Fighting erupted on Sunday, October 1, in eastern DR Congo’s North Kivu province pitting the country’s armed forces (FARDC) against the M23 rebel group.
That same day, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi was officially announced as a candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for December 20.
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In statements,the warring parties which had observed a fragile ceasefire since November 2022, accused each other of starting the fire exchange on Sunday afternoon in Kilolirwe and other areas in Masisi territory in spite of calls by regional leaders to end the conflict peacefully.
The spokesperson of North Kivu Governor’s office, Lt Gen Guillaume Ndjike, accused the rebels of seeking to reoccupy positions they earlier vacated as part of the ceasefire.
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But M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said that with the attack, the Congolese government "initiated its warmongering plan” declared by Tshisekedi in his speech at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September in which he ruled out any possibility of peace talks with the rebels he calls terrorists.
According to Albert Rudatsimburwa, a political analyst following developments in the Great Lakes Region, there is no doubt that the resumption of hostilities was instigated by Kinshasa.
He said: "There have been ultimatums they communicated in the different media. The Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Christophe Lutundula was interviewed on Top Congo FM. It is the FARDC that went into the zone normally held by the Burundian contingent of the EAC regional force. Of course, the M23 reacted and the others fled the battlefield.”
"The real question is, what has the commander of the EAC regional force filed about the incident? If the heads of state asked for the regional force to stay longer until December, I suppose it was meant to give time to what needs to be done and it is clear that they want negotiations to take place.”
A day before the fighting resumed, on Saturday, Maj-Gen Bruno Mpezo Mbele, commander of the 34th military region, promised: "All areas still occupied by M23 rebels will soon be liberated.”
The interim governor of North Kivu Province, Maj-Gen Peter Chririmwami, declared that "the army would repel the enemy.”
Propagating genocide ideology
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Congolese officials earlier warned of a renewed offensive against the rebels. Reports say the Congolese army acquired new military equipment in preparation for the offensive, as renewed mobilisation continues in North Kivu.
The M23 rebel group resurfaced in November 2021, nearly a decade after its defeat in 2013.
The group, which denounced the persecution of Congolese Tutsi communities at the hands of genocidal militias like the FDLR, accused Kinshasa of ignoring previous peace agreements. At the heart of the insecurity affecting eastern DR Congo and the region, due to spreading genocide ideology, FDLR is a UN sanctioned genocidal force formed by the masterminds of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
In DR Congo, the plan to complete the extermination of the Tutsi was never lost sight of by the genocidaires who managed to stay in the country and mingle with the population, propagating genocide ideology.
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The Nairobi and Luanda peace processes which have been running since 2022 support a non-military resolution of the conflict.
In December 2022, the M23 rebels embarked on a gradual withdrawal from their positions, handing over control to the East African Community regional force (EACRF). The rebels accuse the DR Congo government of ignoring calls by the international community for a peaceful end to the conflict.
‘A blank cheque to Kinshasa’
Rudatsimburwa added: "The problem is; you cannot ignore the fact that this attack comes after the briefings at the UN Security Council. When I analyse the language of the US ambassador there, of the French ambassador, and that of Bintou Keita (the head of UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO), they were, as it appears, giving a blank cheque to Kinshasa to resume operations against the M23. And that is very unfortunate because, in fact, it undermines what the region wants to do, peacefully.”
And, Rudatsimburwa wonders how far the East African Community is ready to go with its intervention given the circumstances.
"The heads of state extended the mandate of the regional force, but it is supposed to prepare the ground for negotiations. Otherwise, there is no need for that. If negotiations are not taking place, what are they (EACRF) going to do?”