What is happening in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) is a failure of the international community, Stephanie Nyombayire, the Presidential Press Secretary has said. Nyombayire who passed the message through her official Twitter handle on Wednesday, was commenting on the current skirmishes in the eastern part of DR Congo, which has led to tensions between Rwanda and the neighbouring country. She said that with over $1 billion annually sunk into a peacekeeping mission – the UN Mission for the Stabilisation of DR Congo (MONUSCO) – two decades later, Genocidal forces FDLR are integrated into DR Congo’s army FARDC and empowered to shell Rwanda from the DRC border. “MONUSCO can no longer claim ‘observer’ status. That is complicity,” she said. The FDLR, which “harbours a long-term sinister plan to destabilise Rwanda,” comprises remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. After the Genocide, they moved into the eastern part of DR Congo after killing more than one million lives. Nyombayire also dismissed claims that the government supports M23 rebels that have recently been raised by Kinshasa, emphasizing that it is an internal problem for the state of DR Congo to address. “M23 is NOT a Rwandan problem. Its members are Congolese and a process of resolving this issue had been started in Nairobi at the request of PoDRC (President of DR Congo),” she noted, adding, “how was the decision made to break from the process and turn it into the senseless killing it has become today?” According to Nyombayire, Rwanda disarmed M23 rebels who fled to Rwanda in 2013 and were secured at Gasizi and Kabuhanga hills in Rubavu district along the Rwanda-DR Congo border. She noted that the country handed over their weapons to the DR Congo government before putting in place a repatriation roadmap to allow countless missions from Kinshasa government to come and ‘study’ the problem. “This is in addition to 76,000 Congolese refugees. No action has been taken,” she said. Nyombayire reiterated that Rwanda has no interest in destabilizing eastern DR Congo, a position that has been echoed by different officials including Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta. However, she highlighted that Kigali’s request remains the same as it has always been; “That the over 20,000 MONUSCO troops fulfill their two decades long mandate and that FDLR be treated as the genocidaires they are and not be handed the impunity to attack our country.” “One hates to imagine the UN and MONUSCO dragged by the DRC into supporting what now has very clear, dangerous ethnic and hate speech overtones.” It is even worse, Nyombayire stated, to imagine this could be a provocation for Rwanda to be forced into retaliating, including addressing MONUSCO’s support.
