DRC: International community not proposing solutions to insecurity

The hostilities in eastern DRC have attracted global attention but genuine solutions are never proposed.

Blame games absorb more time – with Kinshasa and some state parties with ulterior motives accusing Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebellion – whenever the Congolese leadership engages in discussions concerning, or not concerning, the region’s situation. Some in the West have joined DRC’s blame game, instead of providing realistic solutions to the endless security threat.

Without providing a shred of evidence, the US Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs, Amb Robert Wood, on October 26, alleged that Rwanda is supporting the M23 rebels. Addressing the UN Security Council, Wood said: “This violence is unacceptable, and the United States calls on armed groups to discontinue their assaults on the DRC’s most vulnerable populations. We also call on state actors to stop their support for these groups, including the Rwandan Defense Forces’ assistance to M23.”

However, Wood ignored the hundreds of civilians killed by FDLR militia in the region, as Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently reported. He also lied when claiming that the UN Regional Strategy for the Great Lakes is an important means of bringing peace to the region. On October 18, HRW published a report pinning the DRC army on supplying arms and ammunitions to the FDLR terror group whose remnants committed the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

“FDLR fighters have killed hundreds of civilians over the years in eastern Congo, at times hacked them to death with machetes or hoes, or burned them in their homes. The fighters have committed countless rapes and other acts of sexual violence,” reads the report.

The Congolese army used FDLR and other militia groups to fight the M23 rebels who seized the border town of Bunagana in June.

Wood talked about the “anti-MONUSCO rhetoric” that led to 32 demonstrators and at least five peacekeepers killed during protests against the presence of UN mission in DRC. All through his speech, the American envoy failed to comment on anti-Rwandophone killings which are pointing to a preparation of genocide against Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese. Government and military officials are involved in ongoing hate speech and murders. In Wood’s remarks, nothing is mentioned to stop this.

Rwanda’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Robert Kayinamura, called out the UN to address DRC issues from the roots rather than focusing on the consequences, citing the causes of conflict as a crucial factor.

“This brings my intervention to the dangerous attitude that classifies specific communities in the Eastern DRC as ‘foreigners’ and thus should ‘go back where they came from.’ Such an attitude is a seed of unending conflict. It promotes hate, marginalization and violence. This dangerous rhetoric undermines the United Nations and the sub-regional efforts to find a lasting solution,” he said.

Wood complained that significant time is spent ‘speaking about military solutions to a political problem’, signaling that achieving peace in the region will not come by force. “Peace is contingent upon a political process, political will, and political solutions,” Wood said.

But Kinshasa has constantly refused to use political means to solve issues. Instead of joining in DRC’s blame game, which clearly aims at canceling the 2023 elections, Wood should have advised Kinshasa to use the political means in dealing with the situation.

Kigali reiterated its firm commitment to contributing to a sustainable peaceful regional security solution within agreed regional frameworks.