DRC a lucrative venture for MONUSCO, SADC

Author: Emmanuel Mutebi

• 2024-08-25 07:20:00

Members of MONUSCO and SADC in eastern DRC

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has, more than once, called for a speedy withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO). The gigantic mission has been operating in the country for more than two decades.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized Kinshasa’s wish confirming that by January 2024 the mission would begin its withdraw, in a ‘leaked’ report transmitted to the UN Security Council in August 2023.

The Congolese had protested against the UN mission, wanting the blue helmets to leave their country because of its collaboration with their national army and their consistent failure to stop armed groups from attacking and killing them.

Established in 2000, the UN peacekeeping mission's mandate was to protect civilians. More than two decades later, the mission has brought no positive change.

In their presence, foreign and local armed groups have increased from about five to more than 260, with the support of the Congolese national army and political leaders. They cause more chaos as hundreds of thousands of Congolese citizens have been killed by these armed groups, and millions other people have been displaced, under their watch.

The blue helmets have watched, tight-lipped, as the FDLR, a terror group formed by individuals responsible of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, became an integral part of the Congolese army, FARDC.

The silence from MONUSCO concerning these evil deals is not a sign of neutrality, but of tacit support of the actions of FDLR/FARDC. The inaction renders MONUSCO effectively complicit.

The DRC welcomed the Southern African Development Community Mission (SAMIDRC) to attack and finish off the M23 rebels. Kinshasa initially wanted MONUSCO to withdraw, expecting SAMIDRC to take over.

The blue helmets have failed to fulfil a mandate that includes supporting DRC’s dysfunctional military in stabilizing the eastern region and protecting civilians. Both missions are more interested in looting DRC than protecting civilians. The two missions have turned DRC into some kind of cake to share as they wish.

The question now is; what is MONUSCO and SADC really doing in DRC when both missions never met their mandate obligations? Why are they extending their stay in the region?

If the UN mission really wanted to end the violence, given its vast means, it would already have done so. But it never really planned to do so in the first place.