Regional
Macron to DR Congo leaders: Do not look for culprits outside your country
French
President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, March 4, advised the DR Congo leadership
to look inward, stop living in denial about what really ails their country, as
well as stop blaming other countries for all its ills.
During
a joint press conference with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, in
Kinshasa, Macron said: “Since 1994, you have never been able to restore the
military, security or administrative sovereignty of your country. It's a
reality. We must not look for culprits outside.”
Tshisekedi
urged Macron to pursue international sanctions against Rwanda for its alleged
support for the M23 rebellion, an allegation Kigali has refuted.
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READ: Situation
in eastern DR Congo a major human rights challenge – Biruta
Relations
between the two countries have gone from bad to worse in the past two years,
with Kinshasa accusing Kigali of supporting the M23 rebels’ resurgence. Kigali
maintains that the sustained collaboration between the Congolese army and armed
groups, especially the FDLR – a militia formed nearly three decades ago by the
masterminds of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi – is at the heart of the
insecurity affecting the region.
The
FDLR, a UN sanctioned genocidal group based in eastern DR Congo for close to
three decades, has launched attacks on Rwanda throughout the years, including
in 2019 when fighters of its RUD Urunana faction killed
14 civilians in Musanze District in Northern Province.
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READ: Why
Congolese army-FDLR alliance is an evil enterprise
A
2022 report by Pole Institute, a non-governmental organization operating in DR
Congo, indicates that the genocidal militia makes enormous amounts of money in
different illegal trade activities in eastern DR Congo. It shows that the
economic empire of the FDLR is based on three pillars – illegal exploitation of
the country’s timber, poaching, and collection of royalties for agriculture as
well as transport exploitation.
Lately,
17 provincial members of parliament in North Kivu have asked President Felix
Tshisekedi to address
the issue of FDLR’s presence in eastern DR Congo as part of efforts to
find a lasting solution to the crisis.
Peace
talks aimed at restoring order in DR Congo have taken place in Nairobi, Kenya
and Angola’s capital, Luanda as well as in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and New York,
USA, among other places.
Regional
leaders have called for a cease-fire in eastern DR Congo and for the M23 rebels
to withdraw from territories they are holding, and the FDLR to disarm and
embark on an unconditional repatriation. The M23 rebels withdrew from some
areas but the genocidal militia has not budged.
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READ: Anger
as Congolese minister Muyaya absolves FDLR terrorists
President
Paul Kagame has noted that blaming Rwanda without addressing the root causes of
the conflict, which include failure by successive Congolese governments to
honour several agreements it had signed with M23 to reintegrate them will not
solve the problem.
Ahead
of Macron’s arrival in Kinshasa, some Congolese demonstrated outside the French
Embassy in Kinshasa and elsewhere against his trip to their country. Chanting
“Macron assassin” or “Macron get out”, protestors accused Macron of backing
Rwanda which their government claims is supporting the M23 rebels in eastern DR
Congo.
The
M23 rebels are fighting for the rights and the safety of their communities -
Congolese Tutsi, who, for nearly 30 years, have been targeted and killed based
solely on their ethnicity.
The
continued persecution and a consistent threat to the lives and livelihood of
Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese have forced close to 80,000 to seek refuge in
Rwanda. Since November 2022, Rwanda has been receiving more than 100 Congolese
refugees every day on average.
In
February, Rwanda announced that it was reinforcing
defensive and preventive mechanisms to guard against violations of the
country’s airspace and borders, given its legitimate security concerns
triggered by DR Congo's deliberate defiance of regional peace processes.
Some
Congolese claim that Rwanda is backing the M23 rebels as part of Kigali’s ploy
to plunder the country’s riches. But this theory is debunked by, among others,
the simple fact that the country’s leaders have never used its enormous
resources to benefit its citizens.
Much
of the vast natural resource-rich country is mired in conflict, with more than
130 armed groups operating in the east alone. Despite being endowed with rich
natural resources, the second-largest country in Africa is among the five
poorest nations in the world.
According
to the World Bank, DR Congo is endowed with exceptional natural resources,
including minerals such as cobalt and copper, hydropower potential, significant
arable land, immense biodiversity, and the world’s second-largest rainforest.
A
long history of conflict, political upheaval and instability, and authoritarian
rule have led to a grave, ongoing humanitarian crisis. In addition, thousands
of Congolese citizens live in neighbouring countries as refugees while
thousands others languish in internally displaced peoples’ camps in the
country.
In
2021, nearly 64 percent of Congolese, just under 60 million people, lived on
less than $2.15 a day. About one out of six people living in extreme poverty in
Sub-Saharan Africa lives in DR Congo.