position to get the facts right; should he
make the slightest effort.
From the onset, it makes one
wonder; is it just being naïve or does it suggest a premeditated manoeuver to
protect the EU’s interests in the DRC? The latter seems to be more close to the
reality of things.
The European Union has on
its records that the insecurity question in DRC is a long dated problem and
that it did not surface with the formation of M23 – which is just one rebel
group among over 130 armed groups that exist in the east of the country.
Long before M23 emerged, DRC
was dealing with a multitude of insecurity problems that are caused by some of
the most notorious armed groups such as the FDLR and ADF-NALU that accounts for
tens of thousands of deaths and countless other human rights violations.
The FDLR was created by
perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It was blacklisted
by the UN Security Council as a terrorist organization in 2014.
The FDLR is one of the
largest foreign armed groups operating in eastern DRC where it controls large
swathes of territory where it kills, mimes, loots and forcefully recruits children.
These are a few facts that
MP Botenga should have considered before embarrassing himself and perhaps the
institution he serves with the allegations he made on Rwanda.
However, MP Botenga seems
oblivious to all this, which invites the question as whether this is genuine
innocence on his part or it is just an agenda he is pushing, so much that he
fails to notice that the problems in DRC are primarily for the Congolese
government to sort out.
How can insecurity reign for
almost three decades and fail to be resolved despite all the regional and
international mechanisms that were operationalized to bring about peace and
security in eastern DRC?
Additionally, assuming that
the Congolese has completely failed to perform its duties due to leadership
deficiency, what about the UN peacekeepers, MONUSCO, that have been operating
in DRC for close to 30 years now while enjoying huge financial and logistical
supports from the United Nations?
Europeans are the first
people who never cared about the lives of Congolese people as hundreds of them
were killed by their Belgian compatriots while others were mutilated. This was
done in a so called mass campaign to discourage Congolese from “stealing” the minerals
that were primarily theirs.
At the time, we never heard
of any European condemning such acts because they all benefited from the loot.
Botenga should stop
pretending that Europe cares more for the Congolese and their security, yet
just like in the past years, all they need is cobalt and other minerals.
The EU parliament and their
so-called human rights advocate should also be reminded that in 1994, while
Tutsi people were being massacred in Rwanda, their countries never sounded an
alarm to advocate for an intervention to stop the killings.
Instead, those who were in
Rwanda, found it easy to save their pets and left the Tutsi at the mercy of
killers. Botenga was certainly no baby at the time.
On the issue of the
prevailing insecurity in DRC, he seems to have selective amnesia.
He has turned a deaf ear to
the disturbing facts of hate speech targeting Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese
and the disturbing images of the same people being lynched in the full glare of
the public but he is too eager to protect his personal interests like has been
the trend with some EU MPs of late.
Botenga and the EU
Parliament, should see Rwanda as a victim of the insecurity in eastern DRC,
especially the current FARDC-FDLR coalition.
He should also be advised to
bear in mind that Rwanda is a sovereign state that reserves the right to
protect its territorial integrity, just like DRC should protect hers.