It is fair to say that DR Congo has not had a moment of peace for at least three decades. But it is equally fair to add that when he ascended the Presidency, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi took over the presidency of a country that was mending relations with its neighbors. There was a semblance of peace, and the region was finally starting to see hope on the horizon.
Indeed, Tshisekedi’s initial approach seemed promising. He engaged with neighbouring countries, including Rwanda. His relationship with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame was particularly notable. There was a promise of a new dawn.
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It is worth noting that the history of conflict between the two nations is relatively new, no more than three decades old.
To understand how we got where we are, you need to look at how the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda was imported into the DR Congo, or Zaire, as it was then called. And imported is the right description, because it was then DR Congo President Mobutu Sese Seko who, along with the French establishment back then, took the genocidal ideologues intact with their armed wing into Zaire.
In 1994, as the genocidal regime in Rwanda fled the advancing Rwanda Patriotic Front/Army (RPF/A), they were welcomed into Zaire, pitching camp, with their arms, right across the border, in the Kivu region. They entered Zaire as a government and army in exile and were allowed to remain heavily armed and active in camps in the years that followed.
Berlin Conference
Indeed, the genocidal machinery immediately set about reorganizing military incursions against Rwanda and preying on the local Congolese population in the Kivus. They particularly targeted the Banyamulenge in South Kivu and the Banyarwanda of North Kivu. Seeds of the genocide were effectively planted in the Congo and genocidal attacks against Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese began in earnest.
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For the uninitiated, the Banyarwanda, or Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, were detached from Rwanda, in the 19th Century when, at the Berlin Conference, the European colonial powers, redrew the map of Africa, dividing the continent amongst themselves. With the stroke of a pen, much of what was Rwanda became Belgian Congo, British Uganda and German Territory of Tanganyika, or present-day Tanzania. The people on those lands went to bed in Rwanda and woke up as Congolese or Ugandans or Tanzanians.
The FDLR genocide menace
Back to the turmoil created by the genocidal forces in the Congo following their role in the killing of more than a million people in Rwanda. These genocidaires visited indescribable violence on host Congolese communities, mainly the Rwandophones they associated with the Tutsi back in Rwanda. Hundreds of thousands were displaced, fleeing for dear life. Thus, began a period of chaos and suffering that lasts to this day.
The genocidal seed implanted into the Congo took root with the ideologues acting under different names over the years, the latest being Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). These genocidal forces, along with local militias, have terrorised the Kivu population for 30 years.
Now, in response to the FDLR’s depravations, local armed resistance emerged, notably, in the form of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), under Laurent Nkunda, which would later morph into the present-day M23.
Soon, the wider world got involved, notably in the shape of the biggest United Nations peace keeping mission anywhere, the so-called UN Stabilization Mission in DR Congo, or MONUSCO. Despite this massive UN mission, with more than 20,000 personnel and swallowing over a billion dollars a year, for 20 years, things have only got worse.
When MONUSCO began operations in 1999, there were only four negative armed groups in the Kivus. Today, there are over 250 of them, some of which are collaborators of FDLR genocidal militia and have adopted its tactics of terrorizing local communities. Most of these armed groups mushroomed during Tshisekedi’s first term, growing from a few dozen to over 250 militia groups.
The situation has become even more dire, with hate speech and extreme violence against local populations becoming normalized in Tshisekedi’s Congo. This violence has spread well beyond the Kivu provinces, affecting other parts of the country, including the non-Kinyarwanda-speaking communities, like the Hema people of Ituri province, who are now being subjected to an ongoing silent genocide.
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The FDLR's genocidal ideology, which targets the Tutsi population, has permeated throughout DR Congo, starting with the political class. This imported hatred has created the notion that Rwanda is an enemy to DR Congo.
The situation in eastern DR Congo has reached a dystopian level, with politicians and military officers benefiting from the chaos through illegal trafficking operations conducted by illegal armed groups. The FDLR has become an independent entity within the state, controlling vast territories, imposing taxes, and engaging in lucrative charcoal and mineral trafficking, all without interference from the government.
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Under Tshisekedi, the situation has deteriorated further. He has effectively allied himself with the FDLR, effectively becoming their supreme commander. Tshisekedi’s government has equipped and employed the FDLR to wage war in eastern DR Congo, alongside other militias. He has promoted politicians known for their inflammatory rhetoric against the Tutsi and Banyamulenge, further entrenching the culture of hate and violence.
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For Rwanda, a country nearly 100 times smaller than DR Congo, has focused on its development and advancing the life chances of its people. The Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)-led government has led the reconstruction to a peaceful nation, governed by the rule of law, whose intolerance for corruption, makes it especially attractive to foreign investments.
No shortcuts
A country once torn apart by the genocide ideology now playing out in DR Congo is largely reconciled and looking to a prosperous future. All of that, however, is threatened by the overtly stated intent of the Tshisekedi regime, to destroy all that Rwanda has rebuilt, and take it back to its dark tragic past. It is a threat Rwanda cannot and does not take in anyway lightly.
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Tshisekedi’s government has employed FDLR forces and other militias to carry out these attacks while simultaneously portraying DR Congo as a victim on the international stage. The reality is that, far from being the victim, Tshisekedi is the arsonist fanning the flames of conflict.
There is no scenario for peace in DR Congo, which does not start with a dialogue between the Congolese state and sections of the Congolese population, which it has persecuted for decades. This includes the M23 rebel alliance.
That would mean Tshisekedi ending his collaboration with, and empowerment of, terror groups that prey on Congolese civilians. It would mean his government’s recognition of the full rights of citizenship for Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, ending the hate speech and the unspeakable genocidal violence against them.
It means acknowledging that M23 took up arms to protect their communities, against an abusive government and its allied negative groups, and fully engaging with them, to address their grievances.
And it means ending the collaboration with the FDLR, a Rwandan terrorist organization operating from Congolese soil with the sole purpose of attacking Rwanda and continuing with its genocide agenda.
There are no other viable paths to lasting peace in eastern DR Congo. Yet, there seems to be no indication that Tshisekedi will choose the path to peace over the current chaos, which seems to benefit him and his cronies at the expense of ordinary Congolese.