On February 4, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye who is also the East African Community (EAC) chairperson convened an Extra-Ordinary Summit of Heads of State on the security situation in DRC.

 

The Presidents of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, DRC and Uganda were present as well as a representative of South Sudan's President. In attendance also were the EAC Secretary General and the EAC Regional Force (EACRF) Commander Maj Gen Jeff Nyagah, among others.

 

As the meeting ended, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi took by surprise those who were present when he walked to Gen Nyagah and immediately started confronting him regarding the M23 rebels.

 

In a video that went viral on social media, the Congolese President is seen talking harshly to the EACRF commander, telling him to not favor the M23.

 

“It would be shameful if the population was to attack you. You came to help us to solve a problem, not to be part of it. Pay attention to this, communicate with the population,” Tshisekedi said.

 

The incident prompted Kenyan President William Ruto to get close and listen.

 

 Both Nyagah and President Ruto appeared perplexed as they keenly listened to Tshisekedi’s complaints, the way a student and his father would listen to a headmaster reprimanding a badly behaved student.

 

Nyagah and his Commander in Chief took turns to look at each other as they nodded their heads. It was difficult to know whether the nodding was in approval of what Tshisekedi said or a diplomatic expression of respect.

 

  

Fascinatingly, earlier during the Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State, Tshisekedi did not speak out before his counterparts and explain his problem with the EACRF so that it could be discussed. Nor did he raise it with the Kenyan President who is the Commander in Chief responsible for the deployment of Nyagah.

 

It was a breach of diplomatic protocol for Tshisekedi to ambush the Commander and unleash all his anger and frustration over the M23 on him. Tshisekedi humiliated Nyagah before his Commander in Chief.

 

The incident put Nyagah and President Ruto in a position where both realized the complex delicate balance of the EACRF mission.   

 

Just a day after the undiplomatic encounter, the prophesy of Tshisekedi was indeed fulfilled. Hundreds of violent demonstrators moved against EACRF on the streets of Goma.  

 

Political analysts believe that the demonstrations were planned and effected under Tshisekedi’s orders, similar to others against MONUSCO that happened in July 2022. 

             

When the EACRF was deployed in DRC, Tshisekedi expected that their primary mission was to fight the M23 rebels and flush them out of his country. When this did not happen, he hired Russian (Wagner) as well as French mercenaries, expecting that their combined efforts with his weak army, the genocidal FDLR militia from Rwanda and other local militias would push out the M23 in a short time. 

 

Instead, all these armed groups were badly defeated by the M23, leading to the capturing of more territories. The rebels’ mission was to protect the Congolese Tutsi populations that were under attack.

 

With all the frustrations of failing to use military force to defeat the M23, and EACRF not helping him to achieve his objective, Tshisekedi offloaded his frustration on the EAC Regional Force’s commander.

 

Although Tshisekedi has repeatedly been advised to embrace political dialogue with all actors including the M23, he has stubbornly refused to sit on a negotiation table with the rebels, instead scapegoats Rwanda for the eastern DRC crisis. 

 

One question remains; how will the EACRF balance its mandate with Tshisekedi’s personal interests?

 

Duty demands that Nyagah must keep serving professionally. He is not answerable to Tshisekedi.

 

However, the writing is on the wall that Tshisekedi wants war rather than peace to serve his political interests especially when elections are around the corner in December.