Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) believe that a long lasting political solution would fix the war-torn eastern DR Congo than using a military approach.
Their comments come as the country is entangled in a protracted security crisis, and some EAC member countries started deploying military forces under the auspice of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) as part of efforts to restore peace in the region. It was during an EALA plenary meeting held in Burundi, on April 4.
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On the question of peace and security, MP George Stephen Odongo from Uganda said: "the matter of deployment of troops to the DR Congo, is a welcome gesture from the Community, and it is a proactive approach that we must enhance so that we have multiple tools in the hands of the Community to engage whenever matters of peace and security arise."
However, he pointed out that the long-term solution to the question of peace and security in the DR Congo is a political one.
"We should not pretend that a military solution is a sustainable one. Political questions are responded to [by] political solutions,” he said.
Odongo went on saying that as regional countries deploy armed forces, the Community should have a very robust mechanism through which they can constructively engaged the different stakeholders to come up with sufficient tools that deal with the different political issues that drive the conflicts in the DR Congo, and also in other member States when they arise.
"We should not militarise political challenges. On the contrary, we as the Community, should facilitate an environment that allows the different contagonists to have peaceful meaningful engagements with a view of stabilising the state, so that the state of the DR Congo is present anywhere and is capable of dealing with emerging challenges, he said.
"The DR Congo is an indispensable partner for our regional integration. As you are aware the DR Congo has a huge population. Most of them are living in our different partner States as refugees. As a Community, we need to proactively respond so that we don’t make DR Congo a net exporter of refugees in our different partner States, some of which have become the triggers of controversy within our different partner States,” he said.
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Speaking to The New Times, MP Fatuma Ndangiza said that EAC Heads of State also opted for political dialogue as a solution to DR Congo conflicts, through their peace restoration initiative in the Eastern DR Congo like the Nairobi Peace Process whose negotiations are supported by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta as the facilitator.
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She pointed out that under political dialogue, the leadership of DR Congo should play a role in bringing together all the people who show grievances in the problem, adding that there were over 120 armed groups in the country, including the M23.
"They should look for ways to find a political solution, because some of the issues include those who say they need to be granted nationality, and those who say that they need to be protected from discrimination in their country and need to be entitled to rights as others,” she said.
"So, the military solution is not the [first] option,” she said, before adding "but, they have a second approach that states that if need be, the military option would be considered with a view to restore stability in the DR Congo.”
She pointed out that the military option mainly comes to support the enforcement of the political solution.
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The Chairperson, EAC Council of Ministers, Ezéchiel Nibigira, who is also the Minister of East African Community Affairs, Youth, Sports and Culture in the Republic of Burundi, said "the Council will continue doing whatever is necessary to support peace process in the Eastern DRC Congo.”