End recycled formulas, focus on root causes of DR Congo crisis, Nduhungirehe tells international community

Foreign affairs minister Amb. Olivier Nduhungirehe on Thursday, January 16, criticised the outgoing US administration’s “inappropriate” narrative of equivalence of threats of M23 and FDLR. ALSO READ: Who are the M23 rebels in DR Congo? The minister was reacting to a tweet by the US Bureau of African Affairs that equated the threat posed by the FDLR, a DR Congo-based terrorist militia formed by the remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, to the M23 rebellion which is fighting for, among others, to protect its persecuted community in eastern DR Congo from the genocidal militia. ALSO READ: Thabo Mbeki: Implementing Sun City Agreement, disarming FDLR only way to solve DR Congo crisis Nduhungirehe tweeted: “It's even offensive for the outgoing US administration to compare a genocidal force with a movement that defends a community that is threatened and persecuted by the same genocidal force. ALSO READ: Absence of security gave birth to M23 rebellion “I recall that when 300 homes of Congolese Tutsi were burned down in October 2023 in Nturo village, Masisi territory, by the FDLR, the Wazalendo and the Nyatura militias, in the presence of FARDC and Burundian forces, a statement or a tweet of @AsstSecStateAF was nowhere to be seen.” The minister reiterated that it is time for the US and the international community “to put an end to these recycled formulas and focus on the root causes of the crisis” in eastern DR Congo. ALSO READ: Belgian lawyer on why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires For the past three decades, eastern DR Congo has been home to FDLR which continues to destabilize the region especially by spreading an anti-Tutsi genocidal ideology and persecuting Congolese Tutsi communities. ALSO READ: DR Congo crisis can be addressed without the manipulation According to the findings of the UN Group of Experts' December 2024 midterm report, “there is no road to peace without dialogue between the government of the DRC and armed groups, including the M23.” The report also condemned what is documented as the DRC armed forces’ continued “systematic cooperation” with the U.S.- and UN-sanctioned FDLR armed group. “We strongly urge Congolese authorities to ensure this cooperation ceases immediately, and we welcome the DRC government’s pledge to work with MONUSCO to execute the FDLR neutralization plan in full respect for international humanitarian and human rights law,” the report reads in part. The UNGoE report maintained that the Congolese army, FARDC, has been cooperating with militia groups such asFDLR, in the war against the M23 rebels. Besides aligning itself with the genocidal militia, Kinshasa also continued to alienate the M23 rebels, thereby reducing the prospects for peace.

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End recycled formulas, focus on root causes of DR Congo crisis, Nduhungirehe tells international community