DRC’s disingenuity to blame for prevailing conflict in east

It’s been months now since the renewed fighting between the Congolese army and M23, a rebel group operating in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

Unfortunately, as days pass by, hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has displaced tens of thousands, seems to wane, and all this is attributed to President Felix Tshisekedi’s leadership failures.

Instead of focusing on what could bring to a logical solution to the problems that caused the revolution of the M23 fighters – which are well articulated and within means of the President – he has chosen to play the blame game. His approach to blame Rwanda on the challenges in his country has not only derailed a peaceful resolution to the conflict but also worsened the xenophobic attacks against Rwandans and Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese.

Kigali, certainly knew that it was a matter of time until the truth exposes Kinshasa. Perhaps, that explains why President Paul Kagame’s only comment so far on Tshisekedi’s accusations of Rwanda has been very simple and short; “Blame games will never solve the problems of DRC.” 

The stubbornness of the truth is not very far from Tshisekedi’s sight. At least, I assume, he did not foresee the truth revealing itself that soon. There are many truths but some of them seem to be stubborn as a mule. 

The first one is that Tshisekedi does not want a peaceful resolution to the conflict between his government and the Congolese rebel group M23. The second stubborn truth is mostly linked to the first one, and is simply the reason why he doesn’t need a peaceful conflict resolution of the conflict with M23; at least not now. 

On November 8, during a plenary session of the DRC parliament, Members of Parliament had been clearly lobbied to vote in favor of a motion that advocated for the suspension of any negotiation with the M23, branding it a ‘terrorist group’.

To the dislike of his colleagues, MP Moise Nyarugabo, who was trying to make his point, could hardly be given time to address the assembly. 

Nyarugabo, a Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese, and once described by the President of the DRC Parliament as one of the best lawyers in the country, was trying to warn his colleagues of the consequences of voting for such a motion that would only fuel the conflict in the east of the country.

He invited them to revisit some historical facts that led to the existence of M23 and explained the political reasons as to why the group should not be branded a terrorist group because it is far from that.

Amidst jeering from clearly mobilized colleagues, Nyarugabo emphasized that all the M23 rebels aim at is; ensuring the government implements what was agreed upon when the two parties ceased hostilities close to a decade back.

However, what the MP got from his counterparts, was a full house that booed him, and kept shutting him down, with no protection from the House leadership. It was crystal clear that majority of the members did support the motion to rule out any negotiation option with the M23, perhaps for reasons that are found in the two stubborn truths that I will try to elaborate. 

Tshisekedi and his acolytes are aware of their leadership failures in the last five years, where his achievements are fast catching up with them, and are anticipating being punished on the ballot next year. For this reason, there was need to create a condition to delay the election and the only valid option was to ensure the country is at war. That is why, the FARDC purposefully attacked the position of M23, unprovoked. 

When Tshisekedi spends hours making speeches and declaring that his government has continuously opted for a peaceful resolution to the conflict with M23, he is obviously misleading the world; he only adopted this strategy when he discovered his terrible miscalculations that saw the government forces humiliated by agile M23 fighters.

Out of shame and concern over eminent consequences of his actions, he misleads the world by preaching peaceful conflict resolution in his speeches while at the same time orders his military to attack the M23 rebels’ positions to see if he can salvage.

He failed miserably, especially now that Goma is on the verge of being captured by the rebels. 

With the truth finally forcing its way out, Tshisekedi remains with limited options on his table. The best option, would be to sit down and indeed, promote dialogue and negotiations with the M23 and establish a peaceful environment, conducive for social, welfare development, and economic development in the east of his country.